Rescued raphael catfish..Questions.

[Kaosu]

Rescued raphael catfish..Questions.

ok so I traded 2 medium size anubia plants to save this fish..it came from a friend who pulled it out of his 75 gallon way over stocked under taken care of tank saying he was eating all of his pleco babies.
He had him stuffed in a 3 gallon bow front.. that never got the water changed the water was brown..and there is no logs in it!! ick..poor guy

he is said to be 5 years old?

Questions

does he look stunted?..he is about 4 inches long..and super round in the tummy and thin in the tail...he is being acclimated for my 10g QT tank at the moment.
what should i feed him?
will he eat snails?
tank mates?
any tips on keeping these guys would be great!

..his eyes look a bit cloudy?
(brown water ick)

 

[Gryphon]

Re: Rescued raphael catfish..Questions.

Yeah he looks stunted, my 1 year old striped raphael catfish is about 4-5 inches long. I'll try to get a picture of him tomorrow to compare against.

Looks like you have a spotted Raphael. I have my striped in with 2 mystery snails from Petco, started them off dime sized and he hasn't touched them once. As for tank mates, I wouldn't put them in with fish small enough to fit in their mouth, they have a reputation for nailing sleeping small fish.

Get a nice cave or hollow log for him, raphaels' are mostly nocturnal, and I've seen mine freak out occasionally when I turn the light on if he is out of his log.

As for eating, these guys are major scavengers, they'll eat about anything! Mine cleans up left over flakes, and gets sinking carnivore pellets every other day, and a treat of bloodworms on the weekends.

 

[Kaosu]

Re: Rescued raphael catfish..Questions.

thank you for the reply.

im not 100% on his age the guy i got him from said he had him for about a year...and had no clue how long the person had him before him but he said he "feels" 5?...i have no clue he could be younger but he looks stunted to me anyway.

 

[Gryphon]

Re: Rescued raphael catfish..Questions.

He does look a bit stunted, like he has been squished a bit. While my raphael is a chunky guy, he is still kinda long.

 

[Ratlova30]

Re: Rescued raphael catfish..Questions.

Glad to see he at least has a chance now, poor guy.

 

[Kaosu]

Re: Rescued raphael catfish..Questions.

yeah

Its hard to say he is happy now but he is in clean water with food so I feel good to say he is allot more comfortable in his new home !!

 

[Kaosu]

Re: Rescued raphael catfish..Questions.

pics of him in QT

 

[sandnuka]

Re: Rescued raphael catfish..Questions.

Cool lookin little cat fish... I dont know what the tells are to see how stunted he is... he lookes a lil stunted though, the smaller tale and bigger head are usually a classic sign.

 

[Gryphon]

Re: Rescued raphael catfish..Questions.

I would do a light feeding for him for a week or so, Raphael's are known for eating until they croak from it, and he is definately well over fed lol

 

[Ratlova30]

Re: Rescued raphael catfish..Questions.

So where's that big fella going? He looks bigger then the woodcats. He's pretty cool looking, I'll have to look at kaijas next month to see if they have one. Wonder what their price range is.

 

[joseZ.]

Re: Rescued raphael catfish..Questions.

I saw 1 at AP about 2 months ago for 9.99 it was about 3in not counting the tail. They also had 1 today for 14.99 pretty neat fishThis is off topic but they also had a arowana that was about 2 feet it was pretty cool it was my first time seeing one in person

 

[knifegill]

Re: Rescued raphael catfish..Questions.

Happy to say his bones look well-formed and the eyes are normally cloudy for the species. He looks amazing. Their incredibly slow metabolisms are beneficial in small quarters. Time and time again I've seen huge raphs come out of small tanks no worse for the wear. I do not see any stunting. I have studied the morphology of this species, and nothing looks amiss that couldn't be explained by normal genetic variability. He doesn't have gill curl, so the guy must have been doing something right. I do see a hint of redness in the fins, probably from osmotic changes during transport and acclimatization. The uneven growth in his pectoral fins' leading rays is our best clue to his seasons of good growth versus seasons of stunting. I see slight waviness and variation in the thickness of those leading rays, but nothing that wouldn't have happened in some natural settings, anyway. He's a BEAST and I want to try him in a breeding group! Could I maybe just borrow him/her for a few months and return him if nothing happens? PM me! I want to meet this fish! I still have your SB paradise. He's doing great!