Ellectric cat

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Charney

Charney

The Fish Doctor
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Nov 15, 2005
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I am thinking about buying an electric cat. I have had my eyes on these guys for over 20 years and now may have the opportunity to pick up a "dwarf" sp which should top out at 2ft. Anyone here keep these guys? How active of a fish are they? What size tanks have people kept them comfortably for life?

thanks
 
Never try to touch and see whether they really shock :naughty:

But if u do. . . be prepared for a nasty numb feeling that last a few hours :ROFL:

I reckon a 4' tank would be sufficient to keep it for life :)
 
There was one around my place in an LFS for 2yrs. I did touch him. The electricity what you get is the same or equal to that of when you accidentally touch an electric plug point. The sting lingers on for an hour or so as said above.
He used to be active only during feeding time or when hungry. An ugly cat but an interesting cat. If you have waited for such long then why not. Go for it :)
 
As for activity, they aren't active. They will find a spot and hide. Mine moves only if there is food in the water. He is awesome at detecting it though. I can drop a small amount of frozen food on the opposite side of a 8' tank from him and he will be the first fish on it.
 
Charney said:
... Anyone here keep these guys? How active of a fish are they? What size tanks have people kept them comfortably for life?
Click to expand...

Many do but I don't recall ever seeing a large one (over 1') being posted here. It looks like they either do not grow larger or, more likely, they do not survive into adulthood, perhaps in part due to incompatibility issues. I've lost mine ~8"-er on my move from NY to FL.

Not active, unless there is food.

As touched on, I'm quite skeptical there is more than a handful of private keepers in the world who have kept one for life. It just doesn't look that way. The only 2'-3' giants I see are all from Public Aquaria or some such.

They do have quite a personality and are a cracking fish. I hope to get a license so I could keep it in FL (they are prohibited here).
 
Thank you for the posts. Very informative. Anyone have any idea if adults can be house together?
 
shipmonkey said:
As for activity, they aren't active. They will find a spot and hide. Mine moves only if there is food in the water. He is awesome at detecting it though. I can drop a small amount of frozen food on the opposite side of a 8' tank from him and he will be the first fish on it.
Click to expand...

What are you feeding it on a daily basis? Is it only on frozen or pellets too? thanks
 
I love these things! I bought mine at 2-3" long, and he's got to be over a foot long now. Not the most active fish I own, but he does eat out of my hand every night.

I feed mostly stuffed shrimp and tilapia. He's never liked pellets.

To give my tank a little more life, I added a school of 10 tetras that were in sale for $1 a piece. I was thinking they would all be dead and eaten within a week, but I haven't lost one in over 3 months. I think Link (my E cat) is just too lazy to chase them down.

I say go for it. They are great catfish, and they do have a certain (unique) personality.

Edit: TBTB (thebiggerthebetter) is THE guy to talk to about catfish. He's helped me out a couple times with issues I've had.


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The tank he is in gets fed on a daily basis. NLS pellets are the main feed. He seems to wait for the frozen food and gorge himself.
 
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