How to tell if Catfish is eating?

[fprintf]

I have a new Synodontis Ocellifer catfish. The first few days it would come out and scrounge around for food, occasionally stopping its search, I suppose, when it found something interesting.

Now it has found a nice dark place, the inside of my ornamental castle and hardly comes out. Since these cats are rumored to be nocturnal eaters I cannot really tell if it is eating.

I am not putting in any special food at this point. I tried lettuce leaves and noticed some small holes within a few days, but I think this cat prefers more substantial protein based foods. My other tankmates are very small Malawi cichlids that are fed a high protein flake food that sinks pretty quickly. Unfortunately they are also greedy and will eat and eat, and then when food sinks to the bottom they take a 5 minute breather and peck around the rocks for the leftovers.

Anything I can do to check whether it is eating? I'd rather not remove my castle since it seems to like it and I do also.

 

[Jchillin]

The interesting thing about most cats is - They will not starve themselves voluntarily. So long as there is food somewhere, they are content and won't bother you. If this does not happen, they will let you know.

Almost all types of squash will be greedily consumed by your pleco. Try broccoli stalks, zucchini chunks, romaine lettuce (not iceberg...too thin, not many nutrients).

BTW - I've been looking for really large algae disks...much larger than the kind I've seen so far. The small ones are not enough for larger plecos.

 

[crazycat]

bigger than the hikari tropical algae wafers?

 

[Devilishturtles]

Turn your lights off, and leave the room dark. After about an hour, take a flash light with you to the tank, and turn it on. You will probably catch the catfish out scrounging. It's also a good idea to drop food after lights out, or to spot feed the fish by putting a piece of food directly into it's hideout.

I wouldn't worry though. Catfish are opportunistic feeders. If they can eat, they will.

 

[talloulou]

It needs hiding spots so definitely don't remove the castle. Try occasionally leaving zuchini in over night and also use sinkable catfish pellets. He will scavenge at night and is probably getting enough to eat. You'll know for sure once he outgrows your tank

 

[rich311k]

I throw food in for mine after lights out. I hardly ever see them eat, but I know they do because they have nice fat bellies.

 

[fprintf]

Thanks all for the confidence boost. Since I added the two little Malawis and the cat there has been little to suck up from the gravel. So I am assuming someone is doing a great job cleaning up.

I must say, these Ocellifer cats are just beautiful to watch. I do not think it will be long before I am getting that 55 I have my eye on just to put him in.

I appreciate it!

 

[poppab02]

Yeah, don't worry about them. I barely ever saw my synodontis when I had them. Yet they still thrived. If you never see them it just means you are doing a good job of providing hiding places for them in your tank.

 

[CompMage]

Nothing is funnier then watching a pleco swimming upside down after flakes. Got a sunshine pleco that will do this when I forget to hand out the algae wafers at night, he'll come up after the flakes and pellets. Since he's bigger then everyone else he usually gets the lions share when he comes out like this. But it is hysterical.

He'll figure out where the food is eventually. I would not worry to much.

A suggestion might be to use a turkey baster to get some of the food down to his castle. I've seen this done a few times and can't see any problems with it. And with you sticking something in your tank like that your other fish will probably run form it...for a little while at lest.

 

[Jchillin]

bigger than the hikari tropical algae wafers?

Kat - If they are larger than the Wardley wafers, you've just made a sale

 

[Big C]

I am always concerned about my golden nugget. The only thing I see him eating is cucumber and zucchini. Although a couple of days ago he discovered honeydew melon!

He seems fine, although he is not in a rush to grow.

 

[Elmware]

It's funny that I have a Ghost Catfish, and when I put the food in the tank, he's not always chomping down on it, but I do see him going for the food every once-in-awhile.

Apparently, these little guys eat mostly live or frozen foods and not so big on the flakes, so I drop flakes in for the other fish in the mornings, and feed them frozen foods in the evenings.

Most of the time, he just hides inside this rock cave I bought for the fish.