Aquarium killer whale catfish. Aquarium fish Siamese killer whale
Mystus striped is a non-aggressive and active fish. It has another name - Indian som-killer whale. In nature, this playful representative underwater world lives in fresh waters Pakistan, India, Nepal, Sri Lanka and other South Asian countries, but it may be suitable for keeping in an aquarium with other fish. If you organize proper care, the pet will delight others with its cheerful disposition and activity for 5-6 years.
Mystus striped is a non-aggressive catfish that lives in warm waters
General description
The correct Latin name for the species is mistus tenggara. It was studied and described back in early XIX century. Representatives of the species grow up to 45 cm in natural conditions and up to 16-25 cm in captivity. In addition to transparent dorsal fin they have another one - fatty. The fins on the chest and abdomen are small and the tail is long.
On a big head with large bulging eyes There are three pairs of whiskers. One pair grows upper lip, and the other two, shorter ones, extend from the bottom. Thanks to these organs of touch, the fish feels great in the dark or thickets.
The spindle-shaped body of an adult representative is slightly flattened on the sides, has a pinkish-yellow color with tints of blue-violet. There are dark stripes on the body that merge with the main color during times of stress in the fish, and on gill covers there are black spots. In fry, this color does not appear immediately; at first they are uniformly silver, which is why they are easily confused with other species of the genus Mystus. But even representatives that have recently emerged from eggs have an interesting distinguishing feature- they can creak, creating sound with their pectoral fins.
The sex of catfish can be easily determined when the fish reach three months of age. Females grow larger and thicker, they have a clearly defined white belly, but the color is not very contrasting. Males are distinguished by their slenderness and a special process called the urogenital papilla.The character of catfish is changeable. During the day he is calm, spends his time hiding in grottoes and eating young leaves. aquatic plants, can float on the surface with its belly up. For this reason it is also called the catfish-shifter. At night he becomes cocky and plays games with other inhabitants of the aquarium, which can sometimes develop into a fight. To prevent the fish from injuring each other, the Mystus's neighbors need to be selected carefully, giving preference to calm representatives of the underwater world. But small fish are not suitable, as the catfish will begin to hunt them.
How comfortable a pet is in captivity determines its health, life expectancy and behavior. In a suitable environment, the Indian catfish feels great and shows the best traits of its character, in unfavorable conditions- suffers and becomes withdrawn and aggressive.
In order for mystus to be healthy and active, you need to equip the aquarium with decorations for games (for example, grottoes for hide and seek) and devices that maintain the necessary conditions for life, feed the pet properly and keep it together with other inhabitants of the underwater world.
Choosing an aquarium
An adult, fully formed mystus needs space for active swimming, so it will need a wide, low aquarium with a volume of 120-150 liters or even more. The container must be equipped with a lid, otherwise its inhabitants will jump out. To make the fish comfortable in their new place of residence, you need to put stones and driftwood on the bottom, and plant plants in the ground. To prevent the resident from completely destroying the green leaves by gnawing them, you need to feed him sometimes plant foods.
Although in nature mystus sometimes swims into sea bays and feels great in a brackish environment, the water in the aquarium should be fresh and settled , and also meet the following requirements:
- temperature - from 22 °C to 28 °C;
- pH - from 6.0 to 7.4;
- hardness - from 5 to 25 dH.
The water should be changed weekly by draining a quarter of the volume and compensating for it with fresh liquid. You can also drain the water completely and rinse the aquarium once every two weeks. This is a very important requirement for caring for mystus, since it likes to be at the bottom of its home, where nitrogenous pollution accumulates. If you do not change the fish’s habitat in time, it may develop health problems.
Changing the water regularly is very important when keeping catfish.
