We put away 1.5' mullet yesterday - 4 apurensis

[thebiggerthebetter]

Our four Cephalosilurus apurensis had a mighty good meal yesterday worth filming.

I had bought three from very different vendors and times hoping to maybe score a nigricaudus but alas they are all apurensis. It looks like we (almost) never get nigricaudus in the trade because it only inhabits coastal Suriname and there appears to be no or not much export from there, right Kirk Yellowcat ?

The fourth one is a donation by V victor448 - Jeff, it's one of the two lighter-colored, bigger ones but IDK which one anymore. It was advertised as fowleri - another Cephalosilurus we (almost) never get in the trade. Jeff and I had doubts and sure enough it grew into another apurensis.

They are about 12"-14" currently. 99% the gathering is peaceful, rarely they decide to re-establish / re-enforce the hierarchy. But they always lay in one pile vast majority of the time despite plenty of space and furniture, which is kind of cute to see after all the bickering and crankiness...

 

[fishnatics]

Nice. They are well fed too. At first they don't look big but once your hand was in the tank, wow they are big.

 

[Yellowcat]

As you said, c. nigricaudus exist only in Suriname as far as I know. The rarest of the genus cephalosilurus, c. albomarginatus exist only in Guyuna, a much smaller species compared to the other 3, have probably never been exported from there but would really like to find one or a c. nigricaudus as well.
Interesting that you have managed to keep several c. apurensis together in one rather small tank without too much drama. In my experience cephalosilurus species and some batrochoglanis won't tolerate their own kind and will kill any other pseudopimelodid species introduced to their tank, with extreme prejudice. I did notice from the video that at least two of your fish have shredded tails, suggesting that their coexistence may not be entirely peaceful. Of course they will grow much larger over time as you know. In any case, one of my favorite species, thanks for sharing!
The one from Guyuna….

 

[Yellowcat]

Case in point….

 

[moe214]

Case in point….

View attachment 1217086

That a fowleri and apurensis?

 

[thebiggerthebetter]

Always happy to hear from you, Kirk. Thanks.

I think these are two apurensis.

Yes, mine have done that at the beginning but after that fight their mouths and snouts looked intact - so this is rather light and mostly pushing around, not damaging even the skin.

The tails and pectorals do get affected, as I had stated in the OP and Kirk noted. But nothing dramatic.

As also stated, they prefer to spend 90% of their time in a cat pile, which I'd think they'd not do if they really hated each other.

I had three larger ones in a 4000 gal pond long time ago too and again only fins evidenced some sort of disputes. Those guys didn't pile though... page 5 - http://www.planetcatfish.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=25&t=29488&hilit=pet+catfish&start=80

I am not doubting Kirk's observations at all. By now we all know that things vary rather wildly in our hobby from tank to tank. Which, regrettably, buckles the knees of our predictive power.

 

[Yellowcat]

To answer moe214, yes they were 2 apurensis, one was added to an existing fishes home tank and they started fighting immediately and were separated soon after. I've had a pair of p. bufonis fight the same way, jaw to jaw over the best hiding spot but they worked it out and still tolerate each other. I recently got 5 - 3" batrochoglanis (transmontanus?) cats from Jeff Rapps, they shipped in individual bags but when all 5 were in the acclimation bucket they started fighting with each other, jaws to pectoral fins and tails, never seen any behavior so extreme, so soon! I mentioned it to Jeff and he reported that in his tank there are many and they seem to get along with no problems, so go figure, eh? I put 2 in one smaller 20G tank, 3 in a larger 60G tank, went away for a 7 day fishing trip, came back to losing one from each tank, all other fish and water quality just fine. Territorial aggression? I'll never know for sure but have my suspicions. Like Viktor sez, things vary wildly from tank to tank, fishes adapt to their circumstances as best they can...

 

[thebiggerthebetter]

I've seen several kinds of fish start fighting during acclimation, literally minutes after leaving the shipping bags. E.g., bolt catfish comes vividly to mind. It's overall rare but if you get enough fish, you won't be surprised anymore.

 

[headbanger_jib]

They are beautiful
And massive

 

[thebiggerthebetter]

Thanks, bro! Well, Yellowcat's specimen is about 28"-30" these days in another owner's hands. That's 2x-2.5x bigger than these. One can fit two fists easy in their mouth. Now that's massive!

As for beautiful, 99.99% of people say "Ooh, ugly!" when they see them... or ~all catfish for that matter. The same percentage associates nothing pleasant or pretty with catfish. Their first reaction is "They are repugnant bottom filth feeders". That's why channel catfish, the most farmed and eaten fish in the US, is marketed under names anything other than catfish. I'm grateful there is this 0.01% that makes me feel I am not alone out there...