Shy catfish

[KakapoRhino]

I have a 52 litre tank: 4 zebra danios, 4 cherry barbs, 3 shrimp, 1 plec, one swordtail fish and five snails. The snails, plec, catfish and two of the zebra fish are all new. All of them have settled in fine except for my catfish, who hides in the space between my heater and my aquarium wall. When he's not hiding there, he's under one of the rocks in my aquarium. I've only seen him go out a few times, and when I feed my fish, I have to give food to him separately. Is my tank too over stocked, or is there another problem? I've had him for a week.

 

[SaraB]

Catfish are nocturnal. They will hide during the day and eat at night.

 

[King Fisher]

Might be normal behavior. What kind of catfish?

Try to feed him at night when the lights are off.

 

[KakapoRhino]

This is going to sound really stupid, but...
I really don't know. I didn't catch the type when the fish store told me which one it was. He's black-brown with a white tail and white fins. I've tried feeding him with the lights off but he didn't come out at all

 

[King Fisher]

I'd have to see a pic of it

 

[KakapoRhino]

 

[KakapoRhino]

I'm not the most amazing photographer

 

[King Fisher]

Appears to be a featherfin squeaker catfish. A long living catfish if you take good care of it.

The bad...... your tank is to small for him. He can easily reach 8 inches if not bigger. He'll require a much larger tank than what you got. A 4 foot tank minimum.

 

[King Fisher]

Could also be an ocellated synodontis or large spot catfish. Which gets about 10-12 inches. So not any better as far as tank size.

 

[KakapoRhino]

So I look them both up, and I don't think that's what my catfish is. He looks more like the large spot catfish, but like I said, he's got white edges to his fins and tails.

 

[King Fisher]

Is this it?

 

[KakapoRhino]

Is this it?View attachment 314455

Yes, just slightly darker

 

[m.j.gomez]

Yes, just slightly darker

Hello, the synodontis has the ability to lighten or darken its pigment depending on mood. I have 2 feather fin squeakers(eupterus), when eating or in caves they are almost black, when swimming around exploring they are a haze grey & when stressed they almost white. Hope this helps you!!!!!