Bumblebee Catfish

[LostFisher]

Well I will make this short as possible. I recieved 2 bumblebee catfish as a gift a few days back, they are black with tan stripes. They where about 2 inches in length. The minute I put them in the tank they started fighting each other. I mean it looked like a shark attacking somthing. These 2 fish went at it for a good while before I could net one of them. I returned one to the local fish store. The next morning I woke up to find my rescued Betta was not looking so well. He has visible cuts on his side, I would deffinatly say it was a attack. Sadly later on that day my Betta passed away. The next morning I woke up to see one of my guppies not using his back tail, kinda hovering towards the top. A few hours later all of the color was drained from his body and he was dead. I could not see any bite marks, maybe his dorsal fin had a bite but it was hard to tell. After that I pulled out the cursed catfish and put him in a smaller bowl. I am guessing at night the catfish wakes up and then goes on the prowl attacking at leisure.

I guess my question is do you think I can return that catfish, it has been several days. Under no circumstance will I be putting that darn thing back in my aquarium. Heck I was close to walking it out to my local fish pond and letting the bluegills and bass play with him... Anyways can anyone give me some ideas on what to do with this evil fish?

Thanks

LF

 

[brianfl]

There are several kinds of bumblebee catfish. For the most part they aren't aggressive. With your black/yellow description, I would think it would be the asian variety. You may want to check lfs's to see if they will take him off your hands. These catfish are pretty popular so I don't think you will have a problem.

 

[LostFisher]

So is there a possibility it is not the catfish? Its deffinatly the Asian Bumblebee. I find it hard to believe it is not the catfish just because everything was ok before he was added. The betta was without a doubt physically assaulted, the guppy is iffy. I only had 3 guppies, 2 catfish, a pleco and the betta. Now I have 2 guppies and 1 pleco. I am thinking of getting 2 cories and maybe 2 more guppies and seeing how that goes.

Thanks


LF

 

[brianfl]

Well the circumstances sure point to the catfish. Generally, they are not real aggressive, although it doesn't surprise me that they are to their own kind. The other events are somewhat strange because bumblebees like most catfish will eat what they can fit in their mouth. You may want to look up the profile on Planet Catfish and even check the user forums as their are very knowledgeable catfish experts there.

 

[andruboz]

the words that stuck in my mind were "smaller bowl" you mean the other fish are in a larger bowl?

the cats love to hide in caves and feed at night. so not having a hiding place would stress them and maybe make them psychotic, and not having some chow on the bottom of the tank might make them look for food sleeping elsewhere in the tank.

some shrimp pellets at bedtime would make sure they had something on the bottom to eat. '

i have cats that wedge themselves into the tightest of fake stumps. and even after the stump must be half full of catfish poop, i pull the stump out to clean it and they are fat and healthy. cant figure that one out.