Can anyone help my shark?

dorio · Post by **dorio** » 26 Jul 2005, 02:32

I am new to this forum, and desperately looking for some knowledgeable catfish people to help me figure out why my silver tip shark (or columbian) catfish has stopped eating.

He is very small still, about 2", alone right now in a 16 gal tank that is fully cycled, 0 amm, 0 nitrite, 0 nitrate, ph 7.4.

His pal, a red sunset sailfin molly, who was quite bigger than him, died about a month ago, in the same tank, from swimbladder disease.

He first stopped eating as the tank was finishing cycling, during the nitrite spike. I was extremely careful to keep doing regular water changes daily until the spike was over, but I removed him to another tank for 2 days to be extra careful because I thought he was not eating due to the high nitrite.

He is back in the original tank, the water readings are good, he has not a single mark on him that I can see, and yet he will not eat anymore! I had been feeding him sinking wafers for bottom feeders.

i have searched the web and had a hard time finding anything about these cats. They are brackish, and I add 2 tbs of aquarium salt to every 5 gal that goes in the tank. I just bought a hydrometer today to check salinity, and it was lower than I expected, about 1.004. He was in freshwater as a fry and I have gradually increaased salinity, but maybe not enough. Is this maybe the problem? I am running out of ideas.

One more thing - he seems to be wanting to bury his nose under rocks or shells. I have inspected his barbels, and they look fine, as dose his nose. I see no sores or anything.

Sorry for the long post, I am just trying to give as much info. as you may need. I am stumped and worried. Any help greatly appreciated!

Damion · Post by **Damion** » 26 Jul 2005, 03:57

Could it be some type of parasite? I have one that grew up to 6" in freshwater before I traded it. Had lots of people argue that they must be in brackish from the start but mine did just fine in FW.
Seen two around 8-12" last yr at a lfs in strictly FW and was eating when fed.
Good luck in searching for your answer

dorio · Post by **dorio** » 26 Jul 2005, 03:59

Ok, well maybe that is one possibility crossed off.

Post by **medaka** » 26 Jul 2005, 21:39

I have in the past been responsible for looking after a few of these and had quite a few larger than yours feeding quite happily in FW.

I had been feeding him sinking wafers for bottom feeders.

try feeding Shrimp, small prawns and lancefish, they where part of the diet of the ones I had looked after.
&

he seems to be wanting to bury his nose under rocks or shells

It may be that because you are raising the salinity of the water, a natural process is taking over as it would be looking in these places for food in the oceans,and your fish is trying to find food like shrimp and prawns under the decor in your tank,

CEfire · Post by **CEfire** » 27 Jul 2005, 00:10

Someone once told me that aquarium salt will not really create a brackish environment and that Marine salt is neccessary for this setup. I am not sure about this but maybe this could help.
I have kept two of these fish in the past and found that they prefered meaty foods to pellets or wafers so perhaps you could try brine shrimp or some bloodworm (freeze dried floating bloodworm were my sharks' favorite

).

dorio · Post by **dorio** » 27 Jul 2005, 13:31

Thanks for your responses! That is news to me, about the aquarium salts not creating a brackish environment. I will research that more.

I think I will try some different food. I have tried the freeze-dried bloodworms, which I thought would do the trick, but this shark has not eaten from the surface EVER to my knowledge. Maybe because I started feeding him sinking pellets right off the bat. When I put the floating bloodworms in, he goes back and forth about mid tank, but will not eat the food at the surface. It seems like he does not know it is there.

I bought some mollies yesterday and put them in with him, thinking he might just be lonely. He is interacting with them and seems to be happier. He grabbed his pellet last night, shook it until a bite came off, then left it, which is more than he has done in awhile.

I thought he would not let the mollies eat it, he is usually very territorial about his food, but they eventually did.

I have never purchased "frozen food" for fish. Do you thaw it out before you feed it? And more importantly, does it sink?

MatsP · Post by **MatsP** » 27 Jul 2005, 13:52

For shrimps/prawns and that sort of thing, it's probably just as good to buy the frozen ones in the supermarket, rather than the fish shop.

If you think they are too big in one go, you may want to buy the fresh ones, chop them up, and freeze again. In this case, use an ice-cube tray and set up each compartments with a "portion" of food, and then fill with water and freeze (this makes it a bit more long lasting and prevents the food from drying out). Once they are frozen, you can store the cubes in a plastic bag or container.

Most frozen food with float, but sink when defrosted, so you'd better defrost it first. A cup of tank-water will do this quite rapidly, a couple of minutes or so.

--
Mats

dorio · Post by **dorio** » 27 Jul 2005, 19:23

Cool. sounds easy enough. Thanks for the tips!

dorio · Post by **dorio** » 03 Aug 2005, 14:12

Just thought I woulod give an update my little shark cat. I bought 3 mollies and put them in with him. (He had previously lost a large sailfin molly friend and was alone in the tank.) After a couple days with the new fish he perked right up. He is eating and swimming all over the place. I think he really was just bored/lonely. Problem solved. Thanks for your help, especially the tip about freezing the shrimp in ice cube trays to keep it from drying out.

dorio · Post by **dorio** » 16 Aug 2005, 00:54

MatsP, you gave me some great advice about feeding my shark catfish shrimp that had been frozen in ice cube trays. Do you use cooked or raw shrimp? Just trying to make sure I do it correctly.

MatsP · Post by **MatsP** » 16 Aug 2005, 10:25

I've been using cooked ones. If nothing else, because they are easier to get for low prices, and less likely to go "bad".

I'm sure the fish don't really mind either which way (probably more natural with raw ones).

--
Mats

dorio · Post by **dorio** » 16 Aug 2005, 12:47

I have fed the cooked ones to my cat (non-frozen)and you are so right, he loves them, so I am going to do the frozen ice cube tray thing. I thought I would feed him a serving once a week to supplement his sinking wafers. My only worry is that he likes this so much, he may stop eating everything else!