upsidedown catfish

[catfishfan]

I just fell in love with the usd catfish at the lfs so I bought one. then I found out from experience that the species when left alone will cower under anything for hours at the time even with the lights out. So I bought 2 more to make them a nice little social group. still all they do is cower under the drift wood and unfortunately, i dont think i have room for anymore fish so i cant add anymore. Is there any particular reason they are acting like this. They were fine at the store swimming around and being playful. Im confused.

 

[CFC]

What other fish do you have in the tank? If larger mid and surface level swimmers are present in the tank the tank the USD cats will be reluctant to come out of hiding since in the wild larger fish = predators. In time they will adjust to their new tank and tankmates and start to be more adventurous although as a species they are generally shy and nocturnal.

 

[catfishfan]

well, I have 2 albino corys, some sort of tetra, one common pleco, 4 angels which the pleco and the angels are moving to a 90 g whenever its done cycling. Also 1 ballon molly and about 5 or 6 ghost shrimp. I would think the angels would be kinda agitated and aggressive in the tank , but they mind their own business and I even saw one of the usd's swimming with the biggest angel I have. And on another note, they hardly ever swim upside down when they do come out.?.?

 

[gwlee7]

Are they synodontis nigriventris? This is the species that will actually spend most of its time upside down.

Edit: need to learn how to spell

 

[Oddball]

Right, to begin with USDs are mostly nocturnal and a habitually shy, this has already been mentioned. However, there are quite a lot of species in the synodontis family of catfish which are falsely sold as USDs and consequently get much bigger, my synodontis ornatapinnis came into my lfs with USDs!
Working on the assumption u actually have usds the best way to see them is thusly, position some bog wood over hangs in one area of the tank towards the front. I dont know why but they love wood and arent too fond of rocks so they hang about under the wood in sight. Its probably that they are camaflaged due the dappled colours they have. USDs are gregarious animals and thrive in numbers, so the more there are the more active they become. Normally my three are very active at feeding time and start to move about 1hr before and 2hrs after.
Also the name USD is rather misleading as they spend 2/3 of the time right way up!

 

[glolite]

I bought two of these recently and although they are shy if you feed an algae wafer or meaty tablet, then retreat to the other side of the room, they should come out. Mine just love their bogwood but have claimed my daughter's old shipwreck (it's bright pink) as their home. They squeeze in together and just their barbs float out.

 

[Talleyrand]

I only see mine about twice a week. He shares a piece of bogwood with a plec and a yellow lab cichlid.

 

[Catfish Fanatic]

mine are out all the time ever since i got more they are upside down most of the tiome for me but the go crazy at feeding time i mean crazy

 

[catfishfan]

well, I moved some fish to another tank mainly the 4 angels and the plec and bought 3 more usd's. Now they are out all the time and it seems like they are 100 times more comical. I love it. maybe 6 is the magic number