channel catfish difficulties,this isnt a rookie thing

wizkidd26 · Post by **wizkidd26** » 06 Mar 2004, 01:00

I feel kind of embarassed posting here. I consider myself an expert on channel catfish as I've raised two of them past 36 inches. I recently acquired a 6 to 8 inch channel catfish from my LFS. It won't eat anything. I tried pellets, chopped earthworms, minnows, recently dead minnows, cut up minnows and various catfish baits such as dough baits (my financee won't permit me to try stinkbait). It shows ZERO interest in the food, it prefers to sit in the fake plants and won't move unless I shine my flashlight at it, even at night. Granted the tank doesnt have a lot of cover since my northern pike doesn't like anything in it, but it shouldn't be a problem.
As for the tank, it is a 500 gallon tank that measures eight feet long, four feet wide, and two feet tall. Parameters are, Ammonia - ZERO, Nitrate - 5 or less (ppm) *5 was the lowest level my chart had*, Nitrite - .5 (ppm) could use some work, pH - 7.0. I know this is not enough to cause the catfish to not eat. The tank is not heated, it's about in the mid-60's.
I had my other catfish in much much worse conditions (I actually put soap in the water to clean the algae off, a rookie mistake, I know, but they all lived, the feeder goldfish died.). Right now, the catfish doesn't look bad at all, except for his belly being slightly smaller than when I got him (approx. 4 to 5 days ago). Anybody have any ideas of what to try next? I'm considering force feeding him, but I don't want to get speared.

Post by **Silurus** » 06 Mar 2004, 02:58

Maybe you should wait a few days for it to acclimatize to the tank before trying to feed it again. After all, new introductions are known not to feed for up to two weeks.

characinkid · Post by **characinkid** » 06 Mar 2004, 11:46

I would wait for a least a couple of days before you get too worried, a healthy catfish can go for weeks without food.

I would NEVER force feed a catfish... I think that you will do more harm than good doing that.

wizkidd26 · Post by **wizkidd26** » 18 Mar 2004, 20:53

Alright...FINALLY...I'm back. I had problems with my computer and the server. Ok...updates...the little guy hasn't fed at all in two weeks. I'm getting worried, when I look at his stomach, it is obviously sunken in a little bit, nothing as bad as I've seen in pet stores. So far, the feeders (for the northern pike) and the pike have left the catfish alone.

Silurus - maybe for other catfish that are sensitive, they won't eat for two weeks. But this is a channel catfish, these things can practically live in toilet water. It should have only taken him/her two days to get used to the tank (that is what happened with my other batch from before). The catfish should be eating like a pig with all the chopped nightcrawlers and various foods I've given him/her.

Characinkid - I do know a healthy catfish can go for weeks without food. But this is a little guy, they need food to grow. And quite frankly when I got him he didn't exactly look like the catfish model of health but I thought that was because they didn't feed him well. Force feeding him won't hurt him/her if you do it correctly and gently.