Additional equipment
Mistuses are not very difficult to keep at home, however, some additional equipment they will need it. First of all, you will have to purchase the following designs:
An oxygen compressor is absolutely necessary, since the fish are quite large and without a special installation they will not have enough oxygen dissolved in the water. Since the aquarium for mistuses needs a volumetric one, and the device must have a power of 60-75 W, it can be placed inside the container and decorated with plants. But you should remember 2 rules:
- the device should be located so as not to create cramped conditions for fish;
- it cannot be turned off at night, since it is at this time of day that the lack of oxygen is felt most acutely.
The filter system must be chosen external. Firstly, it will not take up space in the aquarium, since such structures are located outside the tank. And secondly, it will create a flow of water similar to the natural flow of a river.
If the quality of filtered water is not completely satisfactory, you can install an additional internal device. The main thing is that the equipment comes with replaceable filters, since passing water through contaminated and expired fillers is dangerous to the health of the fish.
The water heater must maintain the heat required for comfortable life fish This is especially important if the owner wants to start breeding aquarium inhabitants, for which it is necessary to maintain the temperature at within strict limits accurate to the nearest degree. The device is equipped with a thermostat, which turns on heating when there is insufficient warm water and turns off when the set value is reached.
Nevertheless, the operation of even the highest quality and most expensive heater needs to be checked from time to time using a thermometer purchased separately. If the device fails, the water turns out to be too hot or cold, it can cost your pets not only their health, but also their lives.
Lighting will be needed not only for mistuses, but also aquarium plants. When choosing lamps, you should give preference to such lighting devices that give a color temperature in the range from 5.5 to 6.5 thousand Kelvin.
It is important to check the water temperature in the aquarium from time to timeProper feeding
A complete and varied diet is the key to the health of living beings. If they don't receive sufficient quantity nutrients, their immunity will decrease, and the body will begin to deplete. In nature, mystus hunts all living creatures that it can swallow. IN aquarium conditions the pet should be given live, frozen or dry food, nutritional tablets for bottom fish, herbal ingredients and healthy supplements.
When choosing food, you need to pay attention to its expiration dates and storage conditions. The food is kept in a closed container in a dark place. It is better not to take the product by weight, since no one can guarantee that it has not expired and was stored correctly.
It also doesn’t hurt to purchase vitamin supplements at the pet store. The most useful substances for fish are the following:
- Vitamin A for cell growth and stress reduction in captivity;
- group B to support metabolism;
- C and D for the formation and development of the skeletal system;
- E to normalize reproductive function;
- H for cell development;
- K to support the circulatory system;
- M to improve coloring.
Supplements may also contain useful minerals eg magnesium and iodine.
Vitamins in liquid form are added to water or food at the rate of 6 drops per individual. It is especially important to use drugs during pet illness and immediately after their recovery, during transportation and relocation, during fish breeding and fry growth, and when changing seasons.
From time to time, fish should be pampered with salad, oatmeal and worms. But all portions should be small, since the catfish tends to eat every last crumb and pick up leftover food from other aquarium inhabitants. Overeating can lead to bloating and constipation, so you need to remember the rule of the ideal portion: it should be completely eaten by the fish within 3-5 minutes.
Feeding should be done once a day. During the week you need to alternate between dry and live food; the latter would be brine shrimp, bloodworms, daphnia, coretra, tubifex, rotifer or gammarus. It is important not to introduce pathogenic bacteria or viruses along with living organisms. To do this, fish food must be thoroughly washed or soaked in methylene blue.
There is no need to give catfish too much food, as they are prone to gluttony.Compatibility with other fish
The Indian catfish cannot feel at ease alone. He becomes either fearful or aggressive. But settling different types fish in one container, you need to take into account their compatibility. Mystus striped feels best in the company of 3-5 relatives, since this species is a gregarious one. If you plan to keep other fish in the same aquarium, it is worth remembering that the catfish quite aggressively guards its territory, so its neighbors must be comparable or larger so that it does not injure them. Cichlids, astronotuses and macrognaths are suitable for him.
