My Public Aquarium: exhibit blues - how to make them?

[Viktor Jarikov]

Six mahseer growouts, 10"-12", go from 240 gal to 1800 gal. Worried about possible predation by dat perches and tig catfish in the 1800 gal. Hesitated 3 months. Pulled the trigger. So far alright. Six feedings included in the vid.

-- 2x Tor malabaricus. One looks right, similar to our adult malabaricus. The other looks "generic", most common mahseer, like douronensis, soro, etc.
-- 2x Tor tambroides. The smallest of the 6. So far also looks "generic".
-- 1x Tor douronensis. From Jeff Rapps.
-- 1x Spinibarbus hollandii. Taiwan mahseer.

[Viktor Jarikov]

Full 1.5 hour video of the wittei giraffe catfish courtship:

[Viktor Jarikov]

[Viktor Jarikov]

The feeding of the three rescue pacu:

[Viktor Jarikov]

A mole cricket was appreciated by Mr Oscar:

[Viktor Jarikov]

Feeding the three soldier catfish Lithodoras dorsalis and two black ear catfish Pangasius larnaudii.

From Nov 2021 to Feb 2022, in 3.5 months, the soldiers grew from 5"-6" to 14"-15", while the black ears from 4" to 10".

I gave the soldiers a hide a month ago, a cave. They barely use it, one or two at a time but most usually out and about.

[Viktor Jarikov]

The dourada healed from that bad blister that had been shown before and has been well since last summer of 2021. I estimate its length now at around 20"-22". Some typical feeding - it feeds well to a nice round tummy on fortified herring. On alternate days I give giant NLS pellets, which it also takes but in moderation, just a few maybe.

[Viktor Jarikov]

Update on the 5 Phalacronotus sp. More of the same. Feed with moderation on large NLS pellets and cut silversides, with some preference for the pellets (!). Usually similar kinds of catfish are either voracious or gluttonous. Grow very slowly, but perhaps added 0.5-1 inch in the 2.5 months here but the smallest one or two grew better, having added 1-2 inches and now are of similar size to the bigger ones:

[Viktor Jarikov]

[Viktor Jarikov]

[Viktor Jarikov]

Update in over 1.5 years. The yellow bullhead has been well in a different tank with different tank mates. It is dominated by the snail bullhead tank mate but not proactively, only when it runs into the snail, the yellow runs away usually. It feeds too well as well, so very chubby.

1.5 years later. The surviving snail bullhead had been doing well removed from the 1800 gal but in the last 3 months has been on a hunger strike out of blue. I hope it comes around. My guess is our water changes got inadequate at 100% in 30 days over the last several years. A month or two ago, we bought new RO membranes and increased the WC to 100% in 3-4 days. Hopefully it'll help the bullhead to rebound.

[Viktor Jarikov]

The remaining 7 gulpers have been doing well. Here is a typical weekly feeding - everyone is getting a 6"-8" VitaChem-fortified herring or two.

Sexi, the 2ft sexfasciatus, is still in timeout in a 240 gal. He is fed around 10-20 giant NLS pellets 6 nights a week. He never shows interest in fish or fish pieces so long he gets his pellet fill.

[Viktor Jarikov]

Night and day feeding of the "jerk" tank. No change to report, same old and stable so far.

Our behri grows length wise slowly but remains very thin. It goes for the pellets every feeding but is never able to get many or enough to fill up and does this strange thing where he abandons trying to clumsily suck up the pellets and swims off to start suck-cleaning the rocks, etc. No wonder it is so thin. It is about 10" now.

[Viktor Jarikov]

[Viktor Jarikov]

[Viktor Jarikov]

[Shovelnose]

-- 2x Tor malabaricus. One looks right, similar to our adult malabaricus. The other looks "generic", most common mahseer, like douronensis, soro, etc.

Hey Viktor, great video there as usual!! You suspect the caudal fins of the Mahseer are getting nibbled off? The T.malabaricus I keep have significantly long caudal fin lobes with striking black on the principal rays.

[Viktor Jarikov]

Hey Viktor, great video there as usual!! You suspect the caudal fins of the Mahseer are getting nibbled off? The T.malabaricus I keep have significantly long caudal fin lobes with striking black on the principal rays.

Thank you Balaji! When these 6 smaller mahseer lived with pacu in 240 gal, the pacu managed to bite off some fin pieces every now and then, including on the bottom caudal lobe of one mahseer which I believe may be true malabaricus. Other than these occasional problems, that are now in the past since the 6 were moved to 1800 gal, there have been no other problems.

As for your specimen, it might help to see the photos of what you are talking about.

[Viktor Jarikov]

[Shovelnose]

As for your specimen, it might help to see the photos of what you are talking about.

A rubbish pic of one of the T.malabaricus I currently keep (6-7" TL), notice any difference in the caudal fin?