Hello all! I am new here and this will be my first post, so forgive me if this is not in the right section. Anyways, straight to the point. I have kept quite a few fish over the years, ranging from the standard goldfish while I was a young kid, up to cichlids and catfish, a few were local fish taken from the rivers and lakes near me. Heck, I even had a few mudpuppies in a tank once. A few years ago I kind of stopped keeping fish due to moving several times in a short span of time. However, recently I have adopted an Oscar from a friend who's wife hated it because it kept attacking her fish she put in the tank with it. He's about 4" right now and living happily alone in my old 50 gallon tank. Acquiring this fish has reminded me of how much fun fish keeping is! And I would love to get back into it. The Oscar is a cool fish, but my real soft spot is for catfish. Years ago, I had a 100 gallon tank bought from a friend with a 20 something inch channel cat caught from a local lake in it. After a few months, I moved out of my parents' house, sold the tank and released the fish back into the wild. A few months later I bought a used 50 gallon tank, set it up and set out for a fish for that one. I happened to catch a small yellow bullhead catfish while fishing one night, and put it in there. Eventually she had a few bluegill taken from a friend's pond as tank mates. The bullhead was by far my favorite fish of all the ones I owned, so easy to care for and very fun to watch. She even became familiar with being touched after awhile. Eventually, she appeared to be too big for the tank and was released into the lake she was caught from. The bluegill were also released back into the pond they came from when I had to move again.
Anyways, I have been researching other species of catfish that would be good for smaller sized tanks (100 gallon or less), and happened across a so called Dwarf Goonch catfish. I always liked the looks of the Goonch, and was intrigued by the idea of a smaller species. What can possibly be cooler than a catfish with teeth! I began researching them, which brought me to this forum
I found a very well written post by a member here about the difficulty of actually identifying these things. I also ran into a few posts here and on catfish planet saying that a gentleman by the name of Wes Wong sells them when he gets them into his store. I guess my question on this is if Wes sells them, how can I contact him about buying one? I cannot seem to find a website for his store. And also, can he be sure that they are indeed the Dwarf variant and not the monster? The last thing I want to do is buy something that will get too big which cannot be released into the local waters. I know there have been many posts about this here, and apologize for adding another, but I believe from what I have read so far that IF this type of fish is a possibility, then Wes is the go to guy for acquiring one. Any and all information is greatly appreciated!
Anyways, I have been researching other species of catfish that would be good for smaller sized tanks (100 gallon or less), and happened across a so called Dwarf Goonch catfish. I always liked the looks of the Goonch, and was intrigued by the idea of a smaller species. What can possibly be cooler than a catfish with teeth! I began researching them, which brought me to this forum
I found a very well written post by a member here about the difficulty of actually identifying these things. I also ran into a few posts here and on catfish planet saying that a gentleman by the name of Wes Wong sells them when he gets them into his store. I guess my question on this is if Wes sells them, how can I contact him about buying one? I cannot seem to find a website for his store. And also, can he be sure that they are indeed the Dwarf variant and not the monster? The last thing I want to do is buy something that will get too big which cannot be released into the local waters. I know there have been many posts about this here, and apologize for adding another, but I believe from what I have read so far that IF this type of fish is a possibility, then Wes is the go to guy for acquiring one. Any and all information is greatly appreciated!
So they are social fish, huh? I remember now in the river monsters episode on the giant version they showed a school of them hanging onto the side of a rock face. Anyways, they seem to be a bit more than I can handle, at least for now. When I get a house and don't rent anymore maybe the 2 footer would be something to look into. For now I don't want to have to move anything bigger than a 100 gallon tank out of my current apartment. Are there any other species of catfish that resemble the Goonch at all, such as the shape of the mouth and head? By the way, great looking Goonch you have there in your avatar, Awesome
