New Tank Additions

[Love2Fish]

I went to the pet store last night as they had a pretty good sale and looked healthy and got a few guppies, 2 dalmation mollies, and 2 ghost catfish. My girlfriend got to pick them out so I read the cats were community fish and asked the lady who normally is on the ball and of course she said 2 would be fine for now. I get home and read that they need more because of schooling of course, so within the next day or two I will have to get a few more. They seem like they could be a pain in the butt, not really sure what I have gotten myself into. My other fish in my tank are healthy so I have them I'll give them a shot. Does anyone have any tips or advice for keeping them? Any tricks? Will they eat flake food? I gave them some when I got home I couldn't tell if they ate them or not. Today I gave them dried bloodworms and they seemed to love them but they are usually just something I give once a week or so as a treat. The mollies seem ok but they chasing each other around a lot and the one is nipping at the other some but I read this is normal.

 

[Cynic]

Just to be clear you have a communal tank and you just went and purchased a few guppies, a pair of Dalmation Mollies and a pair of glass catfish?

In terms of feeding them all those fish will eat basically anything, flakes are definitely fine (Although I'm sure they'd appreciate a treat like bloodworms occasionally).

In terms of tricks the only thing to be aware of is, depending on the size of your tank, that you will likely see some interspecies fighting from the mollies and guppies particularly if they are all male as they tend to be.

 

[Love2Fish]

Just to be clear you have a communal tank and you just went and purchased a few guppies, a pair of Dalmation Mollies and a pair of glass catfish?

In terms of feeding them all those fish will eat basically anything, flakes are definitely fine (Although I'm sure they'd appreciate a treat like bloodworms occasionally).

In terms of tricks the only thing to be aware of is, depending on the size of your tank, that you will likely see some interspecies fighting from the mollies and guppies particularly if they are all male as they tend to be.

It's a well established 55 G tank. The mollies are female. The guppies are male and play a lot but don't seem to fight much. The mollies are bugging each other some. My question wasn't really the mollies and guppies but I wanted to know more specifically about any tricks with the catfish as they seem to be in their own little world from stuff I have read

 

[LyndaB]

I would suggest that before you go on another buying binge, you research the fish you intend to bring home. Only by doing that can you avoid any compatibility or size issues in your tank. It will also let you know if the species in question needs a school, etc.

Please don't count on the lfs staff to enlighten you. Sadly, that almost never goes well.

 

[tamtam]

well some things to consider..

They like company, you would probably want 5 or 6 for them to be happy. They aren't fans of bright lights and will probably stick to night or low light times, you will want lots of hiding spots for them too, caves and plants.

They will prefer a variety of food and there is a good chance they may not even touch the flakes, some will and some won't. Blood worms, brine shrimp, or something like tubifex seem to be most common for them. I also hear that they will eat fry in the tank, something consider if you hope to keep any fry that may show up from the livebearers.

 

[Love2Fish]

Thanks lynda. I normally do research and I would not buy anything non compatible with my tank. I know enough about what fish are compatible with my tank and how big they get and what not. I read how big the glass cats get before I purchased them I just was wondering about their diet as I heard they could be picky eaters. I saw something about how they die easily but can live a long time if taken proper care of. They want you to do 50% water changes every week with them which while I do regular water changes 50% every week is more each time than I am used to so I was a little concerned and figured I would ask to try and get some more information about them besides what I have already read from some people more experienced with that particular species than I am. I am not a complete beginner I take pride in the care I give my fish I just want to make sure I have covered all the bases as I will be getting a few more

 

[Love2Fish]

well some things to consider..

They like company, you would probably want 5 or 6 for them to be happy. They aren't fans of bright lights and will probably stick to night or low light times, you will want lots of hiding spots for them too, caves and plants.

They will prefer a variety of food and there is a good chance they may not even touch the flakes, some will and some won't. Blood worms, brine shrimp, or something like tubifex seem to be most common for them. I also hear that they will eat fry in the tank, something consider if you hope to keep any fry that may show up from the livebearers.

Thanks tamtam so instead of like giving a little bit of bloodworms and a little bit of flakes at once should I just be a little more frequent with the bloodworms and substitute them every 2-3 days instead of once a week to be sure they are all eating properly?

 

[tamtam]

Thanks tamtam so instead of like giving a little bit of bloodworms and a little bit of flakes at once should I just be a little more frequent with the bloodworms and substitute them every 2-3 days instead of once a week to be sure they are all eating properly?

I think that may work.. but honestly think a rounded diet is best to make sure they get all the nutrition they need. I believe that they aren't bred in captivity so any glass catfish you get come from the wild. Which probably fuels the "picky" eating. I've never owned them so have no hands on experience though, I've read up quite a bit on them when debating cat fish and other bottom dwellers and decided against them based mostly on diet. Just thought I would share what I've read up on.

Some will eat flake like said though I'd take caution against making it too frequent if you aren't keen on large frequent water changes. You can easily end up with a lot of built up waste because they didn't eat much and being a bit sensitive about water quality they could be effected by that pretty easy. I see suggestions about investing in snails a lot to help control this issue but to be honest I haven't a clue about snails so can't really give an advice on that but may be something to look into. I also see that you should try feeding them flakes by the filter, I guess it is suppose to help mimic live fish in the currents they usually feed in.

ETA, I'm not sure about how often you need to feed them either... I'd look into that. I think I remember seeing that they only need to be fed a couple times a week but I'm not certain. Hopefully someone with some real hands on experience is able to chime in here