No Worries. For what it's worth I always fed mine a variety of Hikari sinking pellets, carnivore pellets, shrimp pellets and the large algae tablets. Their favorite is live black/blood worms, earthworms and nightcrawlers too. About lights, catfish in general hate 'em but tolerate them if given no other choice. In brightly lit tanks they're far happier if given a shady spot under or behind something like a large piece of driftwood. I don't use lights in my catfish tanks and they always seem to get active and hungry around sundown. I'd suggest turning off tank lights in the evening before feeding them and turn down the room lights as well. Try lowering the water temp and make sure there's high oxygen content which they require...
giraffe catfish not eating....
- Thread starter aharley8930
- Start date
Thanks for the tips i will try all of that. I have plenty of oxygenated watet and the temp is down to 78. I think i will keep.it between.76-78. He seems to He better today but i cleaned the tank yesterday and some of the fish eneee up getting ich. I don't see it on him but i treayed the tank and did a 25% water change.
I agree with literally everything 1bigdovii and yellowcat have said.
They are not picky eaters and good "sweepers". It is not unheard of for a not-so-small fish to take 2 weeks to adjust. Plus, indeed, you don't know what happens at night.
What do you mean by burrowing into the rocks? Under gravel?? They should not do that at all. If hiding in the rocks/furniture, that'd be typical. Give him time to adjust and grow a bit, he will get much bolder, unless tank mates harass him.
They are not picky eaters and good "sweepers". It is not unheard of for a not-so-small fish to take 2 weeks to adjust. Plus, indeed, you don't know what happens at night.
What do you mean by burrowing into the rocks? Under gravel?? They should not do that at all. If hiding in the rocks/furniture, that'd be typical. Give him time to adjust and grow a bit, he will get much bolder, unless tank mates harass him.
My old giraffe was a tremendous eater from the start as a 4"er. He was in a very mixed tank and I'd feed him through a PVC pipe until he was large enough to compete. Tank temp was 78-80ish. Is yours afraid of any of his tank mates? Mine always had other cats and/or loaches as tank mates which may have helped him feel more comfortable.
He burrows in the gravel likea ray would. The tank is 78-80 right now. He seems to be doing alright. I have datnoids, geos, .and.severums as tank.mate and they don't even act like He exists. Hes doing better now but i still worry. Thanks again for all the help
I find this highly, highly unusual. Can any other keepers confirm or deny??? IME and from everything I have read, they never do it, they should never do it. Makes me earnestly question the ID.
At least we know he is not trying to escape bad tank mates (but how can we be sure they don't harass him at night?). Even if that's what he is doing, that'd be extremely unusual too.
@Thebiggerthebetter mine used to burry in sand under decor when i first got him. But that was for a short period of time. If you check out the link I posted for him it says that burring is normal behavior. I just dont think they do it when they get larger.
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Indeed. Thanks 1bigdovii. Live and learn. Never seen mine do it but my smallest 3 were around 7" when I got them. @OP: please disregard my concerns....... especially if you are sure of the ID.
IT WORKED!!!!!! I waited til this evening turned off the lights wait 30 minutes and fed and He ate ALOT!!!! I'm so excited. Thanks you all for the help! 
Thats good news. At least now you know he's ok and you dont have to worry about him. Just feed him like that till he gets adjusted and then you should have no problems feeding. Good luck with him they are geat catfish, and can be easily hand tame.
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