To start, so far this is over the course of 2 weeks, unfortunately I’ll be going on vacation for 2 weeks but when I’m back will continue to update as things progress/happen, but In this thread I want to update my experience and progress with keeping these magnificent beasts.
The gulper catfish, a fish I never knew existed until I saw it in the “Giant fishes” Amazonas Magazine, and ever since I’ve dreamed of owning one. Unfortunately living in Edmonton Alberta nothing crazy rare or big comes in my area, maybe the odd red tail cat or tiger shovel nose (a total I’ve seen in person about 3 times over 6 or so years) and every couple months some small motoros or silver arowanna. Once my LFS got in a small group of Honeycomb catfish (Tatia perugiae) and I was in love, this was the fish that really kicked me off into the hobby at 12 years old, he was in a 13 gallon with 4 guppies. He was my favourite fish for 6 months until we moved houses and he unfortunately didn’t make it (That’s probably why I was so in love with gulpers since they remind me somewhat of a big honeycomb cat) Recently on a whim I decided to check my favourite importers lists and it surprised me that he had just got gulpers in, a fish I’ve searched for years. I quickly messaged him and was told they only came in a few days ago and already only 2 left, I instantly bought them and they were set to arrive in 3 days.
I had a 55 quarantine tank setup and ready (for another fish - but these took priority) so I put in an egg crate divider to avoid any possible cannibalism, with a large peice of driftwood on the right side for hiding space and to lower pH, and a small fake plastic driftwood on the left (I ran out of driftwood), the tank also has an eheim 150W heater, and 2 Aquaclear 30s and a small power head.
Before I leave, Im planning to get another driftwood piece on the left side, some PVC pipes, make some caves out of rocks and slate, possibly add some love plants like anubias and Java fern, and upgrade their filters to a Tidal 55 and 75.
They both arrived alive and healthy, although both were light from the stress of shipping one was almost completely white/silver but that went away after about 3 hours of being in the tank.
To make things easy, I’ve dubbed these guys #1 (left side/first pic) and Silver (right side/bottom pic)
Around the end of the next day I tried feeding them a peice of frozen/thawed shrimp, “silver” took it right away but #1 wanted nothing to do with it, although his whiskers did perk up he wasn’t interested.
The next day there was a small blue rock on the bottom of the tank (I’m assuming that #1 coughed up and that was the reason for him not eating) so I thawed some tilapia and he took it right away. Although I noticed something concerning, #1 has fish lice. With a bit of work the louse was successfully removed! Although #1 wasn’t too pleased.
2nd feeding was tilapia Fillets with Hikari Sinking Carnivore Pellets inside. #1 Greedily took and scarfed one down, Silver on the other hand was a bit reluctant. Showed interest and intent to eat but never fully took, my hunch is he may not like tilapia or pellets so I’ll be going to the store later today to pick up some shrimp and try the same method will pellets and see if he’ll take it.
But that’s all for now, until I’m back from vacation and can update more. Until I figure out how to properly use pictures/videos on here, I’ve uploaded videos to YouTube if you want to check it out:
The gulper catfish, a fish I never knew existed until I saw it in the “Giant fishes” Amazonas Magazine, and ever since I’ve dreamed of owning one. Unfortunately living in Edmonton Alberta nothing crazy rare or big comes in my area, maybe the odd red tail cat or tiger shovel nose (a total I’ve seen in person about 3 times over 6 or so years) and every couple months some small motoros or silver arowanna. Once my LFS got in a small group of Honeycomb catfish (Tatia perugiae) and I was in love, this was the fish that really kicked me off into the hobby at 12 years old, he was in a 13 gallon with 4 guppies. He was my favourite fish for 6 months until we moved houses and he unfortunately didn’t make it (That’s probably why I was so in love with gulpers since they remind me somewhat of a big honeycomb cat) Recently on a whim I decided to check my favourite importers lists and it surprised me that he had just got gulpers in, a fish I’ve searched for years. I quickly messaged him and was told they only came in a few days ago and already only 2 left, I instantly bought them and they were set to arrive in 3 days.
I had a 55 quarantine tank setup and ready (for another fish - but these took priority) so I put in an egg crate divider to avoid any possible cannibalism, with a large peice of driftwood on the right side for hiding space and to lower pH, and a small fake plastic driftwood on the left (I ran out of driftwood), the tank also has an eheim 150W heater, and 2 Aquaclear 30s and a small power head.
Before I leave, Im planning to get another driftwood piece on the left side, some PVC pipes, make some caves out of rocks and slate, possibly add some love plants like anubias and Java fern, and upgrade their filters to a Tidal 55 and 75.
They both arrived alive and healthy, although both were light from the stress of shipping one was almost completely white/silver but that went away after about 3 hours of being in the tank.
To make things easy, I’ve dubbed these guys #1 (left side/first pic) and Silver (right side/bottom pic)
Around the end of the next day I tried feeding them a peice of frozen/thawed shrimp, “silver” took it right away but #1 wanted nothing to do with it, although his whiskers did perk up he wasn’t interested.
The next day there was a small blue rock on the bottom of the tank (I’m assuming that #1 coughed up and that was the reason for him not eating) so I thawed some tilapia and he took it right away. Although I noticed something concerning, #1 has fish lice. With a bit of work the louse was successfully removed! Although #1 wasn’t too pleased.
2nd feeding was tilapia Fillets with Hikari Sinking Carnivore Pellets inside. #1 Greedily took and scarfed one down, Silver on the other hand was a bit reluctant. Showed interest and intent to eat but never fully took, my hunch is he may not like tilapia or pellets so I’ll be going to the store later today to pick up some shrimp and try the same method will pellets and see if he’ll take it.
But that’s all for now, until I’m back from vacation and can update more. Until I figure out how to properly use pictures/videos on here, I’ve uploaded videos to YouTube if you want to check it out:
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