Catfish Owes!

[Mr.Grumpy]

So, I have this Osacr, right, and he's pretty col and every thing BUT he's an amazing slob. Like, when he eats his pellets more crunchy, tasty bits fall out of his gills the go into his stomach! So, I went to the LS and said "Hey, I want a catfish. I want one that's going to be about 8 inches long, and be able to live alone in the tank with the Oscar". Reasonable request, so I thought. "We have just the fish for you", said the Fish Man. A Columbian WHite Tipped Shark! Pretty fish, plenty agile: done. I dropped him in the tank. He shook his head and got his bearings and off he went! This fish was mental! He swam all over the place,non stop. Once, when the Oscar went over to check him out, he freaked and bumped into the Oscar, who immediately dropped to the bottom of the tank and played "dead" for an hour and a half. Well, this Shark-thing found a place in the "current" of the tank where he could swim lazily and go neither forward or back. This fish swam, in the same 3" of tank space for FOUR DAYS before I puled the plug on that activity. I think that he was swimming to find his friends (that he has to have with him) so that he could swim back to the sea (where he has to live when he gets bigger). Back to the pet store he went.

Now, someone had said that a pimelodus blochii would be just what I was looking for! Excellent. LFS had a bunch of them so I traded in the white-tip for a PB. I dropped that bad boy into the tank four days ago and ain't seen him since. OK, not true. Every so often I move all the decor out to try to find him and check on him and I find him under one rocksump or another. But that's it. I NEVER see him swimming around. I NEVER see him eating. Basically, I NEVER see him at all. NOT the most interesting fish in the world. Bad P. Blochii, no Dos Equis for you. In fat....nothing for you! My O's Cichlid pellets float and he doesn't let any of them go to waste.Gold fish flake? Gobble, gobble, gobble! No Flake for you! I even tore up a Fig Newton and dropped it in to the tank after I gorged the O on pellets. Well, he was like a 3 year old kid. He wouldn't eat any more dinner but as soon as I brought out that desert....BLAMO! He didn't let any get through. I's cute and fun BUT I'm worried that my poor P.B. is going to die of stress or fright or regular old starvation!.

What can I do to coax my P.B. out of hiding? How do I kno if he's getting enough (or any thing) to way? I don't want this guy to die but I'm also having a hard time launching a Campaign to save a n Invisible Fish that I can never see! Help!

 

[N0body Of The Goat]

How big is the tank? An Oscar in any sort of community (even just one catfish) really needs in excess of 500l i.e. minimum of 5x2x2 (ideally something a little wider, Oscars should reach ~14" and no dimension for any fish should reach be less than twice their adult size).

I don't know much about P. blochii, but at least some Pimelodus do far better in groups, literally having just read the PlanetCatfish profile they say P. blochii can do fine as a singleton. You are not going to see this catfish pootling around the tank during the daytime, Pims are nocturnal creatures, so it is no surprise to me that it is hiding away all day. If you had a way of simulating nightime, you might get luchy and coax your catfish to come out while you are still awake.

As for feeding, add sinking pellets and alike after the room the tank is in is dark.

Maybe you would have been better off giving a mature Plecostomus spp. catfish a home, when they turn into 30-60cm the buyers of those 5cm babies often trade them in at fish stores, because they have not got suitable 6-foot or greater tanks. Another possible catfish that springs to mind would be Synodontis notata, my almost fully grown 10" specimen regularly swims around the 5x2x2 during (subdued) daylight hours. A final catfish that might work (needs input from others) would be a small group of Callichthys callichthys, that reach ~18cm, being a giant member of the Hoplo-esque family it is sure to be visible and active (but would such a size fish be safe with an adult Oscar? I don't know).

 

[Mr.Grumpy]

How big is the tank? An Oscar in any sort of community (even just one catfish) really needs in excess of 500l i.e. minimum of 5x2x2 (ideally something a little wider, Oscars should reach ~14" and no dimension for any fish should reach be less than twice their adult size).

I don't know much about P. blochii, but at least some Pimelodus do far better in groups, literally having just read the PlanetCatfish profile they say P. blochii can do fine as a singleton. You are not going to see this catfish pootling around the tank during the daytime, Pims are nocturnal creatures, so it is no surprise to me that it is hiding away all day. If you had a way of simulating nightime, you might get luchy and coax your catfish to come out while you are still awake.

As for feeding, add sinking pellets and alike after the room the tank is in is dark.

Maybe you would have been better off giving a mature Plecostomus spp. catfish a home, when they turn into 30-60cm the buyers of those 5cm babies often trade them in at fish stores, because they have not got suitable 6-foot or greater tanks. Another possible catfish that springs to mind would be Synodontis notata, my almost fully grown 10" specimen regularly swims around the 5x2x2 during (subdued) daylight hours. A final catfish that might work (needs input from others) would be a small group of Callichthys callichthys, that reach ~18cm, being a giant member of the Hoplo-esque family it is sure to be visible and active (but would such a size fish be safe with an adult Oscar? I don't know).

Well, the tank is 65 gallons. I have been simulating night with night. I stalk this fish for HOURS after dark. When I went to bed last night I found him in the exact same spot at 0100 as he was at 1400 the day before. No one gets much food in that tank for a couple days. There was a huge alge bloom in there this morning.