PlanetCatfish.com

i am currently looking after one for a friend that has moved and is setting up a new tank for the catfish.
my question is the fish spends a lot of time swimming around and is extremely agressive it has tried to bite me on sveral occassions. It is 20" long, will it be able to do me any damage as i am concerned about what to do when cleaning the tank.
cheers
nolan

Maybe you could adapt a muzzle intended for a smalll dog? Or just rubber band its jaws shut, like they do with loster claws.

Of course, all this begs the question of how you're going to "bell the cat(fish)" in the first place. One of those mailed gloves that falconers and herpetologists use, perhaps?

Dinyar

You could dump a plastic bag or two filled with ice in the tank an hour or two before you clean the tank. This should make the fish torpid enough not to bite you.
Or you could try not putting your hand in the tank when you clean it.

My previous post was tongue-in-cheek (in case no one noticed!)

But seriously, I have a similar problem witth a medium-sized Heteropneustes fossilis, which is a poisonous fish. It is not as aggressive and active as M. nemurus, but one sting would be one sting too many, so I try not to take a chance. My solution is a simple one. If I need to work in the tank, I first net it, and leave it either entangled in the net in the original tank, or put it in a large, half-empty bucket till I'm done. This procedure may be more problematic with a feisty fish like M. nemurus, but it should still be possible.

Dinyar

its hard not to put my hand in the tanks as the tank is 8x3x3 so to clean the substrate isnt easy.
he is certainly a nice fish evenm though hes very agressive. the reason why i am worried is i have been bitten by a catfish before when i was feeding it and this has left me with permanant scaring on my hands.
i might try using a divider again but he destroyed the last one!
any way thanks for the advice.

Put on a rubbermaid household glove; the thickest kind you can find. They're "smelly" and any cat will really HATE the taste! First time, put it in the water, to let him nip at it; once he knows it's got a disgusting taste and smell, you can use it, I think.

Scarred by a catfishbite.....

Give him a nice big meal first. He won't be so aggressive when not hungry.

I've tamed my nemurus; he takes food from my hand. It's still like being struck by a cobra, though. A sensation you don't warn your kid sister about beforehand, having persuaded her to feed him chopped earthworms by lying to her that 'it's the only thing he'll eat.'

Nolan . My Hemibagrus Wyckii is also an evil cat, and although only 12inch he makes things hell at cleaning times. The L14 in the tank fears for its life. I would suggest trying some pond gauntlets, they are made of a tough rubber which is non toxic, and will go right up to your shoulders . Much better than marigolds as far as biting is concerned and not to expensive at around £10.

One other thing. <i>Hemibagrus nemurus</i> is NOT the Asian redtail (<i>H. wyckioides</i>). If you want to see what the real nemurus looks like, just look at the pics labelled as <i>Bagrus docmac</i>(!) in the Aqualog African catfish photoatlas.
Just a pet peeve.

I didn't know that. How do you tell them apart? The wyckioides in the Cat-eLog looks more slender than the Hemibagrus aff. nemerus [sic], which could almost be mistaken for the S.A. redtail. My critter has a red tail, but no red on any other fins. The albino wyckioides appears to have red on the dorsal and some other fins. I don't have access to the book you mention. Is the Mystus nemurus in the Manual of Tankbusters actually a wyckioides? It looks just like my cat.

The true <i>H. nemurus</i> lacks red coloration on all the fins, and is a more deep-bodied fish. All aquarum-kept <i>H. wyckioides</i> I have seen have only the red color on the caudal fin, whereas in some wild caught specimens, the red color appears on all the fins. My copy of the tankbusters book is on the other side of the Pacific and I cannot check, but I have seen <i>H. wyckioides</i> often mislabelled as <i>H. nemurus</i> in the aquarium literature.
The pics of <i>Bagrus docmas</i> in the Cat-eLog are from the book I mentioned (the photoatlas) and are actually <i>H. nemurus</i>.

I think the one in Tankbusters must actually be a wyckioides.