HELP

[HELS]

Hi I have a red tailed catfish he has swallowed a suction clip and it is in his stomach. Will it harm him?

[Mod edit: Moved to correct forum and fixed "screaming upper case" to normal text. --Mats]

[MatsP]

Yes, it's quite possible that it will harm the fish. Fortunately, it's also quite likely that the fish does puke it back out again. Even in nature, these fish will eat "unedibles", so they have fairly good mechanisms to deal with it.

It is also difficult to do anything about the problem unless you can actually see the foreign object down in it's throat and you are able to pull it out yourself - you'd have to find someone capable of doing surgical procedures on fish, which isn't really the most common specialty in veterinary in the world.

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Mats

[Richard B]

They do "cough up" swallowed foreign objects quite often so it will need close monitoring over the next few days - you could also try feeding soft fruit to it (as they eat this in the wild as well as fish & crabs etc) to help stimulate it to get rid of the hard lump it has swallowed. If it does spit it out you'll probably need to do a large water change to deal with the "puke" which will quickly foul the water.

[HELS]

Thanks for your help i shall watch him closely.

[andywoolloo]

oh my gosh, please keep us posted. Poor fish!!

[MatsP]

I'm reluctant to say anything about the "poor fish", but yes, I feel sorry for the fish. It is a shame that they are available for sale, as they grow far larger than what is feasible to keep in captivity by 99.99% of all fishkeepers. The last 0.01% that have enough motivation, finances and understanding can probably live without further specimens being imported. But unfortunately, such restrictions in relevant parts of the world is unlikely to happen anytime soon.

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Mats

[andywoolloo]

i am always amazed when I see how readily available they are with no warnings on pending size on any of the tanks at the LFS's here.

I shiver when I think of their pending fate as I look at them.

They are adorable tho when small and BIG, I can see how it happens. So sad.

[darkwolf29a]

i am always amazed when I see how readily available they are with no warnings on pending size on any of the tanks at the LFS's here.

I shiver when I think of their pending fate as I look at them.

They are adorable tho when small and BIG, I can see how it happens. So sad.

Umm...Yeah!!!! I have wanted one these myself, but...instead....I've started buying smaller species. Frogmouth catfish, or chaca chaca's (I Love that name, sorry), banjos, farlowella...all very exceptable. I've seen more than a few of them being sold, but...unless youa re ready to give them the world...they are better off left to the river where they come from.

[Bas Pels]

The day before yesterday I saw one larger than both my feet behind each other - and I have fairly big feet, it must have measured 70 cm - at least

No warning tag regarding them getting big , or prize tag

[Richard B]

There used to be one in Bristol Zoo about 8 years ago (maybe still there?) that was getting on for 120cm - it was a monster! They also had a gigantic Oxydoras Niger.

[HELS]

Just to let you know he finally spat it out, the clip came first then the suction cap which he then tried to eat again and got it stuck to the roof of his mouth! He soon realised he couldnt eat with it in so, after a bit of thrashing about he managed to be rid of it

[MatsP]

Good to hear. Now you can concentrate on building a suitable indoor pond or finding a Zoo that will take the fish on when you can't keep it any longer

[SOBERKITTY]

You would think governments wouldn't let them be imported b/c of the potential of being released into the wild when owners are no longer able to care for them. Here in the USA we have had several species become invasive b/c of such a situation. The northern snakehead (Channa argus) from Asia is one such example. The sea lamprey is another that came in from the ocean ways and is found in all 5 of our great lakes. It's not funny when whole native species are gone forever b/c someone thought they would make a "cool" aquarium fish.

[andywoolloo]

i am so glad he spit it out! i was worried for him!

[HELS]

Dont you all worry to much at the moment he is in a 8 foot tank and in the process of building an indoor pool which will be ready long before he even reaches 14 inch so i would say he is one of the lucky ones, wouldnt you???????????????

[MatsP]

Dont you all worry to much at the moment he is in a 8 foot tank and in the process of building an indoor pool which will be ready long before he even reaches 14 inch so i would say he is one of the lucky ones, wouldnt you???????????????

Excellent - yes, it's one of the lucky ones, for sure. What size is your pool/pond going to be?

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Mats

[andywoolloo]

Awesome!!

[Richard B]

Good to hear that he's spat it out - it does cause a lot of concern to owners when these things happen. It looks like he's having top accomodation provided too!