I have a South American bumblebee catfish (Microglanis Iheringi) in our 10 gallon community tank. This was a good example of buying a fish on looks without really understanding its behavior. I thought the fish looked neat, sort of the archetypical catfish look, as seen in this picture linked from planetcatfish...
I did check out the facts that it was peaceful and only grew to the 2"-3" range before purchase, but info on its behavior was scanty.
What I discovered was that this fish was very nocturnal and hid in rocky crevices most of the rest of the time. Therefore, we rarely see him. For a while, we could catch a glimpse of his tail as it hung out of his original hidey hole but he found another one that hid him entirely. If we flip on the light at night we can catch him out and he'll swim about rapidly in circles making his way back to his hole. Another time he'll move out of his hole is during water changes only at this time he's usually sitting still just outside the hole.
To feed him we'll drop in a few frozen bloodworms or shrimp pellets near his hole before lights out. Since he's grown slightly and seems to be in good health as best we can tell, we assume he's eating well.
Does anyone else have one of these interesting, yet rarely seen in your tank, catfish?
I did check out the facts that it was peaceful and only grew to the 2"-3" range before purchase, but info on its behavior was scanty.
What I discovered was that this fish was very nocturnal and hid in rocky crevices most of the rest of the time. Therefore, we rarely see him. For a while, we could catch a glimpse of his tail as it hung out of his original hidey hole but he found another one that hid him entirely. If we flip on the light at night we can catch him out and he'll swim about rapidly in circles making his way back to his hole. Another time he'll move out of his hole is during water changes only at this time he's usually sitting still just outside the hole.
To feed him we'll drop in a few frozen bloodworms or shrimp pellets near his hole before lights out. Since he's grown slightly and seems to be in good health as best we can tell, we assume he's eating well.
Does anyone else have one of these interesting, yet rarely seen in your tank, catfish?