help with my ashara catfish

[Hi Joey]

I recently bought an ashara catfish but it doesn't seem to eat. it just hides in the caves all day long. even when i do feed it frozen worms..my other fish get to the food before it does. any suggestions?

 

[CFC]

Have you got a scientific name for it (the one written in latin)?

 

[Hi Joey]

Perrunichthy perruno

here's mine. when i do turn off the lights, i noticed it will roam around, and i figured thats when i should feed it..but no luck

 

[CFC]

Yeah perruno catfish are a nocturnal species though with time it should start to come out by day. What have you tried feeding it? It is a rare fish that will turn down live or frozen bloodworms but i notice you have mbuna living with it so that could be a problem, i feed all my large catfish with Hikari sinking carnivor pellets and frozen foods such as fish, mussels and prawns (shrimp).

Do you know the size that catfish will grow to? When full grown it will be pushing 2 feet in length, sorry if you knew this but so many people buy them as "kittens" as they look so cute and dont realise in a couple of years time they will have a huge fish eating monster on their hands.

 

[Hi Joey]

hmm so is that what you call it? mbuna?? well, they sure are feisty eaters. anyway, i guess i should look into sinking pellets for it. and yeah i was aware about its size, and i was recommened frozen worms/brine shrimp for it.

thanks for the help

 

[CFC]

Mbuna is a name used for the many species of rock dwelling cichlids from lake malaiwi in africa, they can be very aggressive and should really only be kept with other mbuna species. Also they should not be fed high protein foods like bloodworm (or any worms) as they have evolved over thousands of years to only eat algea and vegetable based foods, eating bloodwroms can cause a condition known as "bloat" which is usually fatal.

 

[Hi Joey]

yeah i read about that as well..the mbunas don't digest worms and brime shrimp all that well.

anyway, i bought some sinking pellets today and feeding was a success!