Almost forty years as a fishkeeper who has loved and kept many catfish and for thirty five of them one fish that I had wanted to own had eluded me. The bolt cat, aguarunichthys torosus.
Then on one of my quarterly visits to Neil at Pier aquatics in Wigan I came across a tank of 10 small (3" ) vulture cats £60 each, close but not what I had craved for so long. They were a car I had admired and never kept so I would have one. At the counter I told Neil of my real wish for the bolt. Did you not want the one I have. He asked.
Well, that's not like me to miss any fish in a display tank, even if they are not yet labled. The tank next to the vultures too sure enough had a 3" bolt cat, sat hiding under a branch facing a decent current.
That was it, price was not going to matter, although to my surprise £65. A total spend of £125 and I had two 3" beauties.
I'm not one for technology, heck I signed up for mfk in 2015 and still have hardly posted anything so my biggest regret in all my years keeping cats (and to a similar extent Kids) is that I don't take nearly enough photos. I'm writing this thread now and I have no photos of these two when they were small.
I got them home and was determined they would grow separate so each went into an identical 40g tank for the first six months. They were both fed a mix of sprat, coley, frozen bloodworm and mussel meat and right from that point it was obvious that they were two similar looking but completely different fish.
The vulture was always on the move, swam in the current against it and grew fast, reaching 6" in less than 5 months.
the bolt however was more subdued, he would sit under a branch where the vulture would rest on top of one, he would like the current in his Dave but if he was to swim in it then it would be up the face of the glass against it, not round the tank. And if he did come out and about the tank it was in fast bursts out, grab good and back under the branch, whereas the vulture was a fast cruise around but very confidently.
the bolt took 9 months to get to 6" , maybe a little longer but I would put this down to their eventual sizes. Vulture circa 24" , whereas bolt circa13" .
At 9" the and maybe a year old the vulture moved to the pond with the bigger fish but I was confident he would fit in, and he did.
As for the bolt, it was becoming apparent that he would never got in the pond and was always going to be a tank fish, or at least for the next few years.
he spent the next year in a n 80 gal corner tank with a decent footprint, with L114 plecs, synos, tiger dat and various large botai, constantly trying to avoid my camera (yes I eventually started taking the odd photo)
Then on one of my quarterly visits to Neil at Pier aquatics in Wigan I came across a tank of 10 small (3" ) vulture cats £60 each, close but not what I had craved for so long. They were a car I had admired and never kept so I would have one. At the counter I told Neil of my real wish for the bolt. Did you not want the one I have. He asked.
Well, that's not like me to miss any fish in a display tank, even if they are not yet labled. The tank next to the vultures too sure enough had a 3" bolt cat, sat hiding under a branch facing a decent current.
That was it, price was not going to matter, although to my surprise £65. A total spend of £125 and I had two 3" beauties.
I'm not one for technology, heck I signed up for mfk in 2015 and still have hardly posted anything so my biggest regret in all my years keeping cats (and to a similar extent Kids) is that I don't take nearly enough photos. I'm writing this thread now and I have no photos of these two when they were small.
I got them home and was determined they would grow separate so each went into an identical 40g tank for the first six months. They were both fed a mix of sprat, coley, frozen bloodworm and mussel meat and right from that point it was obvious that they were two similar looking but completely different fish.
The vulture was always on the move, swam in the current against it and grew fast, reaching 6" in less than 5 months.
the bolt however was more subdued, he would sit under a branch where the vulture would rest on top of one, he would like the current in his Dave but if he was to swim in it then it would be up the face of the glass against it, not round the tank. And if he did come out and about the tank it was in fast bursts out, grab good and back under the branch, whereas the vulture was a fast cruise around but very confidently.
the bolt took 9 months to get to 6" , maybe a little longer but I would put this down to their eventual sizes. Vulture circa 24" , whereas bolt circa13" .
At 9" the and maybe a year old the vulture moved to the pond with the bigger fish but I was confident he would fit in, and he did.
As for the bolt, it was becoming apparent that he would never got in the pond and was always going to be a tank fish, or at least for the next few years.
he spent the next year in a n 80 gal corner tank with a decent footprint, with L114 plecs, synos, tiger dat and various large botai, constantly trying to avoid my camera (yes I eventually started taking the odd photo)
thanks for sharing. Good read. How’s its temperament towards tank mates in your experience