My little Wels update he is pushing 8" love this little dude
My Wels Catfish (silurus glanis) albino
- Thread starter that_fish_Guy
- Start date
Probably lol...but I will try. And thanks!
UPDATE September 8. 2016
Seems to be growing a little bit with the switch from Massivore to bio gold + would have never expected that but I am guessing sometimes a change in diet can trigger a growth spurt. He absolutely refuses krill much to my dismay. He has seemed to put on girth as well as length but from my observation is a very slow grower. I eventually plan to offer shrimp and tilapia but he has refused in the past. Seems like a pellet kind of fish. His head and mouth have noticeably grown wider as well. Very hard to see growth in the pictures but In person you can tell. Also just a question. I know bigger is better. But a gentlemen argued with me on abother social media platform that an absolute minimum pond size for this fish would be 32ftx32ftx4 which I thought in the practical sense was ridiculous. I plan to do something around 12-16 foot long 8 foot wide and 4 foot tall with the water line only comming to 3 foot tall. Would I be cruel in doing so? I imagined that that a pond of that size would suffice considering in the wild common sizes are 300cm or 9 foot although in captivity I wouldn't expect him to top that.....although he deffinately could. Give me your thoughts and opinions. Am I wrong for allocating only 12foot or 16ftx8ftx3ft? If I am please elaborate. At the end of the day we all keep fish in boxes and we can never compare to the wild.....but then again we aren't all peta sympathizers we still would like to keep fish.
I believe your dimensions are sufficient. Also keep in mind an albino usually grows slower and not as large as regular fish.
I think ur proposed tank is more than fine... can always build a bigger one if hes 8'... my 3500 build for my guy is about the same at 14'x8'x4'... Hes currently 47" and in a 9'x4'x30". Does he seem big for the enclosure... sure... but he gets around more than fine. Itell be a feat in itself and a good 10 yrs+ before either of ours are 8' long. I do not believe albinos are insuperior to growth from their normal colored counter parts. theres plenty of rod n reel records for albinos in the 7-8' length at 250-275lbs just the same as the regs.
I do believe its highly plausible for captive specimen to achieve 6-8' no prob. my guy is only 4 yrs old goin on 5 and dangerously close to 48" in only a 4' width tank. been steady at 12" a year for me from 7". The 8'ers caught on rod n reel are estimated around 20 yrs old.
Great post from Wed and an eye candy and inspiration too.
Except that I think we ain't got the statistics to say whether the albinos are the same or inferior to regular wels in one way or another. Science says they cannot be the same because gene mutation never occurs alone. But whether it manifests itself in any significant or notable way for wels kept in captivity, we simply don't know.
For instance, perhaps, given everything equal, they live only 25-50 years instead of the regular 100-150. Or max out well under 10' instead of well over. We'd likely never know.
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Mine too strongly prefers pellets (cheap, commercial catfish farm type) to cut or whole fish or shrimp. I had read about that before but still was surprised to see ~100% resolve (unless starved well).
As for the tank size, since they love swimming, I'd go with the 6xL by 3xL footprint rule, where L = fish total length. Again, somewhat science-based. I've always recommended larger sizes (hence my name) than Wed. In reality, he is a better keeper and knows better what he is talking. Note we both do things on a shoestring. Pick your poison...
Except that I think we ain't got the statistics to say whether the albinos are the same or inferior to regular wels in one way or another. Science says they cannot be the same because gene mutation never occurs alone. But whether it manifests itself in any significant or notable way for wels kept in captivity, we simply don't know.
For instance, perhaps, given everything equal, they live only 25-50 years instead of the regular 100-150. Or max out well under 10' instead of well over. We'd likely never know.
*********************************************************************
Mine too strongly prefers pellets (cheap, commercial catfish farm type) to cut or whole fish or shrimp. I had read about that before but still was surprised to see ~100% resolve (unless starved well).
As for the tank size, since they love swimming, I'd go with the 6xL by 3xL footprint rule, where L = fish total length. Again, somewhat science-based. I've always recommended larger sizes (hence my name) than Wed. In reality, he is a better keeper and knows better what he is talking. Note we both do things on a shoestring. Pick your poison...
