Glass Catfish

[azn_fishy55]

I suddenly became interested in glass catfish.I wanna keep some in my 30 planted that is not set-up yet.Does anyone have any tips on keeping them?Can I keep it with a blue gourami(Trichogaster trichopterus)with it?

 

[FishyDan]

Glass Catfish (Kryptopterus bicirrhis) sometimes called Ghost Catfish.

I have had glass catfish (not to be confused with Glass Fish - although I have had them also) for many years. They are very gentle and fun to watch as they "feel" any other fish that swims by them with their long whiskers. I have three in a 50 gal along with angles, mollies, cats, and many other fish. They have never bothered any of them, nor has any other bother them. I purposely don't have any aggressive fish so can't comment on them. They will eat babies (mollies, guppies, swordtail, etc) if given the opportunity, although they don't bother my neons or cardinals.

One of the most important things to know about glass catfish is that they are communal, i.e. they like to have more than one of their own kind around. If you buy only one, it will die of loneliness in less than a month, no matter how many other kinds of fish you have in the tank. If you have more than one glass catfish, they will live for years - as mine have.

Here are some good web sites:
http://www.fishpalace.org/K_bicirrhis.html
http://www.thetropicaltank.co.uk/Fishindx/glasscat.htm
http://www.petresources.net/fish/catfish/kry_bic.html


Enjoy keeping them.

 

[azn_fishy55]

I am gonna buy 4 is that okay?

 

[RoK]

They will be fine as long is it doesn't attack them for some reason, but it shouldn't. 4 should be fine but they do prefer larger groups.

 

[azn_fishy55]

wat about five?