Biotope tank for Horabagrus brachysoma

[Shovelnose]

Bala shark where as close as I could get. And I didn't feel like they were a good option.

I completely agree with you, they would have looked quite out of place. All the best with your efforts to get the required fish, the set up looks wonderful even at the moment.

[minipol]

Thanks, my personal piece of India

[minipol]

An update, it was in the afternoon when i made the pics and shot the movie so no Hora's to be seen.
The Pristolepis usually hides until the evening hours, then it emerges.
I wonder if this is normal behaviour or if this would change with a few companions.
They are hard to come by over here.

[Shovelnose]

The Pristolepis usually hides until the evening hours, then it emerges. I wonder if this is normal behaviour or if this would change with a few companions.

Yes, I am pretty sure this behaviour will change once you find a few more specimens to add to the tank. I have collected this species on a couple of occasions and I always found them in small groups rather than solitary specimens (all the specimens I collected were juveniles though).

This should be of some interest to you : http://www.iisc.ernet.in/currsci/jun102003/1468.pdf

Have the Horabagrus stopped eating the cyprinids yet???

[minipol]

Hi, thanks for the info once again.

Yes, they have stopped eating them, well almost Only 1 small Barilius disappeared.
But now the population is stable so I hope this continues to be the case.
Even the small eel is left alone.
But the 2 biggest Hora's are about 22-24cm now but that's just guessing. I'll try once to take pic
and then guess the length by comparing the length in pixels of the fish and of known objects.
Should at least give me a better idea.

I have an opportunity to buy 4 Pristolepis, bringing the total 5. I thinkh this would be a nice addition.

[Shovelnose]

I have an opportunity to buy 4 Pristolepis, bringing the total 5. I thinkh this would be a nice addition.

Indeed. You can expect some initial aggression to ascertain dominance (especially so if the new fish you add are of a smaller size).

[minipol]

Unbelievable. For once that I order fish that need to be shipped over here, I had bad luck.
The fish were bagged on Thursday, and due to arrive on Friday.
On Friday I get a mail, the transport had been in an accident and the fish were sent back.
Nooohhh !
Then sometime later that day, I get a mail to ask if they could be shipped on Saturday.
No problem of course. But when they arrived, there was trouble.
The 2 smaller females were ok, the male however, was in a bag with lot's of excrements,
probably due to the long trip and the fact that they probably didn't receiver new fresh
water when they arrived back at the shop.
The fish was rotating and swimming up side down, normally this means death.
I usually ease over fish but this time, I immediately put them in fresh water.
I continued to change the water in the big bucket and kept the fish straight and moving him
through the water. After 30m it wasn't rotating as bad anymore and after 1,5h it was swimming normal again.
I then added them to the tank and luckily they are all ok !
I now have 4 Pristolepis marginata

[minipol]

Finally some more pics of the different fish in the tank and 2 video's, 1 of the Pristolepis marginata and 1 of the Horabagrus.
The Horabagrus like the Pristolepis. When there was only 1 in the tank, they sometimes swam just behind it, following her to the middle of the tank.
Funny to watch. I've seen the Horabagrus do that with the P. pardalis as well.

[Shovelnose]

The fish look nice and healthy. Is there any interaction between the Pristolepis specimens???

[minipol]

Yes, they interact with each other. There's a nice balance between them and they
are all very visible. Great addition to the tank

[Shovelnose]

What other Indian fish do you usually get there???

[minipol]

Nothing much, some catfish and usually the smaller barbs.
These are widely available.

I was very lucky getting hold of the Barilius and Horabagrus, the Puntius denisonii are available but cost a lot.
I had to order the P. filamentosus, and I was very very lucky getting the Pristolepis.
The Mystus where also a stroke of luck, so in hindsight, of the fish I have, only the Puntius denisonii are widely available here.

[minipol]

It is as if 1the Horabagrus knew I mentioned here that they left the barbs alone.
2 P. denisonii "disappeared" in a week time. Wow. Never had that happen before.
It must be the Hora's. And to make matters worse, I found 1 Barilius dead. I think he commited harakiri against
the cover glass. Anyway, I hope it's not a trend being set but I fear that the P. denisonii will be eaten, only
the bigger ones will be left alone.
I'm thinking of adding more P. filamentosus as they seem to be left alone, even the smaller ones.

[minipol]

7 months later in the tank setup and along the way things have changed.
The hora's took out some smaller Puntius and Barilius but a lot of them are still around.
A nightlight was the answer, but it didn't completely stop the hunting.

A while ago, at the LFS, 3 Calophysus macropterus came available. I waited 6 months, nobody wanted the fish and they
need a big tank. I find it a great species and after 6 months, I decided to take them home.
Also, as I am moving house, a couple of tanks are shut down.
Meaning a couple more "visitors" entered the tank: some Megalechis thoracata, an L119 and a Hypostomus faveolus.

The tank has evolved more into a catfish tank although still the Indian fish are still predominant.
All catfish get along, they all like to hide and come out in small numbers during the day.
That's what makes the tank interesting. 1 of the Barilius is very big, what a nice fish !

Sadly, I'm going to shut down the tank this saturday
.
.
.
.
Only to move the fish into a new 300x100x70cm tank, 2100 liters gross
The tank is filled up already, to take out any possible toxins.
I'm going to do the fill/empty routine one more time and then move the fish on saturday.
The Calophysus will be a challenge. They are big 34+cm and fast.
I will have to be carefull not to injure them.
Luckily the new place isn't far from my current home so minimal stress.
I hope to post pics next week.
I will add less small stones and pebbels as the Calophysus are to strong and wild when eating.
The pebbels sometimes hit the glass and once they get even bigger, I do not want to risk them
displacing a small rock into the side of the tank.
Anyways, fingers crossed

[minipol]

Here a little clip a day after the tank has been set up.
I have put filter material from a running biofilter in the filters of this tank, and sand, stones etc. so
I get the needed bacteria.
The clip was shot from one end of the tank, with sunrays hitting the surface.
Super to see.

