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I have a pair of Pseudomystus siamensis (Asian Bumblebee Catfish) in my catfish communitty tank. Aggressive buggers. Feed em wit live worms,algae wafers,sinking pellets,vegetables and sometimes they manage to swallow the feeder fish dats supposed to go to the Pims in the tank. Last year around November, both of em lost colour rapidly and became a yellowