mixing Brachyplatystoma cats together

[aaronc]

i was wondering if anyone tried mixing different species of Brachyplatystoma cats together? i was planning to try but didn't want to take a risk without knowing how to.

 

[aaronc]

i was also wondering if the gold brachyplatystoma cat is the same species as a moonlight cat ( brachyplatystoma flavicans ) or is it a different species like brachyplatystoma rousseauxii?

 

[aaronc]

anyone? guyssss don't leave me alone lol

 

[superleggera123]

it could work, it has in many cases but it also hasn't in many cases.
If you want to do it, grow the cats up from a small size

 

[aaronc]

well my tig is around 8 inches is that a little too late to be mixing or should i start from smaller cats?

 

[superleggera123]

8 inches is good.
You can do 2 or 3 tigs and try it out or add a flavicans for example

 

[aaronc]

alright, will give it a shot thanks.

 

[tman]

I tried mixing a tig and jurunese and it worked for about 2 weeks and the tig killed the jurunese. The tig was about 9" and the jurunese was about 7" and the tank was a 180 gallon.

 

[aaronc]

was the tig and jurunese divided by a glass pane for a bit before mixed together? the reason why i asked is because i plan on dividing them first, so they get used to seeing each other then mixing when they seem cool with each other.its just in asia lots of people mix the different types together so it got me wondering if so how they do it. thanks tman for the input.

 

[tman]

was the tig and jurunese divided by a glass pane for a bit before mixed together? the reason why i asked is because i plan on dividing them first, so they get used to seeing each other then mixing when they seem cool with each other.its just in asia lots of people mix the different types together so it got me wondering if so how they do it. thanks tman for the input.

I never had them divided but they took it upon themselves to stay on opposite ends of the tank. LOL

 

[aaronc]

haha, well the reason i was planning to divide them is because i only have a spare 55 gallon so im just planning to get them accustomed to each other. but it seems pretty difficult as i read that many attempts did not work...its giving me second thoughts on the idea.

 

[JMorash]

I wouldn't mix tigs. They are aggressive towards other catfish in particular other Brachyplatystoma. I tried mixing tigs with other tigs, jurus and flavis. I always found one tig would become dominant and start nipping at fins and hoarding food, eventually they would out eat other fish or grow so large the fin nipping was more fatal. The only way I would suggest mixing them is in either a very very large tank, mixing larger more docile fish with smaller tigs. Or similar sized fish in a JDM style tank with lots of dithers.

I love Brachyplatystoma but only a few species make good aquarium residents. My favourites being Juru and Playtnemum. They are both gorgeous (in a different way than tigs), more interesting species, more laid back and not quite as common (platynemum being pretty rare in Canada). Everything else is either impossible to find (vaillanti, capapretum,) too large (filamentosum, rousseauxii,), or super skittish and end up beating themselves up in fish tanks (rousseauxii/flaviscans).

Other similar species have their own challenges too. L.pati needs cooler water so can't be mixed with other species like it and S.planiceps are delicate babies.

It's hard truth about these pims, but unfortunately that's life. They are definitely fish worth keeping if you are willing to meet their requirements, but definitely not something you can just throw in a monster community.

Hope this helps!

JMorash