So popular aquarium inhabitants, like rasboras, guppies, danios or neons, will not get along with largemouth catfish, which will quickly swallow them. Decorative fish with veil fins and tails will also not be able to exist in the same place with mystus, since it will chase them, plucking the fluttering swimming organs.
Cichlids are suitable as aquarium neighbors for catfishBreeding rules
Having grown halfway, the catfish already becomes sexually mature. But breeding mystus in aquarium conditions is not an easy task, since in captivity the male and female are practically not interested in each other. Reproduction can be stimulated only with the help of pituitary injections.
In addition, you need to set up a special 100-liter spawning tank with a substrate in the form of a sponge or moss. Water parameters must differ from those maintained under standard conditions. The requirements for them are:
- temperature strictly 26 °C;
- pH 6.0;
- hardness 4 dH.
You can put one female and several males or just a couple of fish in the tank. They need to be provided with enhanced and varied nutrition and active aeration in the aquarium. If everything is done correctly, the female will collect eggs, after which all producers need to be injected with a mixture of human chorionic gonadotropin and bream pituitary gland. IN best case scenario the female will be able to lay up to 500 eggs, from which in 30 hours the fry will develop, feeding not only on microplankton, but also on each other. To avoid this, catfish striped mystus need to be sorted by size and fed with Artemia nauplii.
Mystuses themselves practically do not reproduce in captivityThis entire procedure can only be carried out by professionals in specialized nurseries, from where the bred fish are sold. The difficulty is that in addition to the specific conditions that need to be created for breeding, very complex manipulations may be needed in case of difficulties, for example, expressing eggs from a female or bringing the water to a normal state when it is clouded with milk.
The striped catfish is unusual in appearance, interesting in behavior and an aquarium inhabitant that interacts with other fish. It adapts well to living conditions in captivity and actively responds to changes environment, has the rudiments of intelligence and can recognize the owner. At night, it swims with its belly to the surface, allowing itself to be stroked, and when the light is turned on, it quickly hides in shelters at the bottom.
Mystus tengara
In my opinion, Mystus striped is undeservedly ignored by lovers of aquarium exotics. This is a very attractive fish in appearance and interesting in behavior. The white belly and stripes on the body shine with mother-of-pearl, long whiskers and winking eyes give the fish a very extravagant appearance.
Features of keeping mistuses
It is best to keep these catfish in a flock of three or more, then they will show themselves in all their glory. Mistuses grow very quickly, they maximum size reaches up to twenty centimeters, so you should choose a large aquarium for them - from 150 liters and above, and its length should be much greater than its height. It should also be taken into account that catfish are very active and love to race around the aquarium. It also needs shelter in the form of various snags and grottoes - for example, my young mystus somehow hid under half a toothless shell.
Nevertheless, mystuses are visible almost all the time during the day, but their activity does not decrease at night either. At the same time, they can misbehave and bite the long fins of other fish - my handsome one left his tails mollies without their original lyres.
When getting mistuses, you should clearly know that they are predators, so everything small fish, if there are any in your aquariums, will sooner or later be eaten by catfish. Therefore, it is best to keep them in company large fish, mine, for example, lives with astronotuses .
There is evidence that these catfish can spoil living plants by gnawing on their tender young leaves. You can try to “make friends” of catfish with plants by feeding them with plant food: lettuce leaves, scalded nettles.
Feeding mystus
Mistuses are very fond of special tablets for catfish. When I feed them to my mystus, he rushes like lightning into a pile of fish, grabs the tablet and runs away. After about five minutes he usually loses it and swims for another. These catfish are unpretentious in food, they eat absolutely everything: dry, frozen, and live food.
Water for mistuses
They require standard settled water with a temperature of about 25 degrees; it is enough to change it once every two weeks.
Mistus breeding
You can try and breed them, but this requires stimulation of the fish using pituitary injections, which, of course, is not available to all hobbyists. Therefore, it would be better to just watch these catfish and get aesthetic pleasure from them.
