An Obvious Question About Electric Catfish

[crypticmonk]

...or eels. I'm just wondering how they shock you. Do you need the be touching them in order to get shocked? If not, how on earth do you avoid it?

I'm sure this gets asked a lot but I just couldn't find anything online...

 

[manafel]

They can shock you through the water. Normally you would ground the tank, and any time you have to get into the water, you will have to wear rubber gloves that cover your whole arm.

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[candyman206]

I got shocked a few days ago by my 2" cat. I need to learn how to avoid it


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[gt1009]

Grounding probe in the tank would be a good $10 investment. Apparently as they grow the shock grows with them.

 

[crypticmonk]

Pardon my ignorance, but how would you set up a grounding probe, and are they pretty effective in reducing the shock?

 

[thebiggerthebetter]

Simple carefulness usually suffices. You can even train your e-cat to hand feed and pet them http://www.monsterfishkeepers.com/f...wsome-electric-catifsh&highlight=electric+cat

Rubber gloves should be enough, I think. No need to ground also. You can touch the hot wire with an insulated tool. It's hot, not grounded.

 

[stumanchu]

My little e-cat has no problem being touched. While I'm in the tank he swims through my hands and is super curious. I've felt the shock once when I first netted him to go into the tank, other then that... Nothing what so ever.


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[Grundsau]

I put my hand in all the time to do the water changes and gravel vac. I was shocked once when removing the cave he outgrew to replace it with a bigger one. I touched him while doing so, which probably startled him. Mo Devlin tells a story about helping a friend pack up an electric cat after a fish show. He wasn't paying attention while trying to catch it and the next thing he remembers was waking up on the floor.