A fishy tale

[eyecatcher]

I have a mystery to unravel and I need your help.

3yrs ago I stocked my "city" pond with traditional guppies and about 8 bottom feeders.

I got them all from the big aquarium centre at Kamthiang.

The bottom feeders were like ugly goldfish stuck to the glass of the tank and only an inch or so long.

On asking how big they grow I was told about 4/5 inch which I was surprised at.

The guppies and the feeders got on famously and boy did those feeders move quick when disturbed.

Over the following year my 8 feeders gradually disappeared. None of them died but i was curious as to whether a fast cat or rat had eaten them and I even googled to see if frogs eat fish.(i have a few frogs too)

I was left with 2; by now they had been in the pond two years and they were as advised now about 5inch long and pretty fat.

One year ago one of the remaining pair disappeared and then 6month ago the final fish was gone.. As before no death unless they just sink when they die.?

Fast forward to today.

I couldnt believe my eyes today when I saw this monster of a fish trying to climb out of the pond. I called the troops who were quite scared and startled.

But the strange thing, at the bottom was another one.

To my eyes they were similar to the two that went missing although the colour was paler than the deep orange they used to be and now they were 12 inch long.

My question is; are they the same fish? Were they hibernating? Were they hiding under the covered area? are they the same fish?

Our theory is that soneone has dumped their fish in our pond? Why? Is that plausible?

This afternoon I went back to the fish supplier ti see if I could find the original bottom feeder; but they didnt have any, so in the meantime I was trying to google the options.

Tonight I managed to catch one (picture below).

Does anyone know what it is and was this what I bought 3yrs ago.

I am thinking that I bought Neon Orange Cory catfish OR a common Pleco but I look at what I have now and thibking Albino catfish or mud cat.

What I read about sone of the catfish is they turn from algae eaters into carnivores and could eat the rest of the fish. So until i know what danger this thing is its staying tge night in the bucket.

Anyone good at solving mysteries?

[northernjohn]

Ask yourself; Is he joking; being sarcastic or being serious?

[naboo]

Can't answer any questions, but it'll probably die overnight in that bucket, move it to a bigger one.

[Impkenai]

Hi Eyecatcher,

I believe you have the suckermouth catfish (sometimes called the armoured catfish). Their scales are tan to dark brown outlined in black, however, their colors vary wildly and specimens can be anywhere from dark brown to gold. However, gold color species seems to be quite rare. I doubt any cat will catch and eat them due to their hard scaly body. They can grow up to 8 inches long, and are their diet are algae. Harmless, but watch the spines. Just google for either of these names and view their images.

You probably did not see them in the pond as they are bottom dwellers. You may have the rest of your population hiding.

Maybe other aquarium enthusiasts should be able to provide you with more detailed info.

[NickJ]

Im very much re-thinking any form of social isolation.

[Eddy B]

It is definitely a bottom feeder but the ones I have seen here are usually black. I once had one grow to at least 12 inches long.

[leo202]

That's some kind of plecostomus I'd say the same inch long fish you bought in the pet store. Doubt it'll die in the bucket over night though not a good idea. Put it back in the pond and try adding a few goldfish.

[Chicog]

An Irishman goes to the vet with his goldfish and says "I think it's got epilepsy".

The vet looks at it and says "well it seems quite calm to me".

Paddy says "I haven't taken it out of the bowl yet".

[canuckamuck]

I have seen plecostamus get to about 16 inches long. But those were the common brown ones. The golden ones are indeed more rare, and they don't seem to get as big. They sometimes get out of the tank and go looking for a new place. So this could be why you are missing some.

[eyecatcher]

Thanks for the advice and help guys. Hope it was good advice because I returned the monster back to the pond this morning.

It wasn't dead though it was traumatised after spending the night in its own poo; well who wouldn't be?

It seemed happy to get back into what I deem a dirtier environment.

Today I called at another aquarium fish shop and showed the lady my photos. "mee; mee"" (which for those of you who dont speak Thai means "have, have" and she was not going to show me a similar selfie)

The tank had the same fish I bought, inch and half long. Asked how big they grow and she pointed to her forearm! And what are they called......."sucker fish" well I didnt bother asking the botanical name; and left it at that.

Quite happy that these are the original fish, probably happy as pigs in siht with all the wet season run off.What ever they are eating is really giving them some bulk and length.

Happy ending I suppose.

Incidently, the gold ones, very common here it seems; other colours not even available.

[noise]

I have maybe 10 of these, black and orange ones. I say maybe 10 because they want to hide all the time. The largest (happens to be black) is some 20 inches long. The smaller ones (orange) are around 6 - 8 inches long. They seem to be quite slow growing.

I, too, got the orange ones when they were quite small and would not see them except rarely if I came out and surprised them. They would immediate hide under some water feature. And for the first year or so, it was like they had all disappeared, like you said.

Now that they are so big they do not have many places to hide, they are out more and have gotten used to me. So I see them most of the time. If I go into the pond to clean something, they swim to the other side but do not seem to panic like they used to. But there are still some unknown number of them that squeeze into small areas and stay out of sight so I am not how many there are.

As an aside, I have the suckers; hundreds of the little "mosquito" fish; maybe 15 or 20 algea eaters of various sizes (now some 7-8 inch size) which hide all the time; and 19 large koi/carp all nicely living togetherin a large tiled fish pond.