Trachy trachy

[koltsixx]

Well be warned, koltsixx has a pair and they can be nasty

Hobby keeps me from drugs l

Well, not so much nasty as extremely predatory. Thanks for the mention though Hendre.

Hey J jaws7777 I've been keeping these guys for about 10 years now and I've kept 4 at one time and currently have a male and female who've I had since 2007. I believe I could answer most questions you might have about them.

kno4te if you think she has a soft bite then she definitely wasn't trying. It was more an inquisitive nip to see if you where edible. When these guys bite they really clamp down and while their teeth are smaller then some of the larger cichlids they happen have a whole lot more of them and it really helps them hold onto slippery prey like other fish. My Trachy's bite is strong enough that when trying to free one of their victims they bit my thumb and it pinched pretty good. Managed to make my entire thumb tip get black and blue and I lost the nail on my thumb.

 

[moe214]

Well, not so much nasty as extremely predatory. Thanks for the mention though Hendre.

Hey J jaws7777 I've been keeping these guys for about 10 years now and I've kept 4 at one time and currently have a male and female who've I had since 2007. I believe I could answer most questions you might have about them.

kno4te if you think she has a soft bite then she definitely wasn't trying. It was more an inquisitive nip to see if you where edible. When these guys bite they really clamp down and while their teeth are smaller then some of the larger cichlids they happen have a whole lot more of them and it really helps them hold onto slippery prey like other fish. My Trachy's bite is strong enough that when trying to free one of their victims they bit my thumb and it pinched pretty good. Managed to make my entire thumb tip get black and blue and I lost the nail on my thumb.

I agree not nasty. But treat them like a gulper lol.

And I meant it's bite isn't as powerful as some of my other fish such as say the wolves. Maybe not the gold but my curu I believe would have a stronger bite, but I don't plan on testing it out lol, not sure my curu would bite me at this point unless I put my finger directly in its mouth either.

Regarding size I feel like I read 17" somewhere. The likelihood of that idk however. I definitely saw a video or picture of one that looked to be around the 15" mark when searching before.

 

[koltsixx]

I agree not nasty. But treat them like a gulper lol.

And I meant it's bite isn't as powerful as some of my other fish such as say the wolves. Maybe not the gold but my curu I believe would have a stronger bite, but I don't plan on testing it out lol, not sure my curu would bite me at this point unless I put my finger directly in its mouth either.

Regarding size I feel like I read 17" somewhere. The likelihood of that idk however. I definitely saw a video or picture of one that looked to be around the 15" mark when searching before.

Yeah, they can be suspect sometimes, not as bad as Gulper but definitely suspect. lol

Come on, you don't feel wolf bites. You only know you've been bitten by the spraying blood or amputation of a digit. lol I've only been bit once I believe by a wolf and it was a Mala I was trying to hand feed. Luckily the Mala wasn't very big at the time. I was trying to handfeed freeze-dried krill and the sucker darted up and got me and the krill. I pulled back because I got scared but didn't know I had been bit until I noticed all the blood squirting out of my finger. Luckily for me my Curu never tried to bite me. Otherwise I'm pretty sure my nickname would be stumpy.

Planetcatfish I believe has them at 17" SL so you can probably add another inch or two on top of that for their tail to get TL. My two have yet to break the 15" mark that's for sure and they're fairly old. Then again mine are the white belly Trachys so there maybe a size difference between the two locations. And I have a feeling if they do get to a size like Planetcatfish suggests it's probably a long road before they get there.

 

[moe214]

Figured I'd give a little update. Doing good. Been noticing she's coming out of her hide to swim all over quite a bit lately usually around 11. Lights are still on. Yesterday I noticed her and my sun catfish got into a pretty good dispute. Sun cat seemed to be the initiater. I noticed about a week or two ago I saw the Trachy come out and chase the sun cat. Don't know if it was a regular thing and the sun cat maybe got tired of it cause I only saw it the one time. The Trachy seemed to come out on top as far as who faired better fighting (sun cat had scrapes didn't notice any on Trachy) but the sun cat didn't give up by any means, the curu would break it up; weird guy, doesn't like any aggression between anyone if it isn't him being aggressive, he'll chase someone then protect them from another. I noticed my Trachy doesn't welcome anyone to her hide, bites the wolf over it but the wolf ignores it and just stays hunkered in like an ostrich cause he doesn't fit but he leaves his head in with his tail sticking out in the air. He does mess the hide up cause he moves the dw around on his own no matter how many times I try and fix it, so I gave up. Anyway the dispute lasted about a minute each happened two separate times within maybe five minutes maybe less, Trachy was out for a stroll. It was like tom and jerry, as soon as they saw each other they began. The sun cat would flap his body challenging the Trachy and the Trachy would just bite. I saw the Trachy do something that made me fall in love with it as a pet even more though which may be weird, it just reminded me of a wolf which is my favorite group of fish, it put its dorsal fin down opened its mouth and flared up and bent its back upward to appear bigger while backing away in its hide but then charging out slightly. It looked impressive to me. Wish I could've recorded but was on the phone. Got a pic worth nothing so didn't bother saving it.

Anyways here are some pictures


Also a link for a vid of when she first fed with the light on. https://www.monsterfishkeepers.com/forums/threads/moes-cat-vids.689464/

 

[justarn]

Fantastic post dude, my suncat is always fighting lol...
Sounds like your wolf if protecting his cattle until he slaughters em when he wants!-)

 

[jaws7777]

I reallly like that cat

 

[justarn]

Same... I need one infact!-)

 

[jaws7777]

Same... I need one infact!-)

Are they easy to get in your neck of the woods ?

 

[Hendre]

I think a few places can deliver them

I really want one but will likely never get it

 

[justarn]

They come up occasionally on the lists..