Shifter killer whale (Mystus leucophasis, Heterobagrus leucophasis)
No matter how beautiful and unusual this catfish is in appearance, it is so uninteresting in behavior. During the day it is not visible, since at this time of day it sits out in secluded places in the aquarium, under snags and in grottoes, and the catfish emerges from them only at night. If at this moment you turn on the light in the room, then it rushes like lightning into the shelter, sweeping away everything in its path.
Features of keeping killer whales
The catfish-shifter grows up to twenty-five centimeters. Its method of movement around the aquarium is interesting - the catfish constantly swims with its belly up. If you keep a changeling in a low aquarium, then when he falls asleep, you can even stroke his soft belly - he does not wake up immediately.
It should be borne in mind that this catfish is an active predator, so it is necessary to select large fish that can fend for themselves as neighbors. My catfish manages to bite the fins of even such giants as my astronotus at night.
You can keep shifters either alone or in a group, but sometimes they can sort things out among themselves, but this usually does not lead to serious injuries.
It should be noted that the shapeshifting killer whale is an almost unkillable fish. My catfish came to me at the age of five from a very dysfunctional aquarium, in which siphoning and replacement were not carried out for several months, there was more waste there than soil, and yet the fish were fed twice a day.
The catfish sat for three weeks in a forty-liter aquarium while my old one was being repaired; during catching, two antennae on the upper jaw were damaged - they turned white and fell off completely, and a large antennae was also damaged and broken. So, within a week, everything that fell off my catfish completely grew back and was restored.
Siamese Orca (Pseudomystus siamensis, leiocassis siamensis), and not killer whale, as most searches suggest, a member of the killer whale catfish family, which is found exclusively in freshwater bodies of South Asia.
In an aquarium it reaches a maximum of 12cm, in nature it can grow up to 20cm. Sexual dimorphism is weakly expressed; it is possible to distinguish a male from a female only by its smaller and more slender body.
The lifespan of the Siamese killer whale catfish (correctly Orca) is about 5-6 years.
Terms
This type of aquarium fish loves space - an aquarium is selected from 100 liters, while long length height is preferred. In a large, spacious tank, the number of fights between males is reduced to a minimum, which allows breeding larger number these catfish. The aquarium should also come with a filter, a compressor and a lid (orcas are very active, playful and jumping).
The water must be clean and fresh (no salt!), its parameters: temperature 20-25°C, hardness up to 15°dH and acidity 6.5-7.5pH. Change the water once a week, about a third of the total volume.
Soil - coarse sand, pebbles, gravel, no coral or marble chips, they are suitable only for cichlids, as they increase rigidity. Lighting – moderate, diffused, Siamese killer whale(a killer whale is a bird, a swallow) does not like bright light and tries to hide from it in all sorts of crevices. Decorations - grottoes, broken pots, tubes in which you can hide (not too narrow or small, otherwise your pets have a good chance of getting stuck there).
This type of catfish prefers to swim in the water column in its active phase (which begins with the arrival of twilight). The fish can sometimes be seen hanging in an upright position among the thickets of plants, the poet
A small amount of them (vallisneria is a good choice) would be very appropriate.
Spreading: as the name suggests, these catfish live in freshwater rivers and reservoirs of Thailand and Kampuchea, hence the name “Siamese”.
Description: The Siamese killer whale has an elongated body of a yellow-silver color, darker fins, and covered with spines on the back and chest. On the sides of the body, depending on age, maybe. wide dark stripes. There are whiskers on the lower jaw. They can make creaking sounds from the articulation of their jagged fins. There is another common species of Siamese killer whale - the catfish. It floats belly up, which is why it got its name. These catfish have no scales. This subspecies is more timid, and can only be seen at night, and then it will immediately hide in a shelter. Due to the fact that they do not have scales, these catfish are covered with mucus, which, while performing protective functions, is poisonous.
