Wallago?

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thebiggerthebetter said:
About the same here on my W. leerii, except mine is extremely shy/reclusive and hard to feed (won't take food in my presence).
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When my attu was small he hide all the time didn't like being seen. Not sure if he's less shy now or he's too big to hide anywhere. If you get close to him he'll freeze then dart to the other side of the tank. So he maybe still shy just to big to hide. I think there an ambush predator. Just hangs out somewhere out of view then jumps out and snatches there prey.
 
The problem with mine could have been that he had been fed live before my getting him. When I got him he was already over a foot. Would not eat the first several months (I don't feed live). I practically force-fed him his first piece of fish - it looked like he bit it in self-defence and swallowed it as I got desperate and was "harassing" him around the pond with a piece of fish on a 3' grabber tool. I had another success like that once more. After that he lived in a large clay planter half and ate sporadically when I threw food inside. I could not see what was happening there. Sometimes I felt a strong blow to my tongs but I didn't know whether he was snatching food to eat or defending himself. There were other fish in the pond, so I was never sure he ate. He didn't get skinny though. After about a year, one day he passed away for no reason that I could see, at ~2'. He was one of the strangest fish that I cared for. I could not figure out how to make him happy, comfortable, and thrive... in a 4000 gal pond, 40'x6'x3' with lots of hiding spots, good water, and a 100 of other monster fish around.

This experience made me sad but determined to try again.
 
I'm so hopeing I can get him off live put some roses in the tank but I think I might have to get a red light and try night feeding I noticed that he is a full nocternal predator but not shour if that can see red or not

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My attu ate live when it was small till he got to around 10" he started eating pellets cause there were other fish in the tank I fed pellet too. So he found pellets were easy to eat they just floated by and he would gulp them up. Now when I feed feeders to the tank for my other fish I don't see him even try to eat them. Just ignores them. He will eat chunks of frozen fish that lay on the bottom. But live if a feeder just happen to swim right towards its mouth he might gulp it up but he puts no effort in chasing down a feeder. Pellets are much easier food to eat.
 
MyGiants said:
My attu ate live when it was small till he got to around 10" he started eating pellets cause there were other fish in the tank I fed pellet too. So he found pellets were easy to eat they just floated by and he would gulp them up. Now when I feed feeders to the tank for my other fish I don't see him even try to eat them. Just ignores them. He will eat chunks of frozen fish that lay on the bottom. But live if a feeder just happen to swim right towards its mouth he might gulp it up but he puts no effort in chasing down a feeder. Pellets are much easier food to eat.
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Sounds like a perfect scenario. So, my hopes are raised... granted attu is not leerii...
 
I found with other species hard to xfer from live to frozen or pellets the best way is to keep them fed... but hungry... and have tank-mates if possible already eating dead/pellets. Eventually they will convert because theya re still hungry but they never get to the point of being "starved" this has worked for me now with reticulated stingrays, gar, spiney eels of variouse species, knife fish ( aba aba, and a CK) and most the wild caught species I've owned or had to care for at work over the years. I would also say the stickies in the other forums about feeding/converting fish might be worth reading threw and try a few different tricks to see if any work. TBH I am a "live food" believer ( QT live foods ect.. and there are more then just goldfish out there)... but i also think variety is best. Part of that being pellets, and frozen/dead foods. And you can't always get a good quality/availability of live foods so Its nice to have as many options as possible.

From what I know of catfish they generally rely on scent and movement of prey... may be worth trying to "fish" for them with a peice of dead fish to get them to take the bait and just have it threaded threw some mono ect so it comes right off... and if you being there bothers them.. try rigging it where the watre movement will give it some action. smelt worked bets for me.. so try a variety of different fish at first. I found once i found something the fish would take dead.. adding is always much easier.

I'm constantly trying new foods for my fish and expanding their acceptance of things. lol compared to my spiney eels my cats have been cake.

GL converting him off, and my advise is just have patience. And if your feeding live start a de-worming regime for the tank to keep IPS at bay/controlled. IDK why more owners don't regularly de-worm their fish... when we de-worm our dogs, cats, and any other pets exposed to "nature".
 
thanks for the help guys i will keep you in formed on the progress i put 12 rr in the tank last night and thay are all gone in the morning and my rtcxtsn's belly was not full so i know he dident eat um all lol as for one eye i havent seen him out of the tube since he found them lol ( i have a tube stack in the tank made out of 3"pvc pipeing) makes awsome hideing spots for them
 
OK im not shour if he ate or not but think he might have taken his first pieces of fresh fish and I got a question for you big tank keepers out there lol I have after almost two years lol of saying I'm going to build it I have started work on my 2k+ gallon tank what I want to know is a sand filter from a pool going to work for this beast I have two of them sitting in my basement ready to use just wanted to know if anyone else is running the same setup and yes it is for my to say bigger cat's that have almost out grown my 220

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I've never used one but read that they are very good, if you are talking about the ones where water comes in from below and keeps the sand bed fluid/suspended. You need to hear from people who do/did use them. Have you tried doing a search in the DIY section etc.?

This question really belongs there too and you will get a better response, I'd think :)
 
OK thanks I will repost it there when I get my internet back had a 90g in my living room blow out and I lost my motum from all the water

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