[drako57]

Hello. My name is Ameet and Im from Pune,India. I must say thats a brilliant tank. I also recently bought 4 sun catfishes and I needed some tips on them. Their behaviour,feeding habits,tankmates,etc. I want to keep loaches also. I found these fish after 13-14 years. I had one way back in school. Its a rare fish. How is its availability outside India ? Your advice will be of great help. I have a 47gallon tank. 47"x13.5" x 17"

[minipol]

Hi Ameet !

The place where I bought the Horabagrus had a group of about 10. I bought 6.
A couple of months later, I saw a group of about 20 for sale in another shop.
Besides that, I haven't seen them here.
I'm very happy they survived the transport to the new tank, and are doing well.
The biggest must be about 22-24cm.

They like to be in groups and like to come out at dusk. They are very active during the night.
They like cover, I use pvc tubes to give them shelter.
As for tankmates, small fish might be taken, although a small nightlight will (almost) prevent that.
I would be carefull not to mix them with aggressive cichlids as they will be pecking at the Horabagrus.

The water temperature should be around 22°-25°C. In nature, they live in parts with a strong current and
also where the current isn't that strong. They eat almost anything. I feed them frozen foods, as well as
sinking pellets. If they have tankmates that tend to eat before the Hora's, you might want to feed when
the lights are out.

If you have any more questions, shoot. Shovelnose knows a lot about these cats as well.

[drako57]

I observed that I have an ich infestation Im worried cos horas dont have scales and are easily infected. I will get my heater in a day or 2. So I suppose it should be fine if I keep the temp at 26-27 degrees ? And do they go well with loaches ? Im really keen on keeping clowns /yoyos & horas.

[minipol]

Itch (if it's not to bad) can be treated by increasing the temperature to 30°C+. If you keep it this high for 3 to 4 days,
you have a good chance that the itch will be gone. However, it's necessary to increase the airflow in the water of the tank
to insure the fish have enough oxygen.
Also during that period, do not feed the fish and make sure that you did a big waterchange before the treatment.
If the itch isn't gone, you might have to repeat the treatment or use medicins.

Some loaches are very active, so it depends. They like the bottom part of the tank and thus are in the area that the Horabagrus like.
If you provide lot's of hiding places, the combination could work. But small loaches might be eaten by the Hora's

[drako57]

My fishes wont have any problems with such a high temp ? Which loaches do you suggest then ? I have 2 tanks but 1 tank has a huge flower horn. Otherwise I would have made a seperate tank for loaches n horas.

[minipol]

Flowerhorns are agressive, I would put any catfish or loach in there, it's bound to get killed.
As for loaches, something that will not grow to big. Clown loaches are to big.
Depends on what you like.
Botia striata for instance is a species that doesn't get to big.
For more info, I would go here: http://www.loaches.com/articles/an-intr ... ping-botia

[drako57]

Thats what I thought too.. Clowns are too big so yoyo/zebra/bengal loaches should be fine.. Flower Horn has to be alone. There is no way any other fish can survive there so thats out of consideration I would have kept loaches there had that tank been empty.
But again, Your tank is brilliant

[minipol]

A clips shot in the daytime and one in the evening.
The Hora's are hiding at the time. I should really start a new thread as this isn't exactly a biotope tank anymore.

[Bas Pels]

@ Loaches

India does have a nice collection of loaches, therefore I wonder why anyone would put clown loaches, which come from Sumatra, in an India themed thank

'Asia' is a rather big place - an Asia themed thank is a bit broad

[drako57]

I dont have anything in mind like an Indian theme or an Asian theme. Just want to keep my favourite species of fish i.e catfish n loaches. Anyways, good news is that I might get a 8x2x2(feet) tank in the future. So maybe then I can keep loaches in a totally different tank.

[minipol]

That's a decent size tank, many options ahead

[drako57]

nice video ! close ups would have been better

[minipol]

Yeah put it's shot with an old photocam, and filming with it doesn't produce nice clips.
I'll try again in the future

[drako57]

I love the other 2 catfish which you have. I hope I can get them when I get a bigger tank.

[minipol]

I had to cut down on the costs of my tanks.
I went for a setup that allows lower temps, and that is interesting to watch.
I ended up with a malawi setup, that isn't a Horabagrus biotope anymore.
- 2m/8f Copadichromis borleyi red kadango
- 8 juvenile Nimbochromis livingstonii
- 5m/5f Placidochromis phenochilus "tanzania"

I kept the following catfish in there.
- Pterygoplichthys pardalis (30cm, somewhere between 5 and 7 years i guesstimate)
- L119 (15cm-18cm)
- Hypostomus faveolus (15cm-18cm)
- 6 Horabagrus brachysoma (smallest 18cm, biggest 20/22 cm)

I would like to get a bigger tank in the garage instead of my smaller breeding tanks,
so I could move these catfish to their own tank, and add some Syno's to this setup.
There are lot's of hiding places already (9 big PVC tubes, and natural caves) so it would
be possible to add the Syno's already.
For now, it works, and I throw in lot's of algae tablets for the L numbers, and some sinking food.

Weird thing is, the Hora's seem to appreciate this setup better than the previous one which had wood
in it. The water became a bit darker, now without the wood and with the plants it's clearer.