wanted big 1'-5' cats

[Viktor Jarikov, posts: 2317]

Update Nov 27 2010

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[Viktor Jarikov, posts: 2317]

the above photos are taken during a water change; sorry, most pics are still horrible quality

[arapaimag, posts: 55]

You have a truly monster catfish collection. Thanks for the link from Toronto Fish Store thread.

I really like your koi pond. I have a few koi and goldfish ponds also but none look as good as yours.

Did Jon close down his big tank?

[Viktor Jarikov, posts: 2317]

Hey, thanks! Jonathan is still in a large debt over the folded monster-fish-rescue and tries to offset it little-by-little; also, he wants to convert his 1200 gal into a cichlid heaven, at least this is what I gather from his words. He is way into cichlids and not much (enough? by my standards) into cats... His cichlids are spawning left and right in his small tanks so he is not idling by any means... His wife Laura is into cichlids... His children are heading that way... Even Dexter, their adorable dog, is getting into cichlids too, now that there is pretty much no other fish to watch in Jon's basement...

[taksan, posts: 333]

Heads up for those in greater Toronto .... a friend of mine in Mississauga is moving overseas and closing down his tanks.
Soon a 32" Lince and a 36" Jau will be up for grabs amongst others along with a 12'x6'x3' tenecor acrylic tank/stand/sump.

[Viktor Jarikov, posts: 2317]

Thanks, Taksan! Good to know. I wonder how many people in the vicinity would want and be able to house such fish. I also hope Zungaro zungaro, aka Jau , is not done growing yet and will reach 4'-5'.

By Lince catfish, you probably mean Platynematichthys notatus, right?

I hope your friend makes up for his huge moral and financial losses.

Keep us posted. Keep him/her posted too!

Viktor

[Mod edit: Tidy up links to Cat-eLog to use CLOG tags --Mats]

[Viktor Jarikov, posts: 2317]

Update Jan 10 2011:

1100 gal wing, 15' x 4' (average) x 2.5', is tacked onto the basement pond upping the volume to ~3500 gal - same black rubber liner, no substrate.

Now the residents can go for ~40 foot laps ... and they do! The tight spot is the Foreman Straights - the ~1.5' x ~1.2' junction of the two ponds and two pieces of liner, where traffic is heavy and funny things happen... but I have yet to having to mop up the floors after these... (we live on Foreman Drive).

One can see the water on the basement floor: the original pond started leaking about a month ago losing ~1000 gal in ~2 weeks.

The hypotheses:

(1) the gravel is not as smooth as I'd like, so perhaps I stepped on the wrong spot when catching fishes for re-homing
(2) the cats punctured the liner with their very sharp pectorial spikes
(3) the pleco(s) decided to start building a nest - in the wild they sometimes start out by punching a hole in the bank with their sharp pectorial spikes and then they dig
(4) the 26" osphem gourami Gus I got from Jonathan Strazinsky bit thru the liner (the fish was obtained a few week prior to the leak and also has bitten thru and chewed up 5-10 airline tubes by now - he is like a dog, who needs to chew on stuff... or maybe, that's his way of telling me that I am not kind enough to him... by his standards that is.)

[Viktor Jarikov, posts: 2317]

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[Viktor Jarikov, posts: 2317]

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[Viktor Jarikov, posts: 2317]

....a couple of unrelated shots: the new 150 gal stock pond for little guys (the other one is stocked with the fish too small to go into the pond) and the 55 gal with only Synos.

[MatsP]

Viktor's Plans to move to Florida and open a public aquarium are not discussed here:
viewtopic.php?f=2&t=32256

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Mats

[Viktor Jarikov, posts: 2317]

The hypotheses:
(1) the gravel is not as smooth as I'd like, so perhaps I stepped on the wrong spot when catching fishes for re-homing
(2) the cats punctured the liner with their very sharp pectorial spikes
(3) the pleco(s) decided to start building a nest - in the wild they sometimes start out by punching a hole in the bank with their sharp pectorial spikes and then they dig
(4) the 26" osphem gourami Gus I got from Jonathan Strazinsky bit thru the liner (the fish was obtained a few week prior to the leak and also has bitten thru and chewed up 5-10 airline tubes by now - he is like a dog, who needs to chew on stuff... or maybe, that's his way of telling me that I am not kind enough to him... by his standards that is.)

Well, it is certain now: It is Gus. I caught him. He chews on anything plastic/rubber in the pond, he left the air-lines alone for the last month or two and shewed up free ends of the zip ties. I don't think he is hungry. Likely, just curious. He is most definitely the smartest fish in the pond. He bit perhaps 20 more holes in the liner wrinkles and now, if I fill the pond to the fullest, I lose ~500-1000 US gal a day. This sucks big time, our basement is still a mess even with the pond having only ~1/2 the water, but I am not blaming Gus - he is but an animal. Animals cannot be vile or vicious, by my beliefs. It is my fault.

Another painful lesson #276 learned. About 25,000 are ahead.

[MatsP]

Well, it's good that you know the cause... It's much easier to fix a problem when you have a good understanding of the cause - even if the fix isn't "easy".

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Mats

[Viktor Jarikov, posts: 2317]

Ok. Misery loves company. Lesson #277: do NOT use garbage totes to make bio-filters. They will not hold water long-term. They are not built for that. They look like they might but IME they do not. Must use something built to hold water, like a rubber maid stockpond tub, 50, 100, 150, 300 gal etc, or a spare aquarium. Or at least line the toter with rubber liner or PVC or tarp at least.

The toter I chose was ok for the first half a year. Then, it started to leak a little here and there, nothing a small silicone or silly putty job could not fix and it was at the top portions. Then came a small leak at the bottom - no fun found in emptying the whole thing to seal that. The seal held up for a several months and two nights ago turned into a crack-open faucet. ~1000 gal on the floor. I guess the toter plastic, despite being pretty thick and sturdy, could not handle the 24/364 pressure of 4.5' of water column.

Had to re-home the gars, W. leerii, and H. wykii from the small section behind the divider and fill up that whole section with my bio-filter mass - pads, 2000 nylon mesh pot scrubbers, plastic plants, etc. Will see how that works out. NH3 yesterday night and today morning is 0.25 ppm. Working on adding several powerful air bubblers to create some agitation in that section to aid nitrification (the submersible pump is at the far side of that pond section buried in the bio-mass).