Question for other Silurus meridionalis owners.

[Logan487]

I have an 18" golden now, and almost every morning I come down to him sticking up like a flag pole, stuck to the intake on the tank. The first few times this gave me a mild heart attack, but every morning after a few hours, or if I harass him, he will go about his business. The only thing I can think of is maybe the anchoring with his rear fin is some kind of hunting behavior? Is this normal or is mine just... well... stupid? I should note he has absolutely 0 hunting experience as I have only ever fed him massivore or prepared frozen foods. But he has literally been upside down in the past stuck to it on multiple occasions, totally fine but just not a care in the world. After about midday he will return to sitting on the bottom but I am wondering if I might be able to arrange his tank in a manner to help discourage the behavior? I have several 6" PVC tubes in there now for him but he only uses those later in the day.

 

[Conchonius]

I do not have this species nor any other welse, but I have had other catfish trying to get into filter intakes and outlets. Possibly high-flow areas are ideal for hunting/foraging in the wild, or they prefer it because it's both well-aerated and a tight space.

Do you have any powerheads in the tank? If it's flow-seeking behavior, providing more flow might help.

 

[Logan487]

The tank itself has quite a bit of flow to it so quite possibly. Forget the exact GPH, but it was originally the return pump for a SPS reef if that helps. It turns over I think about 30 times an hour?

 

[Logan487]

I believe its about 2500 Gph, so turns the nursery tank over about 20x per hour. Still trying to find the stats on it, but with dual inputs on either end its enough they can hover in the water column, but also drift if feeling lazy.

 

[Ansorgii]

I don't have experience with this species but with the regular Wels catfish both in the aquarium and the wild. Especially the "smaller" ones really enjoy hanging out in weird places or positions. Especially if they are tight. Its completely normal, and as long as he doesn't hurt himself or damages something I would just let him continue to do what he wants.