Sparky the Bolt Catfish

[eyespot]

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" .
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He's a good looking cat! I can only speak from my own experience regarding young bolts. I've been keeping a wide variety of fish for 37 years and the only fish in that time (to the best of my memory) that have consistently given me trouble keeping them healthy and happy in the long term are the bolts, hericthys carpintes, and rainbow snakeheads (once upon a time). But, the bolt and carpinte I have now are both well-established and doing fine (knock on wood) so fingers crossed! As far as the massive water changes, I imagine I'll cut back on that volume if I ever get around to converting my tanks to wet/drys.

 

[Fishman Dave]

The fish i find are the hardest to keep are the ones I want to keep the most. I think I over keep them!
I often come back off holiday when my parents , who know nothing about fish, and do no water changes , have been looking after them, only to find that none have died and often something has bred!!!!!