Tigrinus keepers rally around and answer my question

[grokefish]

I put the temperature up to 27 in my tank and my tigrinus has turned a very pretty iradecent violety pink.
Is this normal?
He is showing no signs of illness and is not respiring heavily.
He is still hungry and is eating just fine.

Matt

[Chrysichthys]

Sounds like sunburn to me, you better put some SPF15 in the water.

[taksan]

Wack him immediately with salt 1 Tsp per 40 liters

Tig's are .....

28.5 c
Strong current and aeration
feed only 3 times per week
2 x 50% WC's per week for <5ppm nitrates
PH 6.8
KH3
GH 5

Chemical filtration is also essential in my experience I use 100gms of purigen per inch of fish changed (not recharged) every month without fail

[grokefish]

Thanks for info Taksan but all my tank parameters are fine.
He has gone back to being white again now, and showed no signs at all of illness.
Just this bizarre colour change.

Matt

[grokefish]

Where did you get the temp spec from.
My fish seems to like the water cooler than that.
In a beansch book that I have it says atemp range starting at 22 degrees celcius.

Matt

[CFC]

I've always thought that the fast water dwelling species like tigs and jurense preffered slightly cooler water as well.

[Bas Pels]

generally speaking, they do

they mostly live higher in the mountains, and the fast flowing water has not had much time to warm up (from the glacier or the rain temp)

[grokefish]

so do you think I should lower the temp a bit, it would be easier to get the oxygen in the water and better on my heating bills.

Matt

[sidguppy]

Tiger Shovelnoses do fine at anything ranging from 23-28'C, but I think a temperature 24-26'C will do just fine

if you think it's breathing a bit too rapidly, put a diffusor on the outlet of the pump.
it'll do wonders for the amount of oxygen and also for the movement of the watersurface.

[CFC]

I would be inclined to bring the temperature down to about 24-25'c.

[grokefish]

I have a pond pump delivering about 60 million billion litres of air per sec and the a filter is fluval FX big thingy, there is plently o turnover it's just the temp that is concerning me.

Matt

[taksan]

Tig's are 27-29c ...they are not like TSN's

[sidguppy]

bloody common names!

they should be made illegal

we're talking about Merodontotus tigrinus then, instead of Pseudoplatystoma trigrinum?

[CFC]

Actually its Brachyplatystoma tigrinum these days

The Catelog profile suggests 24 to 28'c, as a rapids dwelling species i would have thought cooler rather than warmer water was more their cup of tea but i've not kept a tig myself so can't say anything from personal experience.

[taksan]

I have a pond pump delivering about 60 million billion litres of air per sec and the a filter is fluval FX big thingy, there is plently o turnover it's just the temp that is concerning me.

Matt

Matt ..... the heater?

Remember the Juri????

Get a 2180

[grokefish]

I have one of those new fangled heaters which have a plastic coating and the water goes up through the middle, I won't make that mistake again,ever. It's mostly for emergency anyway as the room the tank is in is heated and insulated etc.
I have the temp at 22.5 now and he seems very happy indeed.
He is more active when food is put in, instead of just waiting for it to go past he actively seeks it out which he never did before.
Has anyone worked out why they have the filaments on the tail.
I think it is because they live in muddy water and sit facing the current to catch stuff that goes by they cannot smell a predator coming up behind them so when the pred. touches the filament they just shoot forward. I have seen both Juruense and tigrinum do this regularly.
What do you guys think?

Matt

[taksan]

I've done some checking up about the water temp ...
And the water temp at 5pm yesterday at the Cachoeiras do Teotonio near Porto Velho (which are the rapids on the Rio Madeira where heaps of tig's are caught) was 30.1c

[grokefish]

Wow thats xingu temp! maybe he is meant to be purple.

Matt

[taksan]

They do have a slight bluish sheen to them. I'd say during high water season that the temp would be 2-4c below that so a temp of 26.5-27.5 would be perfect for a tank.