Tips to stop tsn breaking their nose?

[monsterkeeper87]

I'm not sure its always genetics neccisarily I wonder if its insufficient/improper nutrition. But in a nutshell.. poor husbandry is where I'de wager 90% of deformed large cats come from. either poor water quality, food, tank space.. or often a combination of 2 or all. The only time I've had issues with large cats health wise was when I had a filter crash on me... I haven't had a significant amount of big cats to really guage how often genetic issues come into play but I've seen plenty of obviosuely stunted/poorly kept ones with physical defects ect... imo TSNS and other active predatory cats are best housed like sw sharks.. in large round/oval enclosures opposed to 4 walls. I have noticed a difference in my hybrid and tsn since moving them to my round pool. not just how much calmer they are now w/ plenty of space but when they do freak on occasion they hit the wall and slide along it instead of being stopped by it. So they don't "Hit" it.

with a custom tank might be worth checking how much extra it would cost to have it a double bullnose ( ie rounded at each end) if your main reason is to house big cats like TSNs. or at least make sure there will be a large enough hide spot the cats will feel less inclined to spook.

Thanks that's definitely something I will think about, and I plan to have the tank decorated with large pieces of driftwood and hopefully some very robust plants but I will just have to see what works lol


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[bassfisher91]

Not sure if it makes much of difference but I'd try covering the sides or the tank with something dark. If they can see the sides of the tank better they might not run into it as much. I've only had one but I've kept him in various sized stock tanks so far and never had an issue with him running into things.


Also, I don't give my fish(8 inches+) hide spots unless they're small and fragile. I used to put caves in but it just led to confrontations and fish I never saw. I have much better luck with no decorations. The fish were skittish for a few data but now they don't care.

 

[monsterkeeper87]

Yea I will try that, the back and left side will be against a wall anyway and I don't mind putting something on the right side, I will just have to do a bit of trial and error work as far as decorations or bare tank go and hopefully I can find a happy medium that me and the fish like lol


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[thebiggerthebetter]

Or decorations at the sides, or D-shaped side walls; round, soft-walled ponds work well. AFAIK, they can spook and break their jaws at any age and size, large or small. They can jump out of the tank too at any age - it happened before. It appears to me different TSN species differ in how flighty they are but I cannot say which - not enough experience yet; currently I have three 7"-9" n one tank, all alone, and one is distinctly, 10x more flighty and the way their pattern is developing, he is starting to look differently from the other two, who look the same so far; and he is the weakest eater of the three (he is not bullied at all though).

They can be and often, but not always, are spooked easily, and the smaller the tank, the exponentially higher the chance of that.

Sorry to hear you parted with your unusual TSN - he was a slow grower and colored a bit unusually, so this experiment will likely remain unfinished, unless you get the new owner to keep a report on that fish here on MFK.

 

[liontammer]

ok im kinda surprised that no one has stated this yet. as with most of the cats with the stream line body structure (at lest what i have seen) thay are all very skittish and will dart if startled aka turning lights on, kids running past tank , hell even from anther fish going after food. with all big cats that larger thay are the more powerful thay get most cats i have kept all have had some kind of nose damage it will heal and it has nothing to do with the way the fish is kept. the only time it has to do with the keeping of the fish is when there is a deformity like it being pushed in but even then most of the time to put it bluntly s**t happens and there is nothing you can do about it. lol i had a red tail eat my heater still missing 3 pieces of glass the fish is eating fine and no problems my channel cat jumped out of a tank 7 feet in the air and he is doing great. sometimes you take the bad with the good and hope it all works in the end lol. trust me bud just because there might be something wrong with a fish dose not mean it was cared for wrong good luck and i you enjoy your tsn i know i loved mine right up until my gator gar thought it looked tasty lol. o and for the people out there that love the negative comments the tsn was bigger then the gar at the time it was eaten along with 2 pb's a blue channel and a shnook god that fish was mean lol

 

[liontammer]

lol sarry big must not have seen your post

 

[monsterkeeper87]

Ok thanks for your help everyone, and @tbtb I know I hated having to get rid of it I just hope I can find 1 that's as nice in the future. I did ask the guy that got him from me to keep me updated but I never heard from him, I will post updates if he ever contacts me.


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