Odd observation, Adonis Catfish

coelacanth · Post by **coelacanth** » 25 Nov 2003, 23:45

Yesterday while watching the big Adonis at work, I noticed that it's vent was rhythmically pulsing, dilating and then contracting almost like the respiratory siphon of a Cephalopod in miniature. This still occurred while the fish was swimming, and I observed this continuously for about 10 minutes. Overlooking the fact that I appear to have a fascination for Catfish butts, and too much time on my hands, does anybody want to speculate?
The fish is a male, age unknown, very healthy and with a very bad attitude problem.
Pheromone pump? Respiratory function? Neat trick it learned while out for a few drinks?
Any suggestions, no matter how outlandish, will be taken by me and repeated verbatim as scientific fact.

flyinmike · Post by **flyinmike** » 26 Nov 2003, 01:06

Not to hi-jack the subject, but, my LFS just got two 6" adonis in. It was love at first sight. Now I've found that they can hit like 36-40". I know it would take years for one to get that big, and I'm the type person who would make accomodations for him however big, but how fast will they grow. For example, from the 6" they are now, how long will it take them to reach 12"?

Thanks and blue skies, Mike

lizardking · Post by **lizardking** » 26 Nov 2003, 03:17

A few years ago, I bought one which is around 3" and with frequent feedings (once or twice daily) of algae wafers/ beef heart and sinking pellets which are rich in protein for 1 year, the fellow ballooned into an 8 incher!!!! Due to the aggresiveness shown by him/her to the other members of my pleco tank, I had to give him away......

S. Allen · Post by **S. Allen** » 26 Nov 2003, 04:31

about how large is it and is there a female in the tank with him, or is he too nasty for that?

Caol_ila · Post by **Caol_ila** » 26 Nov 2003, 06:33

Hi!

Dunno about the growth rate but regularly huge adults appear here as naive people buy them small (ive been naive with other fishes too)! My lfs guy told me they supposedly are a couple of years old reaching well over the 30 cm mark. I mean hey a fish that gets to 1 metre and my guess (just a real guess) about 30 years? Youd think hed reach sexual maturity after 1/3 to 1/2 of his life. And all fishes i know tend to grow very fast to 3/4 adult size then then slow down a lot. So in about 5-10 years youd have a fish with 50 cm or more!

flyinmike · Post by **flyinmike** » 26 Nov 2003, 13:27

I take it from bits and pieces of the other posts that they can be very aggressive? Is this against other adonis, plecos in general, or anything at all put in the tank?

Coelacanth, is he still creating waste?

coelacanth · Post by **coelacanth** » 26 Nov 2003, 14:55

flyinmike wrote:I take it from bits and pieces of the other posts that they can be very aggressive? Is this against other adonis, pl*cos in general, or anything at all put in the tank?

Anything that is eating something they want. Anything that is eating. Anything that they decide looked at them funny.Anything that is breathing too loudly.
Quite funny in a nasty sort of way, you can actually see them catch something in the corner of their eye and decide to go and beat it up.

flyinmike wrote:Coelacanth, is he still creating waste?

Yes. I broke off from eating a very late lunch (too much paperwork) to go and watch a fish cr*p. He kept me waiting for a few minutes, went and hammered a Blue Eye to get him in the mood, then crimped off a healthy length. Who says I'm unscientific in my approach?
I understand where you were coming from though, I wasn't looking forwards to putting Senna Pod extract in his food.

coelacanth · Post by **coelacanth** » 26 Nov 2003, 15:02

S. Allen wrote:about how large is it and is there a female in the tank with him, or is he too nasty for that?

Body length maybe 18", which gives a total length somewhere around 24-26". Not that big a specimen, but he's robust.
No female, the fish was obtained as a display specimen. I have no doubt that if a female was present, they would either have lots of babies or she would be harrassed and maybe killed, even in a 1000 gallon aquarium. The ones that bred in Luxembourg were in a much larger aquarium.

Post by **Dinyar** » 26 Nov 2003, 15:57

coelacanth wrote:Yesterday while watching the big Adonis at work, I noticed that it's vent was rhythmically pulsing, dilating and then contracting almost like the respiratory siphon of a Cephalopod in miniature.

Undoubtedly a case of Siluriform auto-eroticism. Not for nothing they call 'em "Adonis".

Dinyar

Chrysichthys · Post by **Chrysichthys** » 26 Nov 2003, 16:43

Speaking of Cephalopods, I read in the news recently that squid get erections. My guess is that your Adonis is going through puberty. Nothing to worry about.

Yann · Post by **Yann** » 26 Nov 2003, 18:02

Hi!

I have witness such breathing behavior with other Loricariidae but probably not as you might see it on your "Adonis".
I would also be thinking that he is turning into a mature individual....especially if he was more "peaceful" in the past?!
Just by curiosity, did you modify any thing in the food just before he started to get "nasty" or sort of?
Cheers
Yann

YouTube · Post by **Jools** » 26 Nov 2003, 18:09

In my few years working at a pet shop I found out (the hard way) that large parrots do this before they "crimp one off". Calm before the storm etc. The same can be noticied in humans if your have ever been stupid enough to eat a bombay bad bay pot noodle. Parrots were bad enough - thank God pigs can't fly...

In all seriousness, the point I'm making is perhaps this is peristalisis you are observing.

Jools

coelacanth · Post by **coelacanth** » 26 Nov 2003, 23:15

Jools wrote:In all seriousness, the point I'm making is perhaps this is peristalisis you are observing.

In all likelihood, just thought I'd open it up to any other suggestions for comic effect.
For a species where defaecation takes place on an almost continuous basis I imagine there's no reason for peristalsis not to occur right to the terminal end of the alimentary canal. Life must be so much easier without worrying about sphincter control....

Odd observation, Adonis Catfish

Odd observation, Adonis Catfish

Re: Odd observation, Adonis Catfish