we have a striped raphy. hes sweet. although they dont grow very fast or get very big, i still suggest them. ill find a picture and post it in a minute
Striped Raphael Catfish
- Thread starter nathgi89
- Start date
When it comes to overfeeding, raphs are champions. I gave my 7" female to my LFS for their display tank, since she doesn't really hide. Problem is, when they feed the tank (which houses a large giraffe cat and big cichlids), she is first on the scene. And last on the scene. And she'll keep trying to inhale every chunk of food she sees, even when it's the same piece that keeps falling out of her mouth because her softball-sized belly is packed full already. She looks about like the pic of oldfish's above, but her ventral fins are missing.
And this is gandalf, another greedy eater who actually grows rather quickly for what I assumed was an old, stunted specimen. He was a freebie from Petco and was only 6" two years ago, now he's pushing eight! So even though he's old and gray-looking with gnarled fins, he is proving to have had great potential. Even if a raph looks like trash, grab it. You never know how it will change.
First brought home: (looks like a turd, huh?)
Now: (much more elegant! It even seems the pectoral fins have straightened!)
And this is gandalf, another greedy eater who actually grows rather quickly for what I assumed was an old, stunted specimen. He was a freebie from Petco and was only 6" two years ago, now he's pushing eight! So even though he's old and gray-looking with gnarled fins, he is proving to have had great potential. Even if a raph looks like trash, grab it. You never know how it will change.
First brought home: (looks like a turd, huh?)
Now: (much more elegant! It even seems the pectoral fins have straightened!)
oldfish;5129095; said:I've had mine for 20 plus years.took a snapshot about 4 years ago
I've had a Raph for years and he never ballooned up like that until I added a second one. They both looked like that lol. After I separated them into separate tanks, they never balloon up any more.
I have had 2 for about 5 yrs now. The were tiny when I got them and now they are about 6-8" and obese now. They hide all day long. The cool thing is in the eve when the light is off they make croaking noises that you can hear from across the room. They are peaceful fish but all they want to do is eat and hide.
Another good thing about Raph's is they're almost indestructible. I can keep them with aggressive cichlids without fear of them being injured.
