I bought an electric catfish at about 10"or 12". My question is how dangerous are these fish and is there anything I can do to eliminate the risk of being shocked while doing water changes. Also can they shock you without touching you. If there is nothing then I will be forced to give it to a pet shop....not worth a ambulance trip. thanks
electric catfish
- Thread starter brigri
- Start date
These guys arent that dangerous. Assuming you got the most common variety, max size should be less than 3'.
Yours is already fairly large. Apparently in the wild, and in aquaria, they will use their shock to make fish regurgitate...then eat that.
Only very small fish are shocked to death.
A 3' long fish I would assume is capable of almost 300 volts...its a lot, but the amperage is very low, and I doubt that you would ever get it to shock like that. Absolute worst case scenario.
As far as not getting shocked? You can wear plastic aquarium cleaning gloves...Although I had a 24" electric knife fish, and I did my waterchanges with bare hands. Got shocked four times in total including feeding him by hand. Worst thing that happened was a one second jolt that interrupted my talking with someone else - not sure if I wasnt able to, or if I was just surprised.
Either way, the chances of you going to the hospital from this guy is very low. You will even see them sometimes in large tanks with large african cichilds.
Yours is already fairly large. Apparently in the wild, and in aquaria, they will use their shock to make fish regurgitate...then eat that.
Only very small fish are shocked to death.
A 3' long fish I would assume is capable of almost 300 volts...its a lot, but the amperage is very low, and I doubt that you would ever get it to shock like that. Absolute worst case scenario.
As far as not getting shocked? You can wear plastic aquarium cleaning gloves...Although I had a 24" electric knife fish, and I did my waterchanges with bare hands. Got shocked four times in total including feeding him by hand. Worst thing that happened was a one second jolt that interrupted my talking with someone else - not sure if I wasnt able to, or if I was just surprised.
Either way, the chances of you going to the hospital from this guy is very low. You will even see them sometimes in large tanks with large african cichilds.
In one tank had 1 electric catfish about 10" for sell. No problem, man, if you use the hand net. I introduced my hands inside of aquarium and didn't receive any electric pulse, But, I tryed to hold one, but a little specimen of electric catfish, about 2,5", I noted the pulses in my hand, my hand began to shake. Not try this at home.
Your electric catfish can produce a discharge up to 350 volts. What fishes do you have in your aquarium?
Your electric catfish can produce a discharge up to 350 volts. What fishes do you have in your aquarium?
Try to research beyond opinions and LFS. There is alot of published media on this fish. Just the stress can kill the fish. Research before the buy.
Im sorry for your loss. This fish should be housed alone.
From what ive been told by very experienced people they can kill any other fish and should be kept alone and the shock can be enough to knock you backwards, that in a room full of glass is hardly good.
They are not very dangerous. Only use one arm at a time if you're a little worried, and wear a long-sleeved rubber glove to make you invincible if you're very paranoid.
I don't know about dangerous but really uncomfortable would better describe at your fishes size. Mine killed everything that was with it. use rubber gloves and make sure there is no water path around the cuff of the glove.
Synodontis species seem to be the only species that are immune to the electric shock. As for dangers of being shocked, there's not really any medical danger to getting shocked. It would be incredibly uncomfortable though. The only concern would be if you might have some kind of heart condition that would weaken your defenses against electrical shock to begin with. Either way, however, there are simple precautions you can take to avoid getting shocked - go to a hardware store and purchase some rubber gloves. You can get the kind that go up to your elbow or in some cases further, depending on how deep your tank is. Additionally, try to keep from putting both hands in the tank at the same time. With just one you could still get shocked, but it'd just be uncomfortable. By putting both hands in, you create a pathway for the electrical charge where it travels up one arm, across your chest (possibly via your heart) and down the other arm back into the water. Again though, the chances that the electricity would cause anything more than discomfort is minimal.