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UPDATE;October 14 2016:
He hasn't put on any more size since the last update he has really been on a hunger strike...I have offered Fresh shrimp,tilapia,smelt(aka silversides) even Fresh salmon just to try it (yea I know it's oily) hikari Massivore, North fin Carnivore and Kens fish krill pellets even tried a cheaper filler type pellet he has REFUSED it all...he has gotten to the point where he hardly will accept pellets and won't take an interest to anything I used to be able to see him eat readily and now I am not even sure if he is eating or not ....I am worried this hunger strike will hinder his growth or worse lead to death
I am pretty worried right now have run out of options don't know what to do ....I highly doubt he has internal parasites or anything because I treated him with meds pretty well from the beginning. ....I have him in a 48x18 110 gallon he seems to fit in just fine for now....I think he really wouldn't be able to find food in my 6x3x3 otherwise I would have moved him already. The water parameters are 0ppm Ammonia 0ppm Nitrite and 0-5 ppm Nitrate I do 50% weekly water changes with one in between sometimes for detritus cleaning. I have expiremented with temperature to see if that would help with no avail. I am pretty stuck right now maybe
wednesday13
or
thebiggerthebetter
could chime in and offer some advice....he is Maybe 7-10 inches pretty hard to see when you are eyeballing.
He hasn't put on any more size since the last update he has really been on a hunger strike...I have offered Fresh shrimp,tilapia,smelt(aka silversides) even Fresh salmon just to try it (yea I know it's oily) hikari Massivore, North fin Carnivore and Kens fish krill pellets even tried a cheaper filler type pellet he has REFUSED it all...he has gotten to the point where he hardly will accept pellets and won't take an interest to anything I used to be able to see him eat readily and now I am not even sure if he is eating or not ....I am worried this hunger strike will hinder his growth or worse lead to death
I am pretty worried right now have run out of options don't know what to do ....I highly doubt he has internal parasites or anything because I treated him with meds pretty well from the beginning. ....I have him in a 48x18 110 gallon he seems to fit in just fine for now....I think he really wouldn't be able to find food in my 6x3x3 otherwise I would have moved him already. The water parameters are 0ppm Ammonia 0ppm Nitrite and 0-5 ppm Nitrate I do 50% weekly water changes with one in between sometimes for detritus cleaning. I have expiremented with temperature to see if that would help with no avail. I am pretty stuck right now maybe
wednesday13
or
thebiggerthebetter
could chime in and offer some advice....he is Maybe 7-10 inches pretty hard to see when you are eyeballing.
How long has he been refusing food? IME when a cat slows down feeding and lays low hes just growing and should come back with vigor/appetite. Tempature and season could have a play in the mix also. Not sure what ur weathers like in cali but my specimen will slow down when its cold here in the fall...You cant just feed a cat every day either in my book. If you do, they will eventually shut off for a while on their own as needed to digest and grow. Sporadic feeding is always best IMO, every other day, every day, cple-few days off a week....etc... gotta keep em hungry or there just gonna sit there... Its not good to over pack their bellies all the time either. U can blow an anus out or cause bloat leading to rigimortis lol... My specimen is a big baby. If i annoy him too much with guests, scare/startle him, mess with his space, or dont prepare his fillets properly that day hes known to go sit in the corner and refuse feeding. Ive kept my guy unheated ever since ive had em and his tempature range is 68-76 through the year. average would be 70-72 for the most part. Id stop messing with ur heater, pick where u want it and let it be. changin it around inconstiently could make him shut off feeding also. If your ambient water temp is somewhere between 70-76 id unplugg the heater all together... If hes skinny and ur worried he needs a meal maaybe bump up to 76 and stay there for a while. i dont think ive ever hit 78 degrees. i dont even keep my stingrays that warm consistently.
Hasn't eaten well in at least two weeks today I am going to do a 75% water change and wait a few days to offer food. I understand that cats can be fed every other day or sporadically but I'm just worried due to his size...he isnt large enough yet to do without food for a good while I don't think.. water is 76 deg. He does not look too skinny but you can defiately tell he does not look as beefy as he used to (excuse the water marks)
Ahh...2 weeks is nothin even for a small cat. the fat storage is around that top fin/head area and he looks pretty appropriate weight to me. hes prob just stretchin out a bit. Like i said before u cant just keep pumpin him full every day and not expect a break like this every so often. I wouldnt change ur normal routine. hell come around in time. Its not uncommon for cats to hit 12" take a break...18" take a break...24"....30"....and so on.
