Malapterurus electricus

[venwu225]

Hi everyone:

Just wanted to share my new Malapterurus electricus. These animals are incredible, this tiny fish jumped out of the container during purchase, and I had to gently retrieve him from a flat surface. The more my skin made contact with the fish, the better the conduction and shock I experienced. I had electric cats before, but never one this small, and its EOD was strong enough to send my fingers in to stinging convulsions. Thankfully the animal was not too stressed and is now currently in a 5 gallon tank (over filtered with a vengence) with a equally tiny large mouth bass. The fishes will eventually go into a 20 gallon, proceeded to a 250 gallon for life. Although I will most likely have to separate the large mouth soon.

sorry about the bad photo, the fish is under a tiny plate and lighting was diffcult to
control.

 

[sohfatfish]

Cute fish....some people might find it ugly tho... heard it was used by the Egyptians for its eletric shocks as healing properties?

 

[necrocanis]

That fish will definitely be a monster one day. Up to 36" or 40" I believe, and about 50 lbs. or more. You might get away with the 250 with how lethargic they are, probably more so when fully grown. Keep us updated on his growth. I am interested in how fast it grows. Never know might end up getting one myself.

 

[rumblesushi]

no offense, but the electric catfish I had was the most boring fish I've owned. It never moved and never killed anything. It sucked.

 

[venwu225]

Members of the same species vary in personality; an obvious point in this hobby. This fish
has a pretty active personality. It moves around in search of food quite frequently for
a electric cat, despite how heavy the feeding regimen is. And already at this young age, it
actively feeds from my hand, and the word gluttony certainly comes to mind.

I am a Neurobiology major, I think one of the reason why I decided to buy this fish is that these amazing animals share a interesting feature in terms of innervation
to their electromotor units. THE ENTIRE electric organ is innervated by a single giant
electromotorneuron. Really neat stuff.

Thanks for the comment everyone

Necrocanis: 36'' is correct, any idea what is the length of time that it would reach sexual
maturity and adult size?

And no offense taken, killing things and moving alot is what makes a fish cool?
I think they are pretty cool the way they are in terms of behavior and physiology.

what particularly nice was that it was a $6 buy. Practically Free

 

[rumblesushi]

Yep, I like predators. Why i love snakeheads so much is they are quintessential predators. They are hungry and they are born to kill. There;s no messing about with channas, no waiting until you turn the lights off to eat. They are receptive and aggressive.

If a fish is active and pretty but not a killer, then cool, like my jardini. he has no killer instinct, but he's a beautiful fish and very active.

If it aint pretty and aint active, at least it's gotta be a vicious killer

I just found my electric cat incredibly boring. I never saw it eat and barely saw it move. It also never electrocuted me.

 

[venwu225]

yea I definetly see where you are coming from, I had 4 different species of channas myself
in the past. And watching them shredding through anything that moves truely is nothing
short of a spectcle.

I have been getting a lot of contrary opinions on electricus, some say they are personable
while others say they are incredibly boring. The ones I had in the past for short term
were bigger and not that exciting. But this little guy is pretty different I think. He now respond to my shadows and eats eagerly off of the feeding stick. Maybe its the age difference, but I sure hope he keeps his vigor.

 

[TaratronVaeVictus]

At work we have an electric eel, and to 99% of the public, he is a very dull fish. He swims a good deal, but otherwise rests on his driftwood or around it, and is rather active at feeding time; he devours NLS wafers with relish, and has refused live feeder fish of any sort ever since we bought him. So he's not aggressive when I put my hands in the tank, another disappointment to the public, who would love nothing more than a free show of me being shocked, and overall, is what most people would deem a lazy fish.

I don't know about handfeeding though...he is over a foot long, and it may be too late to start THAT training!

 

[venwu225]

New picture:

He now responds to my presence afront of the tank:

"Feed me!"

 

[shoefreak03]

It never moved and never killed anything. It sucked.

spoken by a true predatory fish lover...