[snow]

My niger catfish and irwini catfish are not getting enough food in my tank. They are not growing as fast as they should be. This is b/c they hide all the time together in a cave. I can't take the cave away though b/c then my parrot fish that I have in the tank will have no place to hid when they need to. I was thinking of putting these two catfish in my bare bottom,plain tigrinus catfish growout tank. The tig catfish is around 4.5" which is the same size as the irwini. The niger is about 6-6.5". Will they fight if I put them together? Will the irwini and niger feel insecure in an open tank? The tank is 27g. It would only be until I fatten them up a bit. Will it work?

 

[2wheelsx2]

Do you feed after lights out? Many catfish keepers have good success that way. I do it whenever I get new plecos until they get used to competing in the light.

 

[snow]

I do feed after lights out. They still don't get a lot.

 

[charles]

i have my tigrinus together with my iriwini. Though you have to make sure your tigrinus will actively hunt for food at night. otherwise, iriwini; especially the niger, will eat everything before the tigrinus gets a chance. I say keep the irwini with the tigrinus. Niger will learn to eat in your main tank.

 

[snow]

I tig catfish I can hand feed so there is no issue with him getting food. I can feed him first then the others. I want to have the niger in there too. I think I'll go ahead with it.

 

[charles]

as long as your tigrinus can eat and be able to target feed, then go head...

 

[snow]

What is target feed?

 

[tony1928]

What is target feed?

Just trying to get the food to the fish you want to feed. Some people use like a turkey baster to get the food down to the fish you are targetting, so that the more aggressive feeders don't get to it first.

 

[King-eL]

I grew out my irwinis in a bare bottom tank with no hiding place. I told juice about this to on how to make them grow fast.

 

[JUICE]

I grew out my irwinis in a bare bottom tank with no hiding place. I told juice about this to on how to make them grow fast.

mine has started to grow bigtime !! up to 6 inch easy and FAT ...LOL

 

[snow]

The fish are all now together. Seems to be going fine...

 

[Crazyfish88]

I have a 12" Tigrinus with a 10" Niger and they don't fight at all. Also when I 1st got mine it would just hide and never come out for food. After a few weeks it got more comfortable and everytime I feed floating pellets my Niger smells them and comes out and eats. Did u just get the Niger?

 

[snow]

I have a 12" Tigrinus with a 10" Niger and they don't fight at all. Also when I 1st got mine it would just hide and never come out for food. After a few weeks it got more comfortable and everytime I feed floating pellets my Niger smells them and comes out and eats. Did u just get the Niger?

I've had this fella for 6 months now. He should be huge! Maybe he is stunted? Anyways tonight I'm re-doing my tank so there will be caves but All of them open so he can't hide anymore. I'm think though my tig will go in first in 1 month b/c he is growing SO fast. I'll leave the other two in there though for longer. Since I have put them in the tank they have been eating very well. The niger is living up to his name.

 

[Crazyfish88]

I'm not an expert on the growth rates on ****** but I would assume they would grow generally fast especially if it's capable of reaching a meter length in size. I don't think yours is stunted. My Tigrinus does seem to grow faster then my Niger. My Tigrinus grew about 1"-1.5" per month since I purchased it 5 months ago at 6". My Niger has grown 1"-2" and I purchased it about 2 months ago at 8". I've also noticed my Niger likes shrimp but it takes forever to actually finish 1 piece of it comparing to my Tigrinus wolfing down 3-4 shrimps alone. My Niger does wolf down alot pellets though til it's belly would be fat.