I came across one of these little (not for long) guys at my LFS today and couldn't pass him up. I currently have a 90 gal. stocked with juvenile CA/SA cichlids which I am upgrading to a much larger tank in the next couple of months. I'm keeping an eye out for a deal on something in the 400-500 gal. range (let me know if you know of any, lol!).
Anyway, I figured this little dude would fit right in to that mix. He is about 2 in. and the cichlids about 3.5. I have a couple of other bottom dwellers in there and they stay in the rocks and wood mostly and the cichlids don't bother them. Not this guy. When I put him in the tank he decided to swim around the edges of the tank on top, looking for a way out I guess. He was doing a perfect impression of a topwater lure and the cichlids responded as you would expect. Apparently, this catfish had no concept of hiding. Inside of 15 minutes he had been hit by three or four of them, had torn fins, and was on his way out for good. I removed him and put him in a spare 20 long I had for now.
I keep my cichlid tank at the 79-80 degree mark...should I do the same for this guy in the 20 long? I suppose what I will do in the near future is move him to the new larger tank first and let him pick out some hiding spots and get established for about a week before moving the others. Should that work? Should I expect him to fit in and be ok or are these fish normally whipping posts for cichlids until they are big enough to eat them?
Damn...I put a couple of Feather Fin cats in there a few weeks ago and they fit in from the start. I really thought this guy would do the same. Any ideas or tricks for keeping these guys?
Anyway, I figured this little dude would fit right in to that mix. He is about 2 in. and the cichlids about 3.5. I have a couple of other bottom dwellers in there and they stay in the rocks and wood mostly and the cichlids don't bother them. Not this guy. When I put him in the tank he decided to swim around the edges of the tank on top, looking for a way out I guess. He was doing a perfect impression of a topwater lure and the cichlids responded as you would expect. Apparently, this catfish had no concept of hiding. Inside of 15 minutes he had been hit by three or four of them, had torn fins, and was on his way out for good. I removed him and put him in a spare 20 long I had for now.
I keep my cichlid tank at the 79-80 degree mark...should I do the same for this guy in the 20 long? I suppose what I will do in the near future is move him to the new larger tank first and let him pick out some hiding spots and get established for about a week before moving the others. Should that work? Should I expect him to fit in and be ok or are these fish normally whipping posts for cichlids until they are big enough to eat them?
Damn...I put a couple of Feather Fin cats in there a few weeks ago and they fit in from the start. I really thought this guy would do the same. Any ideas or tricks for keeping these guys?
