Dangers of Electric Catfish???
- Thread starter KCK
- Start date
Not dangerous unless startled. Wear rubber gloves and/or only immerse one arm at a time to avoid an electric arc across the heart.
I've only been shocked by a little one, about 3" at the time - the owner of the store where I bought it wouldn't sell it to me unless I let it shock me. Even at that size it was enough to be more than uncomfortable and I'm almost certain I tasted copper later in the day. Precautions should definitely be taken with one much larger than 6" - still not enough to be of any serious risk, but definitely not something you'd want to experience.
mine's bout 6-7 inch now. i got shocked plenty of times and it really doesnt hurt that much, though it always cause me to flinch violently lol
I think the flinch though is less of a reaction to the pain and more of an involuntary muscle contraction caused by the electrical charge. Even when I was shocked by my small e. cat, even though it wasn't necessarily painful my arm certainly jerked.
I use to feed mine night crawlers by hand. The little guy (maybe 3" at the time) would come to the top of the tank and take the worm right from my hand. One time I held onto the worm too long........... Now I just drop the worms into the tank lol, no more hand feeding.