Just got a new fish a lovely chap was sold to me and on the tank it looked like it said "bolan catfish" but done a search and cant find anything about it. Anyone know his latin name and common name? bloke said he's very rare too not sure if this is true either
Pics
By the way his fin looks really bad in the pic iv got to check that as it wasnt there earlier and hes hiding at the min. it wasnt like that when i bought it either so il check that out and may need some advice on that later. His fin is a redish colout anyway underneath so might just be a bad pic i dont know
Also had to come to work does his fin look like its been damaged? It was absolutely fine when I saw him earlier didn't look bad at all. Could it just be the pic?
It's about asking as the ghost at the min so about 10 inches but I believe they get bigger don't they?
If it is a bite is there anything I can do to help it? I can't see what could have done it there all pretty friendly fish. I hear oscars can be a pain if hungry but I keep the Oscar well fed on muscles so don't think he'd be attacking yet as he's not huge either
Steve
I'd suggest something is picking on it if the fin damage wasn't there to start with. If it is A.polystictus, it's an 18" fish fully grown. What size tank? It could be the shark or the black ghost. What are the other cats? If the picking on has started already, you might want to separate it from the others before the damage gets worse. IMO oscars are messy sometimes aggressive fish that will eat for the sake of eating. I would not recommend a diet of just mussels, but try large pellets, krill and other foods more suited to a freshwater fish.
I hope you can find the culprit soon!
Martin
Thanks Marc. That's good news as its a smaller fish ~12" than the polystictus but that doesn't help the damage being caused by another tank inhabitant.
Obviously, I'd defer to Marc for the ID; I don't know my auchenipterids anywhere near as well as he does, and I just made a cursory glance at the Cat-eLog!
- Milton Tan
Research Scientist @ Illinois Natural History Survey
Well iv got a much much bigger tank to set up soon. In the mean time if the others leave him alone will his fin repair itself on his own? He's such a lovely fish will be a massive shame to lose him.
What would you suggest feeding them on then? At the min I give the Oscar muscles and the others bloodworm and discus pellets. If this isn't enough please tell me
The fin will repair if the water is clean and it doesn't get infected. I'd suggest treating the tank with an anti bacterial treatment and ensure the ageniosus is feeding. Was it feeding in the shop? As I said earlier, no fish will do well on a diet of one food type, and mussels are not a part of their natural diet, so you need to look at foods like hikari massivore, live river shrimp, frozen bloodworm and brine-shrimp, with mussels given as a treat.
IMO the Oscar and this catfish are not ideal companions due to the messy and gluttonous nature of the cichlid.
Hope this helps
Martin
Yes, I asked that earlier but it may have got lost in my ramblings.
Ok, pics would be good but if humbug is what we expect, that's not going to be a problem. My money is still on the shark or black ghost.
Other catfish is a normal common thing I think likes to be upside down a lot lol ghost really? His mouth is tiny and he's always hiding.
He hides in a bit of drain pipe with the humbug. Sometimes the humbug pushes him out and as soon as that happens the sharks fin goes up and he starts jerking about round the ghost. So my thoughts Are the shark might be the culprit. I can't see it being the Oscar yet people say there mouthy and quite aggressive and he may well turn out to be when he's older but at the min he's so friendly and docile I can't see it being him yet. Going to keep a close eye on the shark now lol
Pls don't take this as an offence, but are you sure there is no possibility the wound was already there when you bought it? If you are as enthousiastic as me, you could easily have overlooked it - I did so many times, despite experience.
Thing is that it doesn't look like a fresh wound imo. For some reason especially ageneiosids are very fragile when caught and/or during transport. So when you encounter them in shops, they may already have reddish, damaged bodyparts (I believe your specimen also has a red area in the anal fin).
When provided with good conditions, these wounds will heal. Pls beware that, despite the looks of a fierce fish, these are actually quite defenceless, so any agressor in your tank could easily kill the Ageneiosus by constantly harrassing it.
I also doubt these wounds could be inflicted by a "shark" (E. bicolor?) as the bite mark is too large.
The native name of this fish is "Bocon"; I think that's where your "Bolan" comes from.
The difference with A. polystictus is that this one (polystictus) grows larger, has smaller and far more black dots and has a blueish body colour.
Thinking about it he may have mate. i wouldnt take offence anyway i probably overlooked this when i bought it.
to be honest he seems ok he was swimming round this morning when i got in from work and it doesnt look like its distressed at all. the sharks a bit of a pain for harassing the ghost but iv watched him for ages he's pretty harmless so i agree with you there
Thought about it and when iv got my bigger tank set-up il be transferring everything over to it but i think i might keep the oscar and the shark in the tank they are now and seperate them from the rest especially the ageneiosids so it can be left alone for a bit and fill that tank with a few more docile laid back fish lol
anyway iv got some close up pics of his fin and a small vid to upload soon so il get that done when i get back. got to nip out to the local fish shop for some gear then il put them up
Just to clarify then his proper name is a Ageneiosids polystictus then?
