Glass Catfish

[snoopyfrench87]

I have a well established tank with 14 guppys + 8 - 2 week old guppy fry + one balloon molly + one silver molly + one mickey mouse platy + one gold ringed butterfly sucker.

I am planning on adding some glass catfish - will they eat my guppy fry?

it is a heavily planted tank - but due to them being see-through are they more likely to make a snack of my fry?

any advice would be greatly appreciated

thanks x

 

[kreacher]

I think the fact they can grow to around 15cm means they would just see the fry and live food. Although i don't find them to be a mean fish in any way I think once a fish gets to that sort of size little fry would be seen as food.

I guess if you got them small you could take the risk but then again most fish once at the right size would eat fry even if they are a good community fish

 

[rossyt99]

Have you not got a floating trap to put fry in, until they grow? GlassCats are quite slow-moving and grow to about 4inches.

Hope the Plants provide cover, if no floater/divider available.

 

[snoopyfrench87]

I didn't want to provide the fry with a separator as i kind of want the tank to be as natural as possible. if i start separating all the fry i will end up with a tank over run with guppies.

will the glass catfish eat adult guppies? once the catfish is at full size?

are they happily fed on flakes and daphnea or glass worm?

The guppy fry have survived so far and the balloon molly is big enough to eat them, the tank is very heavily planted with live plants and fake plants as well as flower pots and log caves.


and do you need a large number of glass catfish or will 2- 3 be okay?

 

[rossyt99]

I didn't want to provide the fry with a separator as i kind of want the tank to be as natural as possible. if i start separating all the fry i will end up with a tank over run with guppies.

will the glass catfish eat adult guppies? once the catfish is at full size?

are they happily fed on flakes and daphnea or glass worm?

and do you need a large number of glass catfish or will 2- 3 be okay?

Survival of the fittest then! They should hide in amongst plants, but its just to get them necessary food to grow, it may be harder??

GlassCats; 1. would be very rare to eat Adult Guppies 2. Mine have Flakes, F.Bloodworm, Bshrimp, Prima etc..
3. They seem more confident in a shoal of 4 or more> I had 4 and then added another 3 and they are now happy at the front/top of tank. + Plenty of plants give them confidence to move around more.
(They have a glistening blue-sheen when they grow and obviously change colour depending on background colour.)

 

[Madam Macaw]

I have 6 of them in with 7 molly fry. The mollies are about an inch and the catfish are about 3 inches now. The catfish have never bothered the mollies at all, neither do my black skirt tetras. Amazingly, it was my smaller red eyed tetras that seemed to dart at the mollies when I put them in there. They were quickly moved to my 55 gallon community.

 

[jdavidlee]

I didn't want to provide the fry with a separator as i kind of want the tank to be as natural as possible. if i start separating all the fry i will end up with a tank over run with guppies.

will the glass catfish eat adult guppies? once the catfish is at full size?

are they happily fed on flakes and daphnea or glass worm?

The guppy fry have survived so far and the balloon molly is big enough to eat them, the tank is very heavily planted with live plants and fake plants as well as flower pots and log caves.


and do you need a large number of glass catfish or will 2- 3 be okay?

Glass catfish that are quite large can actually eat adult guppies. But, I'm pretty sure that's rare. Unfortunately my glass catfish DID eat one of my male yellow tiger guppies. As you can see in the picture only its tail is dangling from the mouth of a glass catfish. So just be aware that it is possible.

 

[Aussie_Bristle]

I love these fish.. absolutely amazing looking little creatures!

 

[AbbeysDad]

Generally speaking, big fish eat little fish...they are tender and delicious!
On the other hand, catfish are bottom feeders and less likely to eat guppy fry than other livebearers, including the guppy parents!
I have Angels in my 60g along with swordtails. I've noticed when fry are first born they swim very erratically, which seems to excite the Angels into hunting. But after a day or two and the fry swim more normally, the Angels pretty much ignore them - go figure (as they would still be a tasty morsel.)
But bear in mind that hungry fish are more inclined to eat anything that will fit in their mouth. If the catfish aren't fed well enough, like all fish, they will be more predatory. Because they are bottom feeders, other fish tend to have first dibs on the food. You may need to ensure to feed some sinking food (like good quality algae wafers), sometimes eveb at night to ensure bottom feeders get enough to eat.