Tigers, current, and bubbles?

[DB junkie]

I have Tiger tank questions......

I know many of you with ATF have set up crazy current in your tanks. What exactly is the reason/s for this? I know this ups metabolism, but if that's the goal wouldn't raising the temp also help?

Crazy current should increase oxygen, but if that is the goal then wouldn't a crazy amount of bubbles also help increase O2? Lower temps should also help with O2 right?

What are you guys keeping temps at and why that temp?

How much air are you guys using in your tanks? Could more be beneficial? Could it be beneficial to "cloud" the water with bubbles so it's hard for them to see? Possibly breaking up line of sight to increase chances of a successful group being kept together in one tank???

Would love to hear others input.....

 

[Chicxulub]

IME, everything that you've listed all of my ATF have seemed to adore. I have Max the GATF and I've had a tanzaniae, a Congo vittatus and a Zambezi vittatus. All four were the calmest and happiest when they had violent surface agitation, ridiculously high current and lots of bubbles in the water column. It was normal for them to either swim into the current for extended periods of time or if they were looking for food sit in an eddy beside the current waiting for food to flow by. The types of places they would go would be behind a rock or in the slack spot where the water from the left side of the tank hits the right side and moves up, there's always a dead spot there.

Before I started giving them their powerful current, my fish would dart all over the tank and would be skittish. They would smash into the glass from startling at the dog walking by. It was terrible.

I later learned that tigerfish are white water fish who in the wild like to wait just downstream of natural barriers that bring prey fish to them in a dazed manner. In the wild, they will often wait in eddies for the rapid current to bring their food to them.

The other type of environment that they tend to favor is huge open water areas in very large rivers and lakes. They tend to form schools of like sized fish and hunt baitfish. With being such powerful swimmers, ATF are uniquely suited to a pelagic lifestyle they have the capacity to cover huge swaths of open water shockingly quickly.

Given the two environments favored by these fish, it is my opinion that the high current biotope is much easier to replicate in our little glass boxes. A fish that is as powerful of a swimmer as these are will have no trouble dealing with the current, and will feel much more secure considering that he always has odd looking, ugly round things staring at him from outside of the invisible wall that keeps him through the glass.

All in all, the intent is to simulate a crashing whitewater as closely as possible.

Hope that all makes sense.

 

[djaalix]

Ok here goes, I'm sure to babble a lot but mixed in they'll be some decent info, from my experience at least

Firstly I figured since my Goliaths come from the congo, and its located on the equator hot is good ... the congo also isnt like the amazon, where theres a rainy and dry season, its fed from both the southern and northern hemispheres, thus its water level and params stay virtually the same year round, thus the current is always there .... these fish prey on other fish that get caught in the strong current and cant get out easily, making them easy for the tiger to attack .... I keep my tank at 82, but would have it at 86 if I thought my cats could handle it, dont want to push too hard though

In the beginning when I got my tigers they fought a lot and slowly developed white patchy areas and didnt know why ... turned out it was lack of enough current cause when i added a powerhead it went away, then the growth started, so this is the main reason .... I think the strong current also helps them to relax, kinda forces them to stay put rather than racing around the tank and I think this combined with bubbles helps them to spazz or be spooked less ... I have noticed that by dropping pellets in the current they love to swim in, grab it, then swim out, but they have no problem scooping them off the bottom either

I have about 3500 gph coming from the return, and 4, 3250 gph power heads, mostly towards the top causing lots of surface agitation, and 1 big bubbler with a 6 line outlet all with discs to the sump ... along with 2 regular bubblers that I have ziptied to the return line for a bubbly powerhead look ... I think the bubbles create a lot of noise and yes to break up line of sight so they freak out less ... if the fish gets used to a very active tank I've seen they are less likely to be spooked, which has been my biggest proboem with ATF's ... in all honesty though all the bubblers I have I think are somewhat unnecessary, they are more there to make sure the cats get enough oxygen in the warmer water, but I'm sure it benefits the tigers as well

I've noticed time and time again as I add powerheads the tigers seem to be more calm and feed more ... its just gotten to the point that adding more actually will reduce the current in my tank because the powerheads begin fighting eachother .... the front of the tank has the most current from the return and powerheads, while the back of the tank is more a slow pull of the water being dragged to the powerheads so the front moves right to left and fast and the back of the tank from left to right... the tigers attack in the current, then chill in the back ... I also stumbled on something kind of neat .... my tank is unlevel thus I have a powerhead pushing water into the left overflow ... this powerhead is attached to the left of the middle overflow at the surface and blows to the left overflow thus it is fighting the left to right current in the back ... this creates sort of a stagnant area at the left top of the tank as the return line flow in the front meets this push because they are fighting eachother and meet at the far left of the tank .... this allows for floating food to not get sucked up into the overflow immediatly, which has always been why I shied away from floating pellets, and is where a lot of surface feeding takes place .... this also creates a downward water movement thus supplying the cats with a strong breeze ... most of the time I dont see their gills moving, they just have their mouth open a little and the water forcefeeds over their gills much like a shark swimming to breath

Hopefully I answered at least a couple of your questions with my rambling

Sent from my SCH-I605 using MonsterAquariaNetwork App

 

[ShadowStryder]

Ive always used heavy current. Pushing in multiple directions by multiple (5) sources. My tiger swims the whole tank and doesnt just hang out in front of a single current source swimming in place. Always have kept temps in the 76-78 range. And never been a big fan of bubbles. I keep the sump return close to the surface producing large amounts of surface agitation removing the need for bubbles.

