I got this guy a while back from Rapps a little while before he closed shop at 6 inches and he's about 10" now. One of my all time favorite cats. I wanted to post a pic awhile back but he hardly ever sits still long enough for me to get a good shot.
Sparky the Bolt Catfish
- Thread starter eyespot
- Start date
I got this guy a while back from Rapps a little while before he closed shop at 6 inches and he's about 10" now. One of my all time favorite cats. I wanted to post a pic awhile back but he hardly ever sits still long enough for me to get a good shot.
Nice.
So that's about 4" in roughly one year. Sounds about right.
Tell us more about your observations, tank mate interactions, diet, what tank it is in, quirks, etc. please, if you will.
So that's about 4" in roughly one year. Sounds about right.
Tell us more about your observations, tank mate interactions, diet, what tank it is in, quirks, etc. please, if you will.
He's presently in a 125 with an adult female carpinte and adult female synspilum, 4 roseline barbs, a dull-eyed pleco and big-eyed synodontis and a 4 lined pim. He's really active and not shy at all in a bright tank. He doesn't bother anybody (mostly. I used to have 5 roseline barbs) and although the carpinte sometimes chases him from his territory next to an artificial log they never do any real damage and he doesn't get too stressed about it. The 4-lined pim also chases him from time to time but his territory is on the other side of the tank and they both generally seem fine with the living arrangements. He's a voracious eater who consumes anything I put in the tank which is NLS pellets, freeze-dried plankton, algae wafers and Cobalt Spirulina and mysis flakes. As far as cons, I've owned 3 before who were smaller and much more sensitive than the guy I have now and none of them lasted for more than a few months. All three of them died after I got home from traveling for a week and a half when tank maintenance would suffer a and they'd have contracted a bacterial infection that I couldn't successfully treat. The one I have now is much more hardy. The other con is they're pricey (250-300 for 6 inch specimens) but I think they're worth it. I do 80% water changes every 5 days and I have an FX6 cannister and an aquaclear 110 and Emperor 280 power filters for filtration. The tank has fine gravel and is decorated mostly with stones and driftwood and a couple of artificial plants. My tap water runs hard and alkaline and I treat it with Stress Coat plus. I think that about covers it!
Last edited:
Thank you for this. I enjoyed every bit of it. The filtration on your tank sounds great. I was going to ask about the roselines because they are shaped to be swallowed by the cat rather easily.
Our bolts did not bother anyone either (except each other from 3" right out of the bags, a minute into the acclimation) for a long time but after reaching around 12"-14", they became far more territorial and would chase almost any fish away from their end of a 240 gal. I wonder if you'd observe the same later on.
You say you had 3. Together? I think no way. I was only able to cohab our pair in a 4500 gal and even there they'd meet up for regular fights. This is no way to keep them, no matter the tank size.
Good appetite and indifference to light I also observed, so that's good and consistent.
I'd say ours were hardy. As for the price, wow, that's expensive indeed... but I am going on purchasing my pair in 2015 from Ted's Fishroom at $90 each at 3".
Here is my thread on them. https://www.monsterfishkeepers.com/...-2-years-old-in-4500-gal.683454/#post-7693793 Sadly, I've lost both, at adult 14"-16" sizes, one was too aggressive in a 240 gal to its tank mates and I transferred it to what I call a "jerk tank" hoping it would cope but it couldn't and I made a huge mistake of not being around to catch him getting whooped first class. The other one seemed to have contracted a columnaris or some such in 4500 gal at the time that I was having this infection wiping out many fish in my tanks over 6 months, back in 2018.
Our bolts did not bother anyone either (except each other from 3" right out of the bags, a minute into the acclimation) for a long time but after reaching around 12"-14", they became far more territorial and would chase almost any fish away from their end of a 240 gal. I wonder if you'd observe the same later on.
You say you had 3. Together? I think no way. I was only able to cohab our pair in a 4500 gal and even there they'd meet up for regular fights. This is no way to keep them, no matter the tank size.
Good appetite and indifference to light I also observed, so that's good and consistent.
I'd say ours were hardy. As for the price, wow, that's expensive indeed... but I am going on purchasing my pair in 2015 from Ted's Fishroom at $90 each at 3".
Here is my thread on them. https://www.monsterfishkeepers.com/...-2-years-old-in-4500-gal.683454/#post-7693793 Sadly, I've lost both, at adult 14"-16" sizes, one was too aggressive in a 240 gal to its tank mates and I transferred it to what I call a "jerk tank" hoping it would cope but it couldn't and I made a huge mistake of not being around to catch him getting whooped first class. The other one seemed to have contracted a columnaris or some such in 4500 gal at the time that I was having this infection wiping out many fish in my tanks over 6 months, back in 2018.
I generally don't keep the same or even similar species of cichlids and cats together to avoid fighting (I do have two spotted pims together in a 200 gallon that I've kept together for over ten years who mostly tolerate each other). I ordered my other bolts separately and they arrived healthy but I travel about 6 times a year for about a week and a half or so and the guy who takes care of my fish generally does a decent job but he doesn't do big water changes and he might overfeed so three times I came home to sick bolts with bacterial infections. It's possible those were WC and the one I have now is captive bred. Not sure. The other ones came in smaller (and cheaper) but at this point I have to believe young specimens are sensitive to subpar water conditions so I'm not sure if I would buy one much less than 5 inches in the future (though I'm glad it worked out for you). I remember seeing and enjoying your post and pics about your bolts. My guy isn't fully adult but he's so easy going I can't picture him getting as aggressive as yours (I really hope not, at any rate).
I've always found the bolt to be too laid back to be aggressive but never kept with another bolt. He is in with a couple of cactus plec, a birchir, dwarf giraffe, synodontis and an albino mystus all of whom he gets on well with.
Never found him to be "tender" even from 3" and to be honest he gets no more than 20% water change biweekly, has 8000 gal/hr turnover through two internal filters and an external canister filter in a mature 125g tank.
lives up to his name when food arrives in the form of mussels and white fish, and makes sure he is first served.
lights don't really bother him but he does prefer a shady corner.a
he must now be around 4yr old and 14" and cost £65 at 3" . The same shop are now selling them at £140 at 4" .
Never found him to be "tender" even from 3" and to be honest he gets no more than 20% water change biweekly, has 8000 gal/hr turnover through two internal filters and an external canister filter in a mature 125g tank.
lives up to his name when food arrives in the form of mussels and white fish, and makes sure he is first served.
lights don't really bother him but he does prefer a shady corner.a
he must now be around 4yr old and 14" and cost £65 at 3" . The same shop are now selling them at £140 at 4" .
