Upside Down Catfish

[chishnfips]

Hi, I have an upside down catfish, I picked him up from my mate for zero pennies well chuffed with him.

But why do they swim upside down? I have looked on the internet but know where tells you the reason why or how it evovled to do this.

I was wondering if it was because they like hiding under ledges and what not

anyone else got any ideas?

cheers chish

 

[mlawson]

This may explain

 

[raptorrex]

This may explain

interesting! however, have you ever seen a USDcat anywhere near the top of the tank? i know i haven't, but i have not been at this that long. some members may know more.

 

[chishnfips]

Thats is interesting thank you,

but I haven't seen that sort of behaviour either, nor did I notice it in my mates tank when he had him. Mainly he sits in his cocnut shell and scavenges the bottom for food.

does anyone else have a view on this?

 

[nmonks]

They swim upside down because they feed on mosquito larvae that hang about on the surface of the water. The catfish use their barbels to find them, and since the barbels point downwards and the mosquitoes are above them, they have to swim upside down. Many Synodontis will do this for short periods, but only a few spend long periods doing this, S. nigroventris being one of them.

Cheers, Neale

 

[raptorrex]

They swim upside down because they feed on mosquito larvae that hang about on the surface of the water. The catfish use their barbels to find them, and since the barbels point downwards and the mosquitoes are above them, they have to swim upside down. Many Synodontis will do this for short periods, but only a few spend long periods doing this, S. nigroventris being one of them.

Cheers, Neale

k now that makes sense, thanks

 

[chishnfips]

cheers for the other reply nmonks, sounds though that mother nature messed up there, why would you make fish swim upside down just because their barbels face the wrong way lol.

Their must be another reason

 

[raptorrex]

cheers for the other reply nmonks, sounds though that mother nature messed up there, why would you make fish swim upside down just because their barbels face the wrong way lol.

Their must be another reason

not with you there chisnfips??? if the barbles point down from the mouth, when the fish swims upsidedown they will be pointing up. just what you need to feed from the surface. how are they the wrong way round? lol or have i missed something?

 

[nmonks]

boboboy gets it. If the Synodontis was "normal way around" it's whiskers would trail downwards. When the Synodontis turns upside down, it's whiskers arre upwards, as is its mouth, which is ideal for catching and eating insects that live at the air/water interface, such as mosquito larvae. Most other fish that feed at the surface (like hatchetfish) have a mouth that points upwards, but a catfish doesn't, so it needs to roll over.

Cheers, Neale

 

[chishnfips]

lol, no I get it, I just think its weird. but then who am I to question nature. My thinking was the barbels should point up the way so it can swim the right way round.

Because he swims upside down even when he is not feeding I wondered if there was another reason

 

[nmonks]

My thinking was the barbels should point up the way so it can swim the right way round.

That's not how evolution works. Why move the mouth and the barbels to the other side of the head, when the fish can just turn over? And if it spends more time turned over, then why not simply change the colouration to make the belly lighter and the back darker so the fish is more camouflaged? Evolution doesn't strive for perfection, it merely gets the job done. In fact from an engineering perspective, most of what evolution comes up with is rubbish, either flawed or overly complicated. Humans get backache because we have curved spines, and curved spines are a terribly shape for anything that need to support weight vertically, A straight column would be better. But we have a curved spine because our ancestors had one. Animals on four legs are like a bridge, and a curved spine is great there, because it's an arch and supports weight very well. When apes went to two legs though, they got stuck with a curved spine, and now we get backache.

Because he swims upside down even when he is not feeding I wondered if there was another reason

Not really. They can swim both ways, but they like being inverted because that's the way their colours are now, and if they swim the "normal" way, their camouflage won't work, and predators will see them better.

Cheers, Neale

 

[chishnfips]

respect

 

[The-Wolf]

why are they upside down

they are not upsidedown, the rest of the world is

 

[CFC]

If you want to see them behave in a natural manner in the aquarium then you need to put in broad leaved surface covering plants such as lilly like plants (tiger lotus for instance) or water lettuce which the USD cats will sit under.

Another thing that is good for this is to put a stick on floating turtle dock in the tank which creates a ledge like an over hanging bank at the rear of the tank, you need a fairly wide tank for it to look good though.

 

[chishnfips]

cheers cfc, thats a good tip, I will try and see if I can find some of these plants in my lfs