Wertheimeria maculata behavior

[CishFhip]

Hi guys,

Its my first time having a snoring catfish and i’m absolutely loving it but i having a lot of trouble learning its behavior especially when there is so little information out there so everyone’s help is appreciated!

There is a few things that i have learned and i want to confirm if they are true about them:

1. When they are hungry, the spots will get whiter and brighter

2. They cannot really see and heavily rely on their “whiskers” to sense what’s in front of them

3. They really do not come out of hiding until the sun sets?

4. Gentle but chonky fish

5. They swim pretty quick so they would require at least 6 ft tanks even for a 6 incher

I have problems feeding it personally, it does not come out no matter what i feed it, even at night. I often drop talapia fillets and i assume it has eaten them when im not looking. Another thing isthat it sometimes breathes very heavily when it realise that im watching it? Please! Any help would be appreciated! I do not want to torture these beautiful fish!

 

[Yellowcat]

I have two of these, kept for over a year by now. I assume you have only one which eliminates the problems when 2 or more are kept together in the same tank as they will fight and shred each others fins and tail to extremes, needing to separate them. I got mine as 3" juveniles when their markings were just squiggly lines, it took several months before the pattern changed to spots such as your fish. Mine are very reclusive and shy, will only feed in complete darkness, never seen at all during the day when they hide in their driftwood spots. Haven't noted any color change with their spots, some catfish markings change from dull coloration during the day to higher contrast in the middle of the night, might be true with these but I haven't checked with mine. Their vision might be fine but most catfish in general use their senses of smell and taste over vision to find food. I don't think they really need a big tank, surely any fish likes more room but these spend most of their day hiding and only leave their hides to feed. Maybe it depends on the size of the fish related to tank size as these don't get all that big and from my experience they are kind of slow growing, my smallest one is now around 6", the larger one is 7". I can't offer much about their aggression or lack of it related to other tank mates as too many variables to consider, haven't seen any evidence of damage to others so far. Hope this helps...

 

[CishFhip]

I have two of these, kept for over a year by now. I assume you have only one which eliminates the problems when 2 or more are kept together in the same tank as they will fight and shred each others fins and tail to extremes, needing to separate them. I got mine as 3" juveniles when their markings were just squiggly lines, it took several months before the pattern changed to spots such as your fish. Mine are very reclusive and shy, will only feed in complete darkness, never seen at all during the day when they hide in their driftwood spots. Haven't noted any color change with their spots, some catfish markings change from dull coloration during the day to higher contrast in the middle of the night, might be true with these but I haven't checked with mine. Their vision might be fine but most catfish in general use their senses of smell and taste over vision to find food. I don't think they really need a big tank, surely any fish likes more room but these spend most of their day hiding and only leave their hides to feed. Maybe it depends on the size of the fish related to tank size as these don't get all that big and from my experience they are kind of slow growing, my smallest one is now around 6", the larger one is 7". I can't offer much about their aggression or lack of it related to other tank mates as too many variables to consider, haven't seen any evidence of damage to others so far. Hope this helps...

Thank you for your reply, you definitely saved me as I was planning to get another one in hope that it can reduce stress but that isn't the case. I believe mine has vision issues because it is constantly bumping into the PVC that i have prepared for it, to a point that it is sick of trying to get into the pipe even tho the pipe is quite big and rather rest behind rocks. Planning to get some infrared cameras so I can watch what it does at night! I am relieved to hear that since they are hiding most of the time they do not need big tanks but here is a big thanks to you for sharing! What do you usually feed them? The store i got them from said that they are ok with pellets but i have never seen them swallow a single pellet. This is also my first time having a bottom feeder, does the sand/pebble prevent them from eating sinking food or accidentally swallowing sand?

 

[Mr Teo]

i keeping one of these now; he is the shyest catfish I've ever owned. I usually feed it with sinking pellet. However, I only saw him at midnight and patrol around the tank looking for any leftover food. i keeping synodontis species with it to kinda encourage its to came out more but I only saw the whisker during the day.i using stone and soil for bottom substrate, and so far it is okay for most of mine catfish.

