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I dont know how I can call my clarius a catfish since today I when I returned from work he, begged at the glass for food, chased after my fingers like a jack russel pursuing a postman then proceeded to chase his own tail around and around in circles! Untill he was distracted by more food! Doh! I think I should call him Homer simpson.
jason

How big is he Jay? Sounds like a real pet fish!!

He's only about 15 cm now I just got him before xmas. It took him about two weeks to settle in and now is begining to show some character. Before he was very skitish and underweight, very thin looking poor thing. He eats well now but can be very choosy about what he eats. Doesnt touch anything green, or tuna flakes loves bloodworm, pellets and prawns. He doesnt seem to be afraid of me anymore, whenever i move stuff in the tank or clean it he's straight out of his cave sniffing around my fingers, When he gets bigger Illl have to watch out!

jason

Your <i> Clarias</i> sounds a little picky. I used to feed the <i>Clarias</i> I've kept almost anything and they would eat it. I was once watching them while munching on a banana and dropped a few pieces in just for fun. They immediately wolfed it down without hesitation. Unfortunately, the banana came out of the <i>Clarias</i> a few hours later looking much like the condition it went in, so I think it's probably not very nutritious for them (sure gave them enough roughage though, heh).
When I was away, my parents would feed them chicken guts (much to my horror). They survived none the worse for wear.
Oh, and these were Asian (<i>C. leiacanthus</i>) and African (<i>C. gariepinus</i>) <i>Clarias</i> I'm talking about.

Heok Hee

Mine is a humble clarius batrachus. But tell me about the gariepinus you had. I think they grow massive how big did it grow? Ive never seen one. Are they walking cats like the clarius or dont they leave their habitat? Fishbase has some great pics of c gariepinus they are very interesting fish. I've been fascinated by clarius for about 12 years and owned an albino c batrachus about 10 years ago. its not about anymore unfortunately but was a very interestring (crazy!) animal. This one by contrast has a very different character.
jason

The gariepinus I had was purchased as a fingerling (on a whim) in a fish market in Malaysia. In many developing countries, they sell <i>C. gariepinus</i> fingerlings for small-scale aquaculture. They were dirt cheap. I recall that I got about five or six for about 1 USD.
I kept it in a tank by itself, and AFAIK, it behaved pretty much like most other <i>Clarias</i>. Not a finicky eater and couldn't care less about water conditions (I didn't even bother to filter or aerate the water in the tank and it got along fine).
It grew to about 30 cm, and was still doing OK until I had to leave for the US. I tried giving it away (as I eventually did with many of my catfishes), but nobody wanted it. My parents then got tired of maintaining it, and thought they were doing "the right thing" by releasing it into a drainage canal (without my prior knowledge) that ran outside my house. The canal was connected to the sea and was mostly brackish (I've seen large groups of <i>Scatophagus argus</i> (scats) in there frequently, and on one occasion, even saw a school of juvenile ariids), so I think it's condemned to a slow death. Oh well, better than it wreaking ecological havoc in a freshwater stream, I guess.

Heok Hee

Funny, we used to feed our Clarias batrachus chicken liver too. It alsways wolfed it down instantaneously. And no, the chicken liver did not come out looking like it did on the way in . When it got too big (about 30 cm), we stir fried it with lots of garlic and scallions . In China, it's common to see roadside food stalls with big vats of C. batrachus and gariepinnus. You choose your fish, then they toss it on to the dirt floor, chop its head off and disembowel it with their fingers. A gory sight, but the resulting meal makes up for the unorthodox culinary technique. Hey, just because we didn't see all those American Ictalurids dying doesn't mean their deaths were any less grisly!

Oh and BTW, Fresh Direct (an Internet shopping service) now has basa on their grocery list!

I couldnt eat one now every time I would think how cute they are as pets and it would be ...well off putting. Im sure they they taste great though. People used to eat a lot of rabbit in england untilll about the same time people started keeping them as pets. Then the thought of eating flopsy wasnt so appealing!
jason

another strange thing... my clarius dont like river shrimp! He chases them about, beats them up but wont eat them. just refuses to touch them even if there dead. However he likes prawns. Weird!
jason

My c batrachus has grown 3 cm in 20 days and is looking very healthy. He has grown from 14.5 cm to 17.5 cm. Can I expect this type of growth rate to continue? If so I will need to consider building a pond or a swimming pool!
it seems to be rejecting fresh foods and only easily accepts blood worm as a fresh alternative. His favorite foods i'm glad to say are Tetra prima granules, catfish pellets and now hikari c****id staple muini pellets which he happily takes from the surface. Ive tried all the recomended foods but he dont like em much.
Another thing, I have noticed some strange behaviour. He seems to scratch himself on the subsrate occasionally. However, he seems very healthy and I can see no evidence of a parasite. Is it possible that the water quality is poor, or too hard. Thames water is quite hard I think. I havent tested yet but I am doing a 50% water change weekly ( on average, sometimes more). Maybe I am doing too many water changes.
I am currently feeding him once a day. Is this too much?
A lot of questions I know, sorry but I have been away from fishkeeping for sometime.
thanks
jason

Naw, <i>C. batrachus</i> are not known to grow very big (the main reason why African <i>C. gariepinus</i> are being introduced in Asia in place of native Asian <i>Clarias</i>...because Asian clariids don't grow as big). I would expect your fish to top out at around 25-30 cm.
I also think the way your <i>Clarias</i> is behaving has nothing to do with water quality. They are as tough as nails and water quality doesn't bother them much (although I think it would prefer softer water). I've seen the <i>Clarias</i> I've kept do the same thing sometimes with no adverse effects on the long-term health of the fish.

Heok Hee

thanks a lot
that puts my mind at ease a bit! I had the feeling that the scatching was nothing important. Sounds weird but could it be an aid to digestion? I notice he does it most when feeding or straight after... Anyway, I was hoping that you would see this and put my mind at ease!

cheers

I have the same fish, well 2 of them and hell mine are so not fussy, they will eat anything, including every fish in the tank, sharks n all, prawns spinich and even my fingers, yes they well this one in particular thought it would be fun to nip me.
But they are funny lil (ok not so lil) things, albino bullets i call em.

Well my c batrachus is still a bit fussy! But he has found a companion in a small (1.5 inch !) pleco. L001. The two have a strange relationship. mainly they ignore each other and sometimes they share the same cave. Sometimes I have seen the pleco chase my clarius out of the cave only to watch him slink off into another corner to sulk! Now the clarius is 9.5 inches long and still growing daily. I hope they continue to get on! I was planning to move the plec but if they like each other ThenI wont seperate them. I was expecting to see some fin damage or somthing, but theres nothing. Maybe they are in love.
The clarius does still have a few health problems. recently he went through a stage of not eating and there is still some dorsal fin damage from a bout of fin rot, plus one small sore on the side of his head. I dont know what has caused all this as the water is fine apart from being slightly too hard and alkaline ( above But I havent been able to bring this down yet. I may try peat in the filter soon.
How big did you say your clarius were, jazz? I hope this one wont groww too much over a foot.
If you have had any problems (apart from them eating all your stock ) I would be interesting to hear about it. I am compiling a log of all his strange and intresting behaviour and trying to cross reference this to diet water chemistry etc.
Anyway cheers
jason

well when I got them they were 3ins now a couple of months later they are about 8ins

Also they are eating a lot of pellets but leaving a small group in the corner almost like they want the water to go murky......grrrrrrr

Are you sure you're not overfeeding them? Try starving them for two or three days and see if they'll eat the uneaten food.

Will do chief