Your Big Catfish

[aussie pride]

I live at hone and my mom wont let me get a big tank i had to pass up a few good deal like a 210 gallon with sump, and stand for $300. That was the best deal i found so far. When i get my own pleace i would like to get a group of barracudas.

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I'm battling the same things at home now . At least mum loves my big catties

 

[HenryJordan]

Hello aussie pride, click some pictures of your catfish and post here on the board to get some appreciations.

 

[AquaticAustin]

Heres my new pleco, hes not huge but he is large by most peoples standard

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[Narwhal72]

Just wait until he grows into a 36" long monster!

 

[AquaticAustin]

I hope he gets big! Although from research 3 feet is the maximum and not generally achieved, 1-2 foot is more realistic in a home aquaria setting and would be perfect for me if he gets too much over 2 feet he'll have to be sold

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[wesleydnunder]

A local fisherman claims to have caught a 3 footer in Buffalo Bayou in Houston where we have breeding adults doing major damage to the banks. Never seen one in an aquarium over 2 feet long.

Mark

 

[Narwhal72]

The species in Texas is Pterygoplichthys sp. aka the common pleco. These only get about 18-24" long. The one in the picture above is Acanthicus adonis. This species is one of the largest loricarid species and gets to be about 3' long in the wild. When they are small they are pretty with a black base color and white spots. As they get older they turn jet black. They also have the long filament extensions off the fins.

They also develop long spines and thorns on the body which get longer with age. Nearly impossible to transport a big one as they will puncture even the thickest bags.

I raised a tiny 1" fry from 1" up to 15" over the course of a few years. They can be really difficult to keep when they are big because they are so powerful and tend to knock over everything (including glass lids) when they are startled. Got to the point where I was concerned it would break the glass.

If I had a 500 gallon round tank I would consider getting one again.

Andy

 

[AquaticAustin]

I know they can get very large but I have yet to find them exceeding 2 feet in a home aquarium, luckily my tank has only robust decorations (large fake rocks burried in gravel, anchored wood, and a 3d background). I'm not sure what size tank you had but unless it reaches about the velocity of a bullet when startled I'm not concerned with it breaking 1/2" thick glass

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[wesleydnunder]

Thanks for the clarification, Andy.

Mark

 

[Narwhal72]

Mine was in a 110 gallon acrylic tank. It used to be in my rack setup in my garage. Sometimes I would enter and turn on the room lights while the tank lights were out and the fish would startle and dart to the surface. So hard that it would knock the glass panels I was using for a top off the tank (breaking them once).

Keep in mind that kinetic energy = Mass x velocity squared. The bigger the mass the lower the velocity needed to cause damage. A big catfish can have a lot of kinetic energy and their heads can be very hard.

I know of two people locally that have had 12" Peacock bass break 1/2" glass tanks when startled. But they are a lot faster than the pleco.

Andy