New Member on Chaca bankanensis

[Mountain]

Hi,
hope I can use your language good enough to be understood.
(This is my first post here at PlanetCatfish-Forum).
I am a long year keeper of Chaca chaca and I already breeded them successfully http://www.welse.net/SEITEN/chacazucht.html.
But now I got two Chaca bankanensis about three or four weeks ago and they don't eat (worms or fish or whatever...)
I dont know how to keep them alive.
I phoned their dealer and they told me, that these Chaca bankanensis are kept in pH 6 - water and that they are feeded (?) successfully with Xiphophorus maculatus.
My Chaca bankanensis are still good looking, moving sometimes, they have pH 6 since one week and they have worms and fishes in different sizes....but they are not interested. If I put a big worm into their tank (which would not reach the ground in a normal Chaca chaca-tank), they move aside as if they feel disturbed from the worm.

Whatelse can I do exept hoping?

B W
Klaus

[Marc van Arc]

I'm sorry that I can't help you (maybe they need a bit more time to feel comfortable enough to eat?), but I am very impressed with your story about breeding the Chaca chaca.
Wunderbar!!

[Mountain]

but I am very impressed with your story about breeding the Chaca chaca.
Wunderbar!!

Thanks.
Yes, they were cute little monsters in the beginning (very little, but they behaved like the big ones). They have half size of their parents now.

[amiidae]

What is the size of the Chaca bankanensis ?

Personally I find C bank. (esp. juvenile) are harder to keep as compared to C. chaca.

[Shane]

I had luck getting mine to start eating (this was many years ago) using Convict cichlid fry. The fry feed at the substrate making them easier targets than livebearer fry which tend to stay near the surface.
These fish can go a very long time without eating. I seem to remember that my group once stopped eating for about six weeks.
Welcome and good luck.
-Shane

PS Outstanding article on your spawning of C chaca. I was only aware of a spawning report that appeared in a U.S. magazine many years ago.

[Mountain]

What is the size of the Chaca bankanensis ?

One is nearly adult, the other a little smaler (compared to my ordinary Chacas).

Personally I find C bank. (esp. juvenile) are harder to keep as compared to C. chaca.

Do you have any experiences about that?

[Mountain]

I had luck getting mine to start eating (this was many years ago) using Convict cichlid fry. The fry feed at the substrate making them easier targets than livebearer fry which tend to stay near the surface.

Hm.....the situation in the Chaca b.-aquarium is at the moment as follows:
Two nearly adult Chaca bankanensis, two goldfish with ideal size, several Poecilia reticulata with different sizes, several Xiphophorus maculatus with different size, now and then one ore two worms like I normaly feed the other Chacas with. These different fishes seem to have learned, that there comes no danger from below and therefore they very often swim cheek to cheek with the Chacas.

These fish can go a very long time without eating. I seem to remember that my group once stopped eating for about six weeks.
Welcome and good luck.
-Shane

That sounds good for my hope!

PS Outstanding article on your spawning of C chaca. I was only aware of a spawning report that appeared in a U.S. magazine many years ago.

Thanks! I gave this report to Hans-Georg Evers, to release it in AMAZONAS a few months ago and he told me, that in his opinion, a certain fish-scientist in Asia (Bangladesh or India or so) has been first in writing about his spawning of Chaca chaca in the seventies. This has been just a little text without pics etc.
Therefore I'm very proud of my success. Wish it would happen as well with my Panaque cochliodon!

[Mountain]

They still haven't had any meal. In the meantime they have pH 6 for over a week. They look normal but both have extremely "blown up" bellies.

[amiidae]

Do you have any experiences about that?

Fm my experience, it is usually depend on the condition of the fish. It is important to pickup healthy and feeding specimen. otherwise, they usually waste away.

[Mountain]

It is important to pickup healthy and feeding specimen. otherwise, they usually waste away.

Thats true - in normal cases. But these fish came from abroad - (they were not offert here for years, and I wished to have them) - and therefore it was impossible to have a look on them before.

[Mountain]

They are dead.
I opened them and found their bellies full of eggs.

[Shane]

Sorry to hear that. They may have been suffering from some ailment before they came to you.
-Shane

[Mountain]

What the hell can be the difference between Chaca chaca and Chaca bankanensis (in keeping)? I mean - its the second time that I wasn't succesful with them. Reading all over the net about C. b. looks as if everybody writes down the same facts as they wrote about C. c. (except look and natural home).

[Silurus]

Actually, the habitat types they come from differ greatly, as I have visited the habitats of both species.

[Mountain]

Actually, the habitat types they come from differ greatly, as I have visited the habitats of both species.

Can you tell me more about it?

[Silurus]

Chaca chaca come from subtropical habitats, where the water is generally cooler (to about 22-24°C). The substrate is typically sand or gravel, whereas C. bankanensis are almost always associated with blackwater habitats, where the water is warmer (to 27–28°C, depending on the time of the year) and with pH as low as 4.0. The substrate here is typically peat.

[Mountain]

[............] whereas C. bankanensis are almost always associated with blackwater habitats, where the water is warmer (to 27–28°C, depending on the time of the year) and with pH as low as 4.0. The substrate here is typically peat.

Thanks. Do you have any further experiences with Chaca bankanensis? I only know people here in Germany, where the C. b. died after a short period....

[Silurus]

Given their habitat type, you'd do best to keep them in soft, very acidic water. I find that many Asian blackwater fish tend to be prone to infections when kept in non-blackwater conditions.

[Mountain]

Given their habitat type, you'd do best to keep them in soft, very acidic water. I find that many Asian blackwater fish tend to be prone to infections when kept in non-blackwater conditions.

Thanks a lot!
May I quote your two last answers on my website?
http://www.welse.net/SEITEN/chacaban.htm

[Silurus]

Be my guest.

[Mountain]

Be my guest.

At the moment I think about - how can I get C. bankanensis without the european dealers, who keep them in wrong waters, before the fish could come to my aquarium.....