Trachelyichthys exilis adventures

Fishman Dave

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Nov 14, 2015
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I have just the one central hollow bog wood which all mine hide under which in turn is covered with moss which they seem to lay their egg mass in. This keeps them all in a group and I feed just outside the bog wood with sinking sturgeon pellets and bloodworm. I feed on rotation every day then every second day, but I also have a 3" arrowana in the same tank as grow on, otherwise may only feed every second day. Problem with both the day is and the sturgeon pellets is that they are messy inefficient eaters, so require regular gravel cleaning to tidy up after them, which in turn is not bad because it allows me to put cold clean water back. I probably have mine in slightly too small a tank as it's only a 15" cube but didn't see the need for anything bigger, and again forces their interaction with each other.
have had males lose the end of their tails when breeding so don't know if this was due to other males or my larger females.I
Hope any of the above may be a help and again good luck.
 

thebiggerthebetter

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IDK if I'd necessarily connect the missing tummy with underfeeding in general. The fish have just recently arrived. It is more likely that this one has not acclimated well enough or came in ill already.

Is there anyone else in the tank that could attack the fish when it was alive or remove the tummy after it passed for another reason?

My vulture catfish pack regularly removes the stomachs of their fallen tank mates no matter how well I feed the tank.
 

fishhead0103666

Alligator Gar
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May 14, 2018
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The only other fish are as follows.
9 banjo catfish
1 farlowella catfish
1 snakeskin gourami

The snakeskin was mistakenly identified by me as a slightly weird looking pearl gourami back when he was about 1.5 inches.

Now that I am sitting down and thinking about it I’d say the likely culprit is the gourami since the farlowella doesn’t have the mouth for it and the other mini driftwoods wouldn’t do it I would imagine. The banjo catfish however could possibly have done it but I simply don’t think they have the mouth for it. Some of the biggest banjo catfish certainly have the size to be able to get a bit of flesh in their mouth however.
 

Fishman Dave

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How big is the snakeskin ? Male or female?
Farawella would be able to make a hole after a bit but not known for eating from dead fish. Neither are banjos really, as you say, mouth not designed to pull pieces off, more swallow small things whole. Other driftwoods would have to be ravenous to tear into another dead driftwood although they do pack feed but I can't see it being on another dead driftwood.
 
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fishhead0103666

Alligator Gar
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The snakeskin is about 2.5”-3” eyeballing it.
Also I’m not sure how to sex them. I’ll research it and get back to you.
 

Hendre

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The snakeskin is about 2.5”-3” eyeballing it.
Also I’m not sure how to sex them. I’ll research it and get back to you.
Mine was unable to eat pellets at 5", their mouths are very small..
 
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fishhead0103666

Alligator Gar
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I got a good feeding video that included the catfish along with banjo catfish.
 
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