electric catfish?
- Thread starter superloud
- Start date
Electric catfish are awesome fish with tons of personality. He will most likely terrorize your cichlids by shocking any who get in its way. A total bully.
Mine never was. In a community of 40-50 cats, mine chose 1 or 2 that he disliked. The rest were ignored.
I have a 7" electric catfish in a 55 with 1 convict, and 3 climbing perch. This tanks been running without problems for 2 months. But he's getting big so ima upgrade him to a solo tank.
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Electric's do get too big for a 55 and are quite predatory. You haven't mentioned what kind of cichlids you'd be putting him with, but it's almost definitely not going to be a good idea. Cichlids in general are aggressive and may attack the cat and then the cat goes into defense and you may wind up with 2 dead fish. And if the set-up does manage to go awhile with out incident my guess is the cat will eventually try to make a meal of someone as he grows. There are plenty of other cool cats out there that would make better tankmates. As thebiggerthebetter pointed out planetcatfish is a decent source for info. regarding cats. Unfortunately it doesn't receive the attention it once did and the info. can be a little sparse, it's still the best source for catfish info. I'm aware of.
I am dubious e-cat would kill the cichlids in this scenario. It does not put out a full strength zap when the danger is not mortal. It will simply zap them mildly, enough to let them know to leave it alone. And the cichlids will remember that. If not right away then eventually. I am talking in theory though, not from experience.
My e-cat grew slowly, from 4" to maybe 7" in 1.5 years. They can grow to 3 feet, however, this genus is full of cats, 19 total, I think. Not so long ago, they were all called Malapterus electricus. Not anymore. But they look so much alike that it is hard to tell many apart and there is no history with photos to help with that task either. I am sure not all of them will grow to 3 feet.
Here is a sample of a 3-footer! http://www.planetcatfish.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=8&t=28890&hilit=+electric
My e-cat grew slowly, from 4" to maybe 7" in 1.5 years. They can grow to 3 feet, however, this genus is full of cats, 19 total, I think. Not so long ago, they were all called Malapterus electricus. Not anymore. But they look so much alike that it is hard to tell many apart and there is no history with photos to help with that task either. I am sure not all of them will grow to 3 feet.
Here is a sample of a 3-footer! http://www.planetcatfish.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=8&t=28890&hilit=+electric
Not necessarily. When I said wouldn't work I meant it could go either way, and it would be due to stress and repetitive damage. In my experience most cichlids don't learn their lesson.lol! I've had many a cichlid get beaten nearly to death by another tankmate and after adding a divider and giving the victim healing time the same cichlid would still persist in trying to attack the same fish who nearly beat him to death last time. As for the catfish being 'naked' makes it vulnerable to damage more so than other fish. So being chased may cause the cat to damage itself and treating him would be difficult due to the sensitivity of the naked skin. As for personal experience I kept a 4 inch e-cat with a 9 inch Oscar and 7 inch Dempsey and the only experience I had was a constantly twitching Oscar.lol! That i until I seperated them for fear of stressing any of them to death.
As for growth rates they do seem to vary individual to individual, and situation to situation. Still in my experience every e-cat I had easily reached over the 12 inch mark in a year, as long as he was able to access sufficient quantities of food. Though I agree a 3 footer may not be as common place as planetcatfish suggest's still with proper care all of them grow to a fairly substantial size. Large enough in my opinion to try to prey upon most cichlids.
The electric catfish is a great fish to keep. Keep in mind the get big and can grow fast. They are not extremely picky when it come to water. Just make sure its clean and stable. They like slower moving waters as they tend to spend most of their time just sitting around in a cave in the aquarium. Give the fish a varied diet. Earth worms, white fish, try pellet training, shrimp. They are predators. Any fish that will fit into its mouth is prey. I and many others have learned you can not trust they want eat/kill the other fish in their aquarium. It is their nature to do so.
You said "I plan to purchase them". Are you going to buy multiple ECats? In a 55 more than one fish may not last long. I would only get one. Unless you have or are planning a larger tank soon.
You said "I plan to purchase them". Are you going to buy multiple ECats? In a 55 more than one fish may not last long. I would only get one. Unless you have or are planning a larger tank soon.
Yea, I wouldn't put more than one in the same tank. While electric catfish are immune to each other's shocks, they are highly aggressive towards each other. Generally, when a pet store has a bunch of ec's in a tank, they will be covered in scars from fighting.