)V(ONSTER Flathead catfish (Pylodictis olivaris) grow out thread.
- Thread starter necrocanis
- Start date
For being such a voracious predator, he sure is cute!
lol. Thanks. he was chasing the vulture out of that hole earlier. The vulture just swims away calmly. Funny thing is the vulture has a bad rap and he never bothers anyone even when he's getting picked on.
Funny thing is the vulture has a bad rap and he never bothers anyone even when he's getting picked on.
The bad reputation is circumstantial - you need a hungry pack of them and a carcass... or a wounded fish, or a fish on a hook. But you know all that
Awesome thread! I am a flathead fishing junky as you can see by my avatar. I have had several in my tanks over the years. All I can ever get them to feed on is live fish and the occasional crayfish. They don't move much, but you know they are doing evil things when the lights go off...
Here is a video of the last one I had along with some bait...
http://s248.beta.photobucket.com/user/PolishMoose/media/102_0928.mp4.html
Sorry, don't know how to insert video into post
http://s248.beta.photobucket.com/user/PolishMoose/media/102_0928.mp4.html
Sorry, don't know how to insert video into post
That one is nice and dark. Do you keep that tank well lit or do the lights stay out most of the time? Lol, I will have to have you take me fishing if I am ever in your neck of the woods. I use to go catfishing all the time when I lived in North Carolina, but would only catch blues, and channels. I'm thinking this is because I was always taught to use dead bait. Seems with some research that flats prefer live bait or wounded bait. My lil one finally ate something last night. I know it wasn't the shrimp, not sure about shrimp pellets or floating cichlid pellets, but could have possibly been the frozen blood worms imo.
his belly is slightly rounded today so I will take it lol. He won't be getting any live foods anytime soon.If you are around the Chicagoland area let me know. I fish the Fox River about 50 nights a year for flatheads. They will take cut bait as well, but most guys who target them use larger lively baits.
How big a blues were you catching, I know they have monsters out there. Anyway back to tanks...
The tank was lit quite a bit, they just are a sedintary fish by nature. Even in low light they don't move much if they are content.
Try nightcrawlers, it should take them as well. Eventually other fish may disappear without a trace. I look forward to updates.
Sent from my SPH-M580 using MonsterAquariaNetwork App
How big a blues were you catching, I know they have monsters out there. Anyway back to tanks...
The tank was lit quite a bit, they just are a sedintary fish by nature. Even in low light they don't move much if they are content.
Try nightcrawlers, it should take them as well. Eventually other fish may disappear without a trace. I look forward to updates.
Sent from my SPH-M580 using MonsterAquariaNetwork App
He's not really a threat to any of the fish he's with right now. My plan is to grow him out to about a foot in the 100 gal then transfer him to the 400 gal pond. If he tried to eat anyone in the tank he's in right now he wouldn't get very far. Two doradids on par with him in size so that's a mouth full of spikes he won't like, and a vulture catfish that is quite larger than him with a mouth full of nasty teeth. He can harass the vulture all he wants but it's obvious that he's of no real threat to him currently. I have a Sperata aor on order right now that I should get sometime next week. They are considered quite nasty and supposed to be about the same size as this guy. I'm crossing my fingers that after the initial battle they will settle in as good neighbors.
I want to grow them out together for comparison. An asian giant, with an american giant. may have one last giant for now coming in to grow out with the pair. He just ate some more blood worms. I won't feed my fish any store bought worms from tackle shops as they are always in poor condition and pretty much void of nutrition once you buy them.
I was raising red worms for a while to feed to my fish, but that kind of fell through.
First things first lol. Have to get the fish, acclimate it, and then make positive ID which can be very difficult in this genus.
Once everything is established I will try to raise him in beast mode. If for some reason they don't get along then I will have to bump my efforts to get the flathead into the pond. lol. I am really hoping to grow them out side by side as they are starting around the same size, grow to around the same size, and both supposed to be kind of nasty fish.