Upside down catfish just keeps getting fatter...

[JenM76]

Hi all. New to the forums. I've had my 55g tank since April and my upside down cat since July or so. It suddenly got fat a few months ago...and seems to just keep getting fatter. Had the same thing happen to a yoyo loach...lasted several weeks then was fine again. But my cat is still super fat. Hard to tell in the puc...(s)he isn't very photogenic. Thoughts?

Behavior is normal. Hides, eats, swims... Just FAT.

 

[Demeter32]

Hello

These catfish have a habit of over eating. My little guy will be huge the next morning after feeding algae wafers for the plecos. What do you feed and how much/often? How long is the catfish? A few pictures would be useful.

 

[JenM76]

Its a community tank so I'm feeding a variety of food daily. I've got a ghost knife, pleco, peacock eel, 5 dwarf gouramis, 2 silver dollars, an african spotted leaf and a pictus cat, a twig cat and a couple smaller fish (danio, rascorba, etc).

I feed 3 veggie wafers per day, a sprinkle of sinking pellets and a dusting of frrze dried bloodworms. The fish seem to eat it all in a few minutes and he rarely comes out at feeding time...so he's only getting leftovers.

Trying to get a pic up...

 

[JenM76]

Finally figured it out...file was too big.

 

[JenM76]

This is the tank. I'm planning to get more plants today. It WAS heavily planted...but they keep eating everything.

 

[Demeter32]

With the silver dollars there is no way to keep live plants in there for long, they love to eat plants. The upside down cat looks quite tubby but not unhealthy.

I feel like there's a few stocking issues though. Btw those are not all dwarf gourami, at least 2 of them are opaline/three spot gourami.

 

[JenM76]

What stocking issues are you seeing? I'm new to fish and have only had questions answered by the big box stores... Definitely lacking resources for learning...

After initial cycling, an outbreak of ick and a bacterial outbreak... The tank finally seems relatively stable. I have a better filter arriving in a couple days.

 

[Demeter32]

The ghost knife and silver dollars are likely to out grow the tank in a few years. The schooling fish (danios, pictus, upside down cat, rasboras, silver dollar) should be kept in a proper number to allow them to school properly. 5+ is the general minimum for most schooling species.

Depending on the gouramis' temperaments, they may or may not end up fighting. The 3 I can see in the photo look nice and healthy though.

@Byron can probably help with stocking better than I.

 

[JenM76]

Oh... I didn't realize the dollars and cat were schooling. I knew the others were...they had friends but each outbreak of whatever has taken a buddy or two.

I was told the silver dollars were full size (they're about 5")... I actually never intended to get them, but they were an owner release to Petco and I felt sorry for them sitting in a ten gallon tank...

I anticipate some of the smaller fish will be gone by the time anyone gets too huge.

I appreciate your insight and dont intend to add anything else for awhile...though I do feel bad for the schoolers...

 

[Byron]

I will add a couple things to what Demeter32 has mentioned (and I fully agree with those items).

First, the knifefish is not going to be healthy/happy in this tank. Looking ahead, it will attain 24 inches and being inflexible (thee spine) needs a tank at least 2 feet width (front to back) and no less than 6 feet in length. If this is not going to bee possible, it would be best to re-home the fish now, as the tank size affects its growth continually. There are other issues too. Light...this fish does not do well under overhead lighting; it should have a dark tank, which can be achieved with floating plants and dimmer lighting, or obviously no tank light but that is not too practical. Environment...this fish must have places to "hide" full body. It must not have active tankmates as these will stress it terribly; sedate fish work well. Pictus cats (another shoaling fish) are far too active, as are danios, to name a couple here.

The gourami appear to be Trichopodus trichopterus, a species that has been developed into several "artificial" varieties, such as blue, gold, cosby, 3-spot, marble, opaline. All are identical in behaviours/temperament/requirements as they are the same natural species. It is one of the most aggressive of the small/medium sized gourami, and females as well as males have been known to "seem" peaceful for months then suddenly turn on anything and everything.

Leaf fish...this needs a heavily planted tank as it is an ambush predator. Out in the open it is stressed, severely. It would be best on its own in a suitable tank. Not a community fish.

Tiretrack eel...another predator that will eat smaller fish, and grow to over 2 feet. Not a community fish.

Disease and ich were mentioned...all of the above issues plus those raised by Demeter cause stress, severe stress. Stress is the direct cause of 95% of fish disease, and always of ich. With these issues present, the fish are never going to be relaxed and healthy, that we can guarantee. I do not mean to be didactic, but the truth must be made clear for the sake of the fish.

Byron.

 

[JenM76]

Thank you all for the replies. The ghost knife sadly died - I'm not sure why. I witnessed him eating and he seemed to do well... but alas, 9 days out of the fish store, I found him on the bottom of the tank. But, after the advice given here, I'll not be replacing him.

To Byron... I don't have a tiretrack eel - I have a peacock eel, which from what I've read only grow to 10-14" and are ok with other similarly sized and similarly aggressive fish.

I anticipate that my smaller fish will eventually become fish food and my tank will mature into a tank with only a few larger fish (the gouramis, the peacock eel, the pleco, hopefully a couple of the catfish, the leaf fish and the silver dollars.

As mentioned earlier, the tank is typically heavily planted. I've already gotten a ton more plants (the right side of the aquarium is wall to wall plants now) and I'm in the process of setting up a plant tank so I can try to move them back and forth to keep the silver dollars from eating them all! I added some floating plants as well, which seem to be doing well. If the leaf fish becomes a problem, I can always move him to my plant tank. My partner also got a leaf fish for his tank, before we heard from ya'll that they aren't community fish... so I may inherit that one eventually. He's too small to do any damage right now... but so was mine when I got him! Little stinkers grow fast!

Anyway... I appreciate the info provided here - and that it was provided without judgement. It's a huge learning curve! Thanks again!

 

[slide95]

my plecos get like that after a good eating, then they get lazy for about 24 hours as they digest it lol






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