 

[DB junkie]

Ive always used heavy current. Pushing in multiple directions by multiple (5) sources.

What are the sources? How many GPH?

I won't give up my bubbles...... Love the bubbles. I notch the returns to get more for free.....

 

[Chicxulub]

What are the sources? How many GPH?

I won't give up my bubbles...... Love the bubbles. I notch the returns to get more for free.....

The reason Alix and I have our tanks set up with laminar flow is intentionally to keep the ATF in one part of the tank. When dealing with a large, powerful swimming fish, they benefit greatly from a treadmill. It has a wonderful calming effect on them.

 

[ShadowStryder]

What are the sources? How many GPH?

I won't give up my bubbles...... Love the bubbles. I notch the returns to get more for free.....

My Mag 24 for the sump pushing appx 2000, 2 Koralias pushing 1650 each and my 2 FX5s. Not as much as a lot of peeps but more than enough for my stock. If my Tiger hangs in one place its usually somewhere right in the middle of the setup. Biggest reason I stay away from bubbles is my water is so hard that it leaves hard water build up on the top of tank. Its bad enough that it does it without bubbles.
But every time I see yours and others I take another step closer to adding them.....

 

[Reedmaster16]

Here is what ive been doing.

Ive been growing out another goliath in my pup tank the past 2 years. Instead of doing the monster current like I did with the first one I kept the flow rate lower over the first year. No powerheads just large volume of oxygen. Growth rate was slower but the fish seemed much calmer with less freak outs banging against the glass when surprised.

This past January I added a 3,000 gph pump that runs my mechanical. Creates a nice amount of flow in a 150 haha. Growth rate has accelerated from the increased flow and hes about ready to move into an 8x3.

Current aeration setup Alita al-40 runs a small bio reactor and also a large 9" air disk in the tank. Temp range 78-79f.

They definitely enjoy a high flow tank but I wouldn't recommend bombarding a small 2-3" tiger with massive current from the start. Gradually increase it over time as the fish gets stronger seems like a better less stressful method. Perhaps something like putting powerheads on timers to give them a couple hours to rest at night might be an interesting option to try out as well. All muscles need some time to rest & rebuild.

Thinking about putting together a little tiger tank Al ? For the best and healthiest fish a solo specimen would be ideal. I don't see a group working long term after they get to a certain size although your 750 may have enough space for a group. Tattered fins and small skirmished will most likely still happen but cant say for sure, every fish has a different temperament.

 

[DB junkie]

Here is what ive been doing.

Ive been growing out another goliath in my pup tank the past 2 years. Instead of doing the monster current like I did with the first one I kept the flow rate lower over the first year. No powerheads just large volume of oxygen. Growth rate was slower but the fish seemed much calmer with less freak outs banging against the glass when surprised.

This past January I added a 3,000 gph pump that runs my mechanical. Creates a nice amount of flow in a 150 haha. Growth rate has accelerated from the increased flow and hes about ready to move into an 8x3.

Current aeration setup Alita al-40 runs a small bio reactor and also a large 9" air disk in the tank. Temp range 78-79f.

They definitely enjoy a high flow tank but I wouldn't recommend bombarding a small 2-3" tiger with massive current from the start. Gradually increase it over time as the fish gets stronger seems like a better less stressful method. Perhaps something like putting powerheads on timers to give them a couple hours to rest at night might be an interesting option to try out as well. All muscles need some time to rest & rebuild.

Thinking about putting together a little tiger tank Al ? For the best and healthiest fish a solo specimen would be ideal. I don't see a group working long term after they get to a certain size although your 750 may have enough space for a group. Tattered fins and small skirmished will most likely still happen but cant say for sure, every fish has a different temperament.

There's a video of my lil Tiger tank in the Dorado update thread. I must say I'm pretty surprised they're actually growing, have always heard they are very slow growers, but maybe the ridiculous current is to thank for that. The tank is a 4x3x1.5. I have a pair of the bigger rio pumps in the corner, and a Dolphin 3K with maybe a foot of head on it. Had to go with a pair of 2" drains to be able to let the pump run wide open. I notched the returns above the water level so there's a pretty ridiculous amount of aeration to go along with the current. The silver dollars can't even swim in it. That's the reason I was curious about the current. It looks like the Tigers are swimming like mad just to stay still. I've never kept ATF so I have no clue when to say when. I thought this seemed a little excessive. There has to be 5K gph swirling around in that lil 150. But everyone seems to be on the more is better bandwagon.

I'm going to be pretty bummed if it doesn't work out long term. I've always been fascinated by the idea ever since seeing Tigerfang's tank. After failing several times trying to raise Armatus I figured why not try a group of Tigers? I'm alright with some tattered fins and skirmishes, I have too many preds not to expect some squabbles along the way. (pretty sure squabbles come standard equipment on Dorado and Aimara) I'm hoping I'll have enough fish swimming around here to find some kind of combo that will work. The 750 is as big as I felt comfy with since I rent and don't own yet. Once I get a house bought I'll build something much larger then the 10x4 footprint my big "growout" has......

 

[Reedmaster16]

Very cool ill check out that video after work. Seems like the current definitely speeds up the growth rate. With the large amount of current my old goliath grew at least twice as fast as my current one.

10x4 could very well be a great size for the right group of one of the smaller species. Looking forward to updates as the little fellas grow.