Dimensions: grow up to 20 cm (in an aquarium - up to 12 cm)
Feeding/types of food: They eat any frozen and dry food, you can feed them with tubifex and bloodworms. Feed or part of the feed must be given at night, since this species leads night look life.
Basic parameters of the aquarium:
- Temperature 21-25°C
- Acidity level pH 6.5-7.5
- Hardness dH up to 15
The aquarium must be at least 100 liters. The lighting is dim. Catfish can jump out, so it is necessary to cover the “jar”. In the reservoir itself there should be a lot of shelters, snags, various cylinders, etc. Also, there must be enough vegetation for Siamese killer whales to hide in it. This species loves clean, oxygenated water. Therefore, appropriate measures must be taken (aeration, filtration, replacement of part of the water).
Social behavior: fish are peaceful, but can also be predatory. In general, the content in community aquarium quite acceptable, but we must take into account that the other inhabitants must be no smaller than these catfish, and the proximity of veiled fish is also not recommended - the tails and fins will be bitten. The fish are active at night. If two males do not divide the territory, there will be fights.
The Siamese killer whale is nocturnal. If you want to see this fish more often, then you need to create dim lighting in the aquarium, since the fish hides from bright light.
Sex differences: females larger than males and more complete.
Breeding
To breed Siamese Killer Whale, you need a spawning aquarium with a volume of at least 100 liters. In females, before spawning, the abdomen becomes significantly fuller. Usually, in preparation for spawning, pituitary injections are used, then eggs are collected manually from the female and milt from the males. Fertilization of eggs occurs artificially in a separate container. There are no facts of successful breeding of Siamese Killer Whale in an amateur aquarium yet. With professional breeding, it is possible to achieve numerous laying of eggs with a diameter of 1 mm. In this case, an important condition for spawning is an increase in temperature in the spawning area. Siamese killer whale fry are fed rotifers.
IN natural conditions The Siamese killer whale lives in water bodies with fresh water in Kampuchea and Thailand.
Leiocassis siamensis has external resemblance with a small catfish. The body of the fish is elongated. Tail with wide blades. There is a fairly large adipose fin. The color of the fish varies from light gray to yellowish. Transverse wide dark stripes run across the body various shapes. These stripes may be lighter or darker, depending on emotional state fish. Unlike females, males are slimmer and smaller in size. In natural habitats, the size of fish reaches 20 cm, in aquarium conditions their size is about 12 cm.
Fish lead a crepuscular lifestyle, swimming out into open areas in the aquarium after dark. During the daytime, killer whales hide in various shelters made of stones, grottoes and snags. In general, the Siamese killer whale is a peaceful fish and can be kept in a common aquarium with other fish, even very small ones, without any problems. An aquarium for keeping Siamese killer whales must have a volume of 100 liters or more.
Generally this type The fish are very unpretentious and usually there are no problems in keeping them. The fish grow very quickly and at the age of 4-5 months they are already about 8-9 cm in size. It should be said that the fish is quite nimble and in order to catch it with a net in the aquarium you need to try very hard. These fish are a kind of orderlies in the aquarium, removing food from the aquarium that has not been eaten by other fish. The fish is also resistant to various diseases.
Water parameters for keeping killer whales should be as follows: temperature 21-25°C, hardness dH 4-15°, acidity pH 6.4-7.6. Requires filtration, aeration and weekly replacement of 1/3 of the aquarium water fresh.
The Siamese killer whale feeds on a variety of live, frozen and dry food. She is prone to overeating, so the food given must be strictly dosed.
The aquarium must have large number various shelters where fish could hide. Lighting should be low with a “lingering sunset” effect.
Reproduction
Siamese killer whales become sexually mature at the age of more than a year.
It should be said that it is not possible to achieve spawning without the introduction of hormonal drugs.
For fish breeding, water is prepared with the following characteristics: temperature 26-28°C, hardness dH 2-10°, acidity pH 6.7-7.2. The spawning aquarium must have a volume of 100 liters or more.