Eclipse Catfish Help

  • We are currently upgrading MFK. thanks! -neo

xRage10

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Jul 29, 2010
221
0
0
Lake Mary, Florida
My eclipse catfish is no bigger than 2", maybe 3", but it only comes out when my room is pitch dark. Can't have my room light on, can't have the aquarium light on, no lights at all. Even then, it doesn't come out all the time. I don't think it's eating much, or even at all for that matter, and I've had it about a week and a half.

What can I do to ensure it's eating? Like I said sometimes when I have all the lights off I can see it swimming around, and often when I open my door and turn on my room light I can see it swim immediately back into it's little cave. I just can't seem to get it to come out and eat.
 
try hand feeding it i do my 5" one...
 
They really should be kept in groups as they are a schooling fish. Just drop in some sinking pellets before you turn the off, the car will have no trouble finding them,
 
this is what i did; i got some really thick "deep blue" plexy glass and cut a few layers of it and stuck it under my light at night. it gave the illusion of moon light and made the whole tank a "deep blue", after a few nights of that he had no problem comming out for food, or just to explore for that matter, if ur in high school u can probly snag some theater light gels from ur drama department and use then the same way
 
Loves severums;4610779; said:
try hand feeding it i do my 5" one...

Always wanted to try it, I just don't want the cat to get to the point where it will only feed off of my hand. I don't know, I might give it a shot.

Bderick67;4610907; said:
They really should be kept in groups as they are a schooling fish. Just drop in some sinking pellets before you turn the off, the car will have no trouble finding them,

I was planning on possibly doing that once I got a little more money on me. I don't think my tiger barbs would be near the same if I only had one of them :p

fishwhisperer;4610928; said:
this is what i did; i got some really thick "deep blue" plexy glass and cut a few layers of it and stuck it under my light at night. it gave the illusion of moon light and made the whole tank a "deep blue", after a few nights of that he had no problem comming out for food, or just to explore for that matter, if ur in high school u can probly snag some theater light gels from ur drama department and use then the same way

Just graduated in the summer :\ lol not a bad idea though. Think buying like the clear paper they use on projectors (the old school ones from school of course) and printing a dark blue on it several times would give similar results?
 
deffinatly, the whole idea is just to give it a really dark glo, if ur just using transparencies than i would use like a desk lamp or somthing like that, its a really great way to get your nocturnal fish out and about, u just have to be consistent and do it every night
 
Mine will ONLY eat live at this point try some small guppies, rosies, earthworms, or frozen bloodworms. Id start with the bloodworms then end with the fish.
 
thacarter546;4611107; said:
Mine will ONLY eat live at this point try some small guppies, rosies, earthworms, or frozen bloodworms. Id start with the bloodworms then end with the fish.
no live fish........
 
fishwhisperer;4610981; said:
deffinatly, the whole idea is just to give it a really dark glo, if ur just using transparencies than i would use like a desk lamp or somthing like that, its a really great way to get your nocturnal fish out and about, u just have to be consistent and do it every night

That's what I thought. Awesome, thanks for the advice. I'll probably try that sometime in the near future :)

thacarter546;4611107; said:
Mine will ONLY eat live at this point try some small guppies, rosies, earthworms, or frozen bloodworms. Id start with the bloodworms then end with the fish.

Loves severums;4611113; said:
no live fish........

My answer exactly. No live fish. I've already done that before. Both not healthy for the fish and puts a hit in your wallet if you don't breed them yourself.
 
MonsterFishKeepers.com