The H.gigas communal topic has 'bothered' me for quite a while now. So, after reading countless (some of them pointless) threads, googling and watching vid's, my hubby and I decided to take the H.gigas communal to the next level. Most communals I've seen on the Net discontinue after the T's reach juvie stage. Perhaps for good reason (cannibalism), perhaps because of superstition (I heard from someone that they eat each other after a while) and perhaps because it is such a difficult thing to keep up (T's grow = enclosure too small = money for bigger enclosure :S ).

There are also countless mentions on several websites and forums of bringing small fish into the equation :eyepoke:

And yes, I've seen Robc's videos! :thumbsup:

We received a communal from Usumbara about 3 months ago (6-8 gigas, sizes around 3cm) and they will form part of our experiment, since they are starting to outgrow their current communal setup. Interesting note: whilst feeding them on Sunday, I failed to see any of them, so I decided to lift up one of the hiding places. To my surprise, I found 5 of them all huddled together under the same hiding place. They are about 5cm now.

We want to let the communal take its 'natural' course. If the T's chow each other after a while, then at least we will have documented proof, and you can quote our failure on other forums. If the T's live happily ever after, well, then you'll know what to do with your communal . I might even catch a gigas on video - fishing! :happy:

This thread will show the steps we have taken to make this happen. A lot of mistakes will be made along the way (we're only human after all), but feel free to give suggestions on how to make this project even more efficient (or better looking, since decor isn't really my strongpoint!).

So, let the hunger games begin - may the odds be EVER in our favour :starwars:

Stage 1 - The goods

We used a 900mm x 320mm x 360mm old fishtank as our primary T enclosure (Tank 1)



Our fishtank is a 300mm x 220mm x 230mm glass T enclosure (lid broke off about 2 months ago). (Tank 2)



We inserted a glass partition in Tank 1 (and glued it with Marine silicone) to separate Tank 2 from the peat in Tank 1 (so that we can take Tank 2 out if we wish).




Stage 2 - Fish tank setup (Tank 2)

I borrowed frootbat's idea of sticking pebbles to the side of Tank 2 using the Marine silicone. The silicone needs to cure for 24 hours apparently, so Stage 3 will only continue later today or tomorrow evening. I also created a pebble 'slope'. Reason: Woman's logic suggested that, should the T be at the bottom of the fish tank (highly unlikely, but anyway), it would have a better chance of climbing up the side of the tank, if there was a rock pile, rather than a 90 degree glass wall. My husband cleverly pointed out that the pebbles would be slimy because of the algae, but I ignored his logic and went ahead with my sloping project.



Stage 3 - Fish tank (Tank 2) prep

So, we decided to start prepping the fish tank (insert filter/thermostat/water/gravel/etc) - but unfortunately, we made our first human error - we didn't wash the charcoal :blush: , which left us with black water most of last night and this morning. I will remove the water this afternoon, put in new water, and hopefully it will look more like a fishtank and less like a sewerage plant!



Stage 4 - T enclosure setup & decor (Tank 1)

This was the easy part. Fill tank with peat. Decorate (I decided to make my tank look more like a morbid swamp and less like a happy forest!). Voila!



Stage 5 - Insert gigas

This was the fun part. Apart from the fact that one of the gigas almost climbed into my T-shirt (my hubby would have put that experience on Youtube, for sure!), we were surprised to find 12 gigas in the old communal, most of them came out of the same burrow! Sizes between 4-5 cm.

Picture of Lucky no. 12:


Punishment with a wooden spoon won't work in this communal!:



The moment we put them in the new setup, more than half of them rushed towards the one hide and bundled up together


This morning, I checked the surface and a few of the hides quickly and could only find 4 of the gigas. So one of three things happened during the night:

1) Massive prison break into my house, which means by this afternoon, 8 of them will be dead, since I have 2 very active black ninja kittens that destroys everything they come across.
2) They had an 8 course meal with each other. I doubt this happened, since there were NO remains anywhere in the tank. AND the runt of the litter (3cm gigas) is still happily running around.
3) They burrowed

Stage 4 - Insert fishies

We will insert the fishies over the weekend!

Stage 7 - Start praying it works!

P.S - We will update the steps as we go along!!

I will be following this thread with interest

I agree with Neitzchie ... This is gonna be EPIC!!

Cant wait to read more! Good luck!

Very nice, I love communal setups, big tanks, especially with water features!

Best of luck, look forward to seeing how it goes!

Wow! Sounds awesome. You obviously did your homework. Good luck!
I will be watching and hoping for many pics

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