Raphael catfish won't eat :(

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PEANUTBUTTER

PEANUTBUTTER

Gambusia
MFK Member
Jun 18, 2014
127
14
18
Canada
So my stock at the moment is
1 tiger Oscar
1 red oscar
1 lemon oscar
(All about 8 to 9 inches)
A school of 6 bluegill
A flagtail
A jaguar cichlid
A jack Dempsey
1 small 4 inch oscar with one eye
My Senegal birchir which was suppose to be my bottom feeder but he's terrible at it, he hasn't eaten in like 2 weeks, so i bought a raphael catfish that's about 7 inches cool lil guy loves swimming around when the blue light is on , my only problem is that he's not really doing his job either as a bottom feeder and eating the left overs, I feed my fish frozen shrimp that I buy at Walmart along with some freeze dried krill and freeze dried anchovies, but the new lil catfish won't eat the shrimp, should I just wait and let him get acclimated or get another catfish like a jaguar cat or synodontis?

Also don't worry that's not my final stock I'm getting rid of quite a bit cause my tiger and lemon oscar might breed soon so I'm getting rid of
My Dempsey
Jaguar
Flagtail
Lil one eyed oscar
Red oscar
And my flagtail cause he keeps on sucking my birchir and the basted is too lazy to move.

So really all I'll have in the tank is
2 oscars
6 bluegills
Senegal birchir
And raphael catfish
 
PEANUTBUTTER said:
So my stock at the moment is
1 tiger Oscar
1 red oscar
1 lemon oscar
(All about 8 to 9 inches)
A school of 6 bluegill
A flagtail
A jaguar cichlid
A jack Dempsey
1 small 4 inch oscar with one eye
My Senegal birchir which was suppose to be my bottom feeder but he's terrible at it, he hasn't eaten in like 2 weeks, so i bought a raphael catfish that's about 7 inches cool lil guy loves swimming around when the blue light is on , my only problem is that he's not really doing his job either as a bottom feeder and eating the left overs, I feed my fish frozen shrimp that I buy at Walmart along with some freeze dried krill and freeze dried anchovies, but the new lil catfish won't eat the shrimp, should I just wait and let him get acclimated or get another catfish like a jaguar cat or synodontis?

Also don't worry that's not my final stock I'm getting rid of quite a bit cause my tiger and lemon oscar might breed soon so I'm getting rid of
My Dempsey
Jaguar
Flagtail
Lil one eyed oscar
Red oscar
And my flagtail cause he keeps on sucking my birchir and the basted is too lazy to move.

So really all I'll have in the tank is
2 oscars
6 bluegills
Senegal birchir
And raphael catfish
Click to expand...



Imo the Raphael cat is not a cleanup fish, besides that the shrimp may to difficult for it to consume. The Flagtail is sucking the slime coat off your Senegal bichir that will cause health problems for bichir.
 
All or most Doradids, including raphs, are literally indiscriminate vacuum cleaners when they are comfortable, stress-free. I'd think yours are not comfortable, or not comfortable yet because of the newness.
 
tlindsey said:
Imo the Raphael cat is not a cleanup fish, besides that the shrimp may to difficult for it to consume. The Flagtail is sucking the slime coat off your Senegal bichir that will cause health problems for bichir.
Click to expand...

Yeah that's why I'm getting rid of my flagtail, he's great for algae but I like my birchir too much
 
I agree with thebiggerthebetter. All Raphael Cats are very secretive Catfish which require a settling in period once transferred to a new aquarium, the bigger they are the longer they take to settle due to the extra stress involved in moving larger fish. Once settled however they are more than willing to show themselves at meal times, all that is needed is a little or in some cases a lot of patience on the aquarists part.
 
I only see my spotted Raphael when I break down my tank. This has been the case for the 10+ years I have had him.
 
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