electric cat need advice

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viperman100

viperman100

Gambusia
MFK Member
Jul 2, 2005
198
0
16
49
Rialto, Cali.
well I went to my lfs earlier this week and found an electric cat for 6.99, I thought he looked cool even though my friend said he looked like a weenie with fins and whiskers. so I came home and looked him up @ catfish planet but the site info says he should be kept alone, is this true I picked him up yesterday and hes in my ten gallon now cuz hes under 2" but I really wanetd to put him in my 60 gallon with a medium size senagal a small convict and two medium size peacock bass. Will this be ok or are my fish in danger? also once hes bigger how do you do water changes without gettin shocked the store clerk says they can release current into the water and when you touch it you get shocked even though you didnt touch the fish. Thanks for your help guys I'll post pix later.
 
one of my favorates. mine wasd 8" agression is not the issue. I kept mine with 5" blue goramis, but ive seen mine eat 3" melanochromis auratus, one of the most aggresive africans. Its size. some need to be kept alone, they have personality. being shocked is the best part!! you get used to it. its like an electric fence. I trained mimne to lay in the palm of my hand without shocking me, and to even swim through rings anmd do trix for food :D youll learn to love the shock. do not let it be with eel like things. I've seen mine take down and devoir a 8" dojo loach
 
so I take it that keeping him with bichers is not a good idea, thanks for the advice. do you think it would be ok to keep them together as long as he's the smallest one in the tank? I guess what I'm asking is will he try to shock the other fish and will that be a problem.
 
they don't mean to shock em its just night curiousity. you see how small its eyes are. it uses electricity to navigate and hunt in the night. I think it might work with the bicher now, but when you figure out when they need to be separated, it could be to late for the bicher. this is just info i got from my own experiences. these things are full of personality. I once saw a 12" get along saftley with neons. its just personal experiences
 
thanks for the help mudskipper. Ill put pix up @ the photo lounge tomorrow.
 
by the way, their are 2 common types. the nile river type looks best. it is purpilish gray, with a varying number of black spots, no dorsal, and a tail with a curved vertical pattern of various stripes of shades of black whit and gray.
the other type is from lake tanginia. it looks like a gray, drab catfish, but grows a bit larger. I've seen footage of it take down some large tanginikan cichlids on national geo. Look for something called "jewl of the nile" or something along those lines

nile river:
http://www.aqualandpetsplus.com/Catfish, Electric.htm

lake tanginia:
http://www.whozoo.org/Intro2001/heathami/HAH_MalapterurusElectricus.htm

albino nile (rare):
http://www.planetcatfish.com/catelog/malapter/malapter/109_2.PHP
http://www.planetcatfish.com/catelog/malapter/malapter/109_4.PHP
 
I love those guys when i worked at the LFS everyone was scared to go in the tank. Then i broke up with this chick and i told my friend that i was gonna touch the catfish lol it wasnt that bad and everybody thought i was crazy
 
I kept a 9" electric catfish for several months. They are compatible with synodontis catfish which are immune to the shock and I housed mine in a 55 with 3 synodontis multipunctatus and 2 synodontis flavitaeniatus. You could try to keep them with other fish but eventually they will probably get shocked and killed. If you do try to keep them with others provide a nice slate or other rock hideout for the e cat to prevent it from being attacked or generall nervous. I would however advise against keeping it with fish that are capable of being swallowed. They have large mouths and would be able to eat something probably close to half their body length. I kept min with a sand substrate which worked pretty good and I would assume is similar to their natural habitat. I fed him nightcrawlers and he occasionally ate blocks of tubiflex worms for the other catfish. I never got shocked a single time, as long as you don't pester them you should be fine. My E cat was very personable and would play with the bubbles from the air stone and come up to my hand when I cleaned the tank and fed him. I hand fed my E cat on several occasions. Hope this helps ya ~Trent

jimmy4.jpg
 
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