Looking For A Crazy Predator Cat.

[africantigerfish7]

I would like to know if there were any super pred cats out there, and what size tank/care they need. I've heard of gulper cats and saw a wallago attu in the store for $40. Not sure about anything, and the guy with all the info at the store is out on vacation. Thanks in advance !

 

[mr.dark-saint]

I once had a Bagrus (SP) a shovelmouth not a shovelnose catfish way back when. He got to be about 24-26 inches gray top with a white belly and was something. He'd smash his nose in and grab feeders that was close to the acrylic and you'd hear a solid "thump" . He'd spit the gravel out when he misses (what seemed like a cup full) and he'd also eat from my fingers. When done right he'd make a loud "Pop" while feeding at the surface. Also, some of my friends who didn't know him (but wanted to feed him) would get splashed when they hand feed him, or scare them with the loud "Pop" .

But you'll need a big tank 6 feet long 2 feet wide and 2 feet high at least. Never got the 500 gallons I wated to house him in went belly up over a power outage (which was very odd since it wasn't out more than two or three hours ).

 

[CFC]

Catfish are pretty much the top predatory fish in any ecosystem so there are loads to choose from if you have the tank size to keep them. What sort of tank size do you have?

Wallago attu is known as the giant man eating catfish and has been known to reach lengths of over 8 feet, and yes they have been known to eat people. This is one catfish best left at the store or prefferable back in the wild as there are very very few people with the facilities to keep a 8 foot long fish.

 

[africantigerfish7]

8 foot, man eating catfish ! Yeah, I'm going to pass on that fish. Thanks for the info CFC.

Didn't know you could hand feed shovelnose. Would consider, but it gets way too big. Thanks anyway Saint.

I only have a 60g or 30g available, but I've heard of chaca chaca, and something called a gulper cat. I just wanted to know some information and tank sizes on those.

 

[CFC]

The true gulper cat is Asterophysus batrachus, a lovely fish that only grows to around 12 inches but has the capabilty of swallowing fish (and anything else it finds in its tank) that are actually larger than itself. Unfortunately they are very rare in the hobby and cost upwards of $700 each if you can find them.

Chaca chaca or the frogmouth catfish is a great predator for the smaller aquarium, they max out at around 8 inches and rarely move apart from when taking prey so tanks as small as 20 gallons can be used to house them. They do have the disadvantage of having to be fed with live fish as they wont take any food that doesnt move.

 

[africantigerfish7]

The true gulper cat is Asterophysus batrachus, a lovely fish that only grows to around 12 inches but has the capabilty of swallowing fish (and anything else it finds in its tank) that are actually larger than itself. Unfortunately they are very rare in the hobby and cost upwards of $700 each if you can find them.

Chaca chaca or the frogmouth catfish is a great predator for the smaller aquarium, they max out at around 8 inches and rarely move apart from when taking prey so tanks as small as 20 gallons can be used to house them. They do have the disadvantage of having to be fed with live fish as they wont take any food that doesnt move.

Chaca chaca it is then ! Thanks again CFC.