Ok, I know that the only fish that is suggested to be possible to keep with an electric catfish are Syno species, but the guppy that was originally in my tank to cycle it is more than alive and kicking with no ill effects, and for the last few weeks the tank has been home to about 20 or so ghost shrimp, all with no problems as far as I can see. So I was curious, is the e. cat's electrical charge transmitted through the water, or does another fish actually have to be in contact with it's body to be zapped? If the latter is the case, would is be possible to find a smaller, non-aggressive surface dweller to keep in the tank with the e. cat?
Possible tankmate question for Malapterurus Electricus
- Thread starter rudukai13
- Start date
keep it on its own and get yourself a wooden handled net its only a matter of time!
a friend of mine at lfs recently got a shock that jolted him across the room into another tank and he is used to dealing with them!
a friend of mine at lfs recently got a shock that jolted him across the room into another tank and he is used to dealing with them!
The electric shock covers a short distance from the fish, so things dont actually have to be touching it. They will leave things alone if they dont consider them as food - i.e. if they are too small, but this could change at any moment. No animals are safe.
Over time I have seen young ones under 4" in tanks at pet shops with several other fish (3 occasions). In each case I asked the people working at the stores about the catfish killing their tank mates and was told each time that they had experienced no problems.
I have always kept shoals of guppies in with mine and never noticed a problem. I have never kept other catfish or other free swimming types in the tank.
Best wishes with yours.
I have always kept shoals of guppies in with mine and never noticed a problem. I have never kept other catfish or other free swimming types in the tank.
Best wishes with yours.
i grew one to 12 inches and he never bothered any of his tank mates...although when he ate they would all jump a bit. in the end he was kept with a 24 inch pacu in my garage. one winter day the pacu bit the heater and the next day they had froze to death becuase i skipped seeing them for that day. R.I.P.
Mine is currently only about 3 inches, bought it at 2 inches but they wouldn't sell it to me until I touched it - my arm still tingled for the rest of the day. I'm just interested in getting something that would be out and swimming around during the day, I had heard other people put Synos in with theirs and it made it more active, but even the Synos just hide out in a log all day. I might look into some more guppies, they're cheap and the one I've got has been doing well so far. The other one I was thinking of was an African Butterfly fish, but not sure I'd be able to find one locally.
Well...Woke up this morning and checked on the tank. All five tiger barbs were floating at the surface. I'm not sure what happened though, as the two blind cave tetras I bought from the same store and acclimated at the same time are doing just fine...The store has a two-day guarantee so I'm going back with the tiger barbs and a water sample to see what's what. If there's nothing wrong with my water (I don't think there will be, everything else is doing perfectly) then I certainly won't be getting anymore tiger barbs from that store...