 

[Yellowcat]

My fish are in separate tanks with different tank mates, both tanks (all my tanks) have gravel substrate, shouldn't be a problem related to feeding. The eyesight problem is curious, I did notice from your photo that the edge of the PVC pipe is rather coarse from being sawed, you could maybe sand/grind it smooth as the fish may be put off by that rather than have a vision issue? I have no experience with an infrared camera but do have an infrared viewing scope for seeing nocturnal behavior. I was surprised that most catfish can see the infrared beam in a totally dark room, some species don't mind it but some immediately react and avoid it, especially true with this species. As far as feeding, the larger one gets a mix of Hikari pellets and flake food as there are guppies in both tanks but they seem unharmed. In the other tank, those fish, a 7" female synodontis pardalis and a yo-yo loach get the same mix of pellets along with frozen blood worms. The syno is kind of a bully and dominates the tank keeping the w. maculata from keeping a spot in the driftwood. You could try using frozen bloodworms, or maybe red worms or small nightcrawlers from your local bait shop and see if your's likes them. My large one is in a tank with a 10" very old pimelodus blochii, a bushy nose pleco and a couple of 7" loaches, the pimelodus has half to the tank to itself and is the dominant fish, the w. maculata and others hang out in the driftwood side and stay there for the most part, rarely venturing out even to feed, waiting for the current to bring food to them, that's shy. Both tanks with these fish are 60 Gallons...

 

[CishFhip]

Thanks for the suggestions! I guess i’ll keep it with gravel and pebbles at the moment; considering getting some driftwood instead of using the pvc’s hopefully i’ll find some nice ones.

I’m going to try feeding it other things but im guessing it’ll take months for it to relate me to food since its so shy. Praying that it’ll eventually happen.

 

[Voxxy]

Thanks for the suggestions! I guess i’ll keep it with gravel and pebbles at the moment; considering getting some driftwood instead of using the pvc’s hopefully i’ll find some nice ones.

I’m going to try feeding it other things but im guessing it’ll take months for it to relate me to food since its so shy. Praying that it’ll eventually happen.

Kinda older post to respknd to, but I have 2 of these guys, haven't had them too long, but I have notice they are extremely shy, although one of mine, when "she" sees me leaning down to look under their driftwood and caves, sne pops out of her favorite cave about halfway to: A) either greet me oooor B) maybe she is defending her cave and is really more like "i can take you" kinda thing instead of friendly lol. She doesn't seem aggresive but pretty much will consistently pop put to see me either way.
I use a gel food, you mix it with boiling water, let it cool, slice it up and it lasts a couple weeks in the fridge. It smells absolutely like a smell you could gladly go your entire life without having to smell, but its short lived and honestly, isn't that strong or potent...I just am super sensitive and definitely a,ways think about the powder getting airborne and havinf ground up black fly larva in my sinuses....so I cover my face and hold my breath. Lol. I also use bug bites and some other bottom feeder shrimp based pellets as well as tropical granuals and flake. I pre soak any dry food for digestion safety.
My catfish are seen out an about evening if you manage to look at the right moments, but 4am is their party time, consistently.
I call one a female and the other one male because the one I say is female is larger and typically her spots are not *as* bold as often as the smaller "male" catfish. They are the same age, so making super unscientific speculations.
I only keep a deep red light on, never use the rest of the systems settings unless I'm cleaning the tank and need to see. They have more driftwood than I know what to do with so i out caves down and just oile the driftwood in a nonaestetic like fashion, because their hiding comfort etc is more important than 20 perfectly laid out eye pleasing peices of wood.
I have overkill filtration i think, 2 Fluval FX6s on their tank and a large sump below. They are in a 225 gallon and its like 30x30x75 or something add the sump probably brings their water circulation amount to over 300 gallons easily.
Mine are not fighting as of yet, they do occasionally think they can both fit in a cave when Im doing work in their tank and a see them squirming and prob nipping then but nothing out in the open yet, fingers crossed.
My female unfortunately got stuck to an intake 2 or 3 times when i first got her, and she lost half a fin at some point, doesn't look like its going to grow back but she swims great and doesn3t appear to have any other lasting issues with it. They are the only two inhabitants in the tank and no other fish willl ever annoy them so no idea on aggression.
They can definitely see, like i mentioned, onemof mine comes out when I greet them. No matter where I'm standing, she turns herself to be able to see me and she angles herself depending on my position. They can see fine i think. If they are being super shy occasionally, i throw a sweater over my head and peek out, they notice Im gone and proceed to eat like they want to. I dont know if spits get brighter due to humger, but I think when they are eating, or water is good and they don't have something bothering them parameter wise, they are pretty bold splotched. I think they show off lol. My "male"one seems to. Anyways, not helpful info or experience I'm sure but I love these guys and wanted to share.

What i wish i knew was where the name Snoring Catfish came from? Lol