Tatia Behavior and The Recent Additions
Two days ago we had our guest speaker Sean Hensley come to our June 14th meeting to speak to us about Wood Cats, specifically Auchnipterids. Amongst the fish he brought to the auctions, there were 3 species of tatias, a popular group of noteably smaller woodcatfish with particular feeding habits from feeding at the surface to the middle of the water column.
After buying 2 bags on Saturday, we've been rearranging different fish (and a crab) to try to give one of the species a better home than their current breeder box as the tank we presumed they would go in is actually still inhabited by a much larger Panther Crab. We thought that crab was dead that morning but we had later found it was only just a colorful molt full of substrate. In this image you cannot even tell it's a molt:
I had to set up a breeder box in a 32g Biocube and the breeder box (which is meant to hang on the outside of a tank) had to go on the wall that divides the filter chamber and the tank, meaning it would stop the lid from closing but it would do the same if on the outside of the tank. I've had a few late nights finding ways to cover the tank to avoid cats entering, catfish escaping, and CO2 being trapped within the air directly above the water (this is important as that tank has many hoplo catfish from the Callichthydae family who require fresh air from the atmosphere to replenish their breathing organs). Today I've been preparing the original intended aquarium and I've added a few new scape items to make more hiding places for the 2 wood cat species in there + the Honeycombs from the breeder box. Let's just say I fail to remember how tatias behave and they completely did the most tatia thing they could when I added a pleco condo into the tank.
Had to make this into a meme of course.
Also a little update on the Roman's Woodcats from the auctions incase anyone wanted to see their true patterns. They've all settled into their home without issues and are still figuring out what the word hiding means even though they are in a heavily planted tank. They do In fact all have their full pairs of long barbels but when they stay close to the glass they keep them on that side tucked in.
That's all for this post, but feel free to comment if you'd like.
Update: I’ve incarcerated the panther crab and added the Honeycomb Tatias to the tank. I’ve also added the 3D printed shrimp tunnels they were using by putting it in the corner where the previous post showed a couple of Tatia intermedia where hiding. Now the Honeycombs are in their new forever home and the crab will no longer pose a threat to anyone in the tank.
Also here is how much the Roman’s catfish love their new home.
Not to mention the Romans have always had a history of wanting to live where the French occupied land…