stripped raphael questions

[DrownedFishonFire]

Give them alot of hiding spots large enough. For the salts question I have dosed the tanks with those guys in it with salts and they did fine with it seemed much happier though I only did this for a very short time. I have 2 11'' ones and 2 6''+ (ones a spotted though) then I reduced the doseage after a month.

from my experience. do a setup with NO sharp edges. They're very clumsy when they get bigger and would cut their fins and wear it down to the nub. I'm trying to avoid that right now on those setups when they're trying to squeeze their fat selves in holes. I have a 6'' PVC T connectors in the tank and the edges of that PVC connector is not that sharp. Though they do hang out in those they like to hang out in smallest pVc pipes they can squeeze themselves into like a security blanket.

 

[Swallowed]

I used aquri-sol to rid my raphael spotted cat. It worked good for ich and didnt hurt any of the plants i was growing.

 

[Siluriformes]

I've had two r[FONT=&quot]aphaels[/FONT].

The first ate nearly nothing, never came out, and never grew. He is now sitting in someone else's tank as a vacuum cleaner. I got him at 3" and he stayed the same size.

My other is my fattest, greediest fish. I got him at 3" and he grew to 6" in about 6 months, and then slowed down and has only grown 0.5” since then.
He eats everything. I feed him a variety of sinking pellets, he eats the left over flake food, other sinking food, bloodworms, and he even eats tadpoles and small fish if they get too close to his mouth.

He doesn't mind coming out in the daytime, and often has thrashing battles with my pleco when they compete for pellets.
He makes an effort to spend as little time in the open as possible though, so as soon as the food is gone, so is he.

I keep that tank slightly acidic and slightly warmer too, as I have heard they prefer this, although I believe they are hardy enough to handle most sane conditions.

 

[GarNiac]

Yes-definitely give them hiding places! They need them. They're nocturnal and usually always come out just at night. I've got 4 in different tanks and will come down in the middle of the night and they're swimming all over but in the daytime I don't see them. My brother has one in his Discus tank that will come out the second food hits the tank, but not my 4. I got mine at 1" just over 2 yrs ago and they're 5" now counting their tail. Yes, they grow real slow.

thanks, mine is only around 4", I wish I could get larger than that, I guess I have to be patient with them, I currently put them in the same tank with my Botia loaches (I think thats what we call it here), Pictus catfish, Plecos, and some Hillstream loaches. They never turn to each other, I guess its a one big happy community at this moment.

Give them alot of hiding spots large enough. For the salts question I have dosed the tanks with those guys in it with salts and they did fine with it seemed much happier though I only did this for a very short time. I have 2 11'' ones and 2 6''+ (ones a spotted though) then I reduced the doseage after a month.

from my experience. do a setup with NO sharp edges. They're very clumsy when they get bigger and would cut their fins and wear it down to the nub. I'm trying to avoid that right now on those setups when they're trying to squeeze their fat selves in holes. I have a 6'' PVC T connectors in the tank and the edges of that PVC connector is not that sharp. Though they do hang out in those they like to hang out in smallest pVc pipes they can squeeze themselves into like a security blanket.

thanks, pvc give me some idea with the set up, I was thinking of making one my self by making hiding cave using a black glass, something like a tunnel where they can hide. You have 2 11" raphael???, truly, I want something like that happen soon.

I used aquri-sol to rid my raphael spotted cat. It worked good for ich and didnt hurt any of the plants i was growing.

thanks, we dont have aquri-sol, too bad, here we only have a cheaper product which I'm not too sure if its gonna work.

I've had two r[FONT=&quot]aphaels[/FONT].

The first ate nearly nothing, never came out, and never grew. He is now sitting in someone else's tank as a vacuum cleaner. I got him at 3" and he stayed the same size.

My other is my fattest, greediest fish. I got him at 3" and he grew to 6" in about 6 months, and then slowed down and has only grown 0.5” since then.
He eats everything. I feed him a variety of sinking pellets, he eats the left over flake food, other sinking food, bloodworms, and he even eats tadpoles and small fish if they get too close to his mouth.

He doesn't mind coming out in the daytime, and often has thrashing battles with my pleco when they compete for pellets.
He makes an effort to spend as little time in the open as possible though, so as soon as the food is gone, so is he.

I keep that tank slightly acidic and slightly warmer too, as I have heard they prefer this, although I believe they are hardy enough to handle most sane conditions.

I think you did really well with they grow, I havent seen grow in raphael that fast before.

 

[GarNiac]

from your experience, is it better to use sand in the tank to keep raphael?is there a chance that they could swallowed the sand?

 

[TwistedPenguin]

I have sand in all 18+ of my tanks. I don't see a problem with it & Raphaels.

 

[DrownedFishonFire]

the caves sounds good as long as the glass edges are not sharp- theyre very clumsy-

and yes theres few raphaels even bigger than 12'' I think the biggest one eyeballing it swimming next to a massive RTC was at least 24-30'' long minimum in a thread off planetcatfish.com at a public aquarium I think in europe or something like that. Gotta find that thread. One of the best big specimens I have ever seen in my life and want to do that goal myself raise beautiful ones like that.


For cats- I do personally like to use sand- they like sifting thru those stuff and its way easier on their whiskers. they can eat sand for all I care knowing it'll pass thru them easier than a rock/pebble. Though some kind of sand isn't gonna be good for them I am not sure which sand had the bad stuff in it- have to do your research on the sand sources. I have been using my local river's sand and 3m quartz sand which is very easy for me to get as the supplier is only 30 minute drive from my house.

 

[leeping4]

raphael catfish are light shy mostly and love being lazy and hiding

 

[GarNiac]

I am planning to make a rectangular cave for them, made from glass, hope fully they like it. I dont they shy, just lazy lol.