Asian Bumblebee

[Smells a bit fishy]

Ok guys, inherited some fish from a friend a while ago, now I didn't think much of it until now, as I assumed I had a south American one.

Now the reason I looked it up as 2 of my mollies seem to either have fin-rot or tried to been eaten. Their dorsel fin is missing and tail fin is alot slimmer than earlier on. Also one seems to be missing scales on the back end of her.

Right after doing a quick search of the common SA bumblebee it doesn't look like mine, as the tail is more separated and longer.

I then did a search of the aisian catfish and the tail looks identical. Can I go by this alone? If not what else separates the different species?

Now another thing he has been very peaceful, I know they are nocturnal, but the common plec, also inherited, kicks the catfish out of it's hiding place. That doesn't sound possible for an asian one. I have also never had any fish go "missing" either.

Any help on this would be great. I know it's a long post, just trying to give as much background info aswell.

P.S as you may be aware it's very hard to get a pic of him/her I'm afraid

Thanks for future help

 

[Smells a bit fishy]

Ok, it is definatly an Asian one, has the barbs on the nose too.

So now the question is what do I do with him/her. It is about 3" long maybe a little more. However I'm not sure if it's growth has been stunted by my friend having it in a 50 ltr tank.

I don't plan on having big fish in the tank as there is not much room.

My current stocking is 5 mollies, a pleco a blue gourami and an angelfish. I am looking also to get 5-6 yellow rainbowfish and 2 Bolivian rams. Would they be ok to keep with the catfish?

 

[nurglespuss]

Hey there,

I also have an Asian bumblebee (bought as a baby mislabelled as african).

He is too violent, aggressive and predatory to house with anything.

He lives alone in an unlit aquarium (they don't like light at all), with plenty of wood and floating plastic plants.

He's now 7" long, eternally hungry, attacks my hand during maintainance, and is about 5 years old (maybe nearly 6).

If you can, rehome him/return him to the petstore, while I set up an aquarium for him, I had to temprarily house him with my other cats (hoplos, banjos and bristlenoses) he immediatly herded everything into a corner and systematically bullied/attacked them...

I do love him though, and will be sad when he goes.

 

[Smells a bit fishy]

Yeh I will see if the LFS will rehome him. Not entirely sure they can though.

But he has only just turned aggressive, he has never attacked me or any of the fishes before, I have never heard any "clicking" noises either at night either I don't think.

Its a shame because he is a very pretty fish

 

[nurglespuss]

Of course, it all depends on which species you definately have, any pics?

 

[Smells a bit fishy]

No. It's really hard getting pics. As soon as the cave is lifted he swims like a mad man to behind plants or another hiding place.

He has bristles on his nose, his tail fin is long, it separates in the middle right back to the tail of the body. He is also mostly black with whiteish gold skin.

Any other way

 

[nurglespuss]

Google is helpful (lol sometimes)

is it like any of these:

 

[Smells a bit fishy]

Oh sorry. I didn't know you ment google for pics lol. Yeh I googled pics aswell. That's why I thought it was the asian one, as it is picture 3.

 

[Smells a bit fishy]

The only thing is that his White bits are alot darker. It's almost brownie gold. I'll try and get a pic up of him

 

[Smells a bit fishy]

Ok, after fighting with him for half an hour, i managed to get some semi decent pics, not any where near amazing though.

Any way, here are the pics of him/her:

 

[nurglespuss]

Yep exactly the same species as mine, the seem to come in in random imports, especially to pets at homes...

Aye, if you can rehouse him, cool, but otherwise, yes its him doing the damage.

 

[Smells a bit fishy]

Thank you. I just now need to convince my other half thats what it is lol.

She doesn't want to rehome him. At the moment he hasn't caused too many problems as my tank is under stocked. However last night I observed my tank, well in the very early morning and all my fish were at the top ( maybe avoiding it). But once I get new fish it will cause more problems.

Thanks for your help

 

[nurglespuss]

No problem!

 

[Smells a bit fishy]

LFS said they can take it, although can't offer me any store credit for it. I wasn't looking or store credit lol. So I'm taking him and the common pleco back, so now I have options for a bottom feeder