Royal farlowella

[Ashton]

I bought this chap the other day, labelled as a 'Twig catfish' or Royal farlowella who grows to 6ins long. I know he's of the Sturisoma species but can't make out which one, my friend's told me they grow to about 12ins, I hope not as my tanks only 30ins long.





Hope you can help

[MatsP]

Probably depends on who you ask. If you look in the Loricariidae forum, there is a discussion on "what is this Sturisoma...", and it's likely that it's either the species exported as S. aureum or S. magdalense (sic) - the latter is not a valid scientific name at all...

There are probably undescribed fish in this group that are exported in the hobby - so it may not actually have a scientific name.

I have a fish that I believe is the same species - I have it listed as S. aureum in "my cats", but I'm beginning to think it is not... But I'm absolutely not sure what I should call it instead.

--
Mats

[L number Banana]

Nice fish, Ashton!

Hey MatsP, how do you think this skinny little guy would do in a 30 inch tank if he grew to 12 inches? It's not quite the same as having a poo machine that's 12 inches - is it??
Just curious.

[Bas Pels]

poo machine?

It only poos after it has eaten, and it only eats what's in the tank - so be happy if it poos a lot, as it eats many thing which otherwise would have gone wasted - spoiling your water big time

I like pooing plecos, as they are doing their job - maintenance of the wood in the tank

[MatsP]

First of all, there are several different species, and if this is the same as the one I've bought under that same common name [likely, but not guaranteed], I'd be surprised if it reaches more than about 7-8" or 18-20cm (TL = including caudal fin, but not counting caudal fin extensions).

It is also a skinny fish, so it's not exactly the same type of problem as for example a 7-8" Pterygoplichthys. Even at that length, they are only like 3/4" or 2cm across the widest point.

I'm not sure if Bas is correct - as far as I understand, all protein that goes into the tank comes out again as nitrate - it is only a slight difference between rotting in the corner or being digested in the stomach of a fish, in that the fish consumes a little bit of protein when it's eating. However, the fish will only digest and hold on to a small proportion of the protein in the food, the remainder will pass through or be broken down into ammonia - if you eat a quarter pounder at the local burger bar, you do not gain 1/4 lb of muscle-mass...

--
Mats

[Bijn]

a little test:



If you have a dog collect it's poo and lay it somewhere in the garden on a humid place. Next to it you place fresh dog food.


Go looking after a week. what do you "like" the most: the stuff that has already been eaten or the stuff that hasn't been eaten.





I like poo more than rotting things, especially in my aquaria.

[Bas Pels]

Actually, I was thinking especially of wood. Rotting wood, on a place where I can't see it, will be bad for my water, and may result in bleu algae

After the pleco has eaten it, all organisms on the wood, and the rotten components, will be taken out of the whole, leavin woolpowder, which is inert again, to my water

That is, actually, why I got my first plecos, and why I got quite a few Pterogoblichthys (I think 5 gibbyceps, 2 pardalis and 5 punctatus, for smaller tanks)

[MatsP]

a little test:



If you have a dog collect it's poo and lay it somewhere in the garden on a humid place. Next to it you place fresh dog food.


Go looking after a week. what do you "like" the most: the stuff that has already been eaten or the stuff that hasn't been eaten.





I like poo more than rotting things, especially in my aquaria.

Interesting comparison - but to make it complete, you probably should also add the dogs urine to the pole of poo, and I'm not sure it'll be quite as big a difference then. And I'm not suggesting that we should leave things rotting in the tank - just that all food items put into the tank contributes to the bioload about equally - and I'm not sure food rotting above ground is quite the same as food rotting in water, because in water the ammonia doesn't "stay" in the water. I'm not saying that it's not better to make sure it's eaten, just that it ends up producing the same amount of pollution (at least when it comes to the main components, such as nitrate) - just in a slightly different way/speed.

Bas: Yes, deteriorating wood being "cleaned" by plecos is indeed a good thing - and it is something that is hard for us humans to do, and the plecos do very well.

--
Mats

[Ashton]

I did have a BN in this tank, but was persuaded by well meaning people to put him in part ex a while back as his bi load would half the bi load of the tank. However, I vac the gravel weekly and to be honest I've not noticed much difference

I've had an algae problem with the tank and have only got plastic plants in at the moment, I do intend to gradually re-introduce real plants, but do I need bogwood for this guy?

[MatsP]

One bristlenose can obviously be half the bioload in a tank, that very much depends on the amount of other fish in the tank. And yes, they do eat alot, and what goes in must come out the other end sooner or later. In some research I've read, some types of Loricariidae have a 40-minute passage from mouth to rear-end, and others aren't THAT much slower - if you watch a bristlenose eat for example Sweet potato or Butternut squash, it doesn't take very long before orange poo comes out the other end.

And Sturisoma are pretty similar, and will probably eventually reach a similar size to a bristlenose kept in that sort of tank - maybe a bit less weight of fish [which is what really matters, along with what they eat, not how long or short they are].

Edit: To answer your last question, I don't believe bogwood is essential for this fish, but for the price of a small piece of bogwood, is it worth the chance? To be honest, I don't see these fish sit on bogwood very much... But I have wood in almost all my tanks, and certainly in all tanks I have Sturisoma in.

--
Mats

[L number Banana]

Bas Pels wrote:

poo machine?

Yes I did mean wood eaters mainly. My tiny P.maccus seems to show her presence on a cleaned filter pad overnight. My M.thoracata are larger and eat much, much more than P.maccus but I never need to shake the goo off the filter in their tank. Mopani wood in both tanks so I've been blaming the extra work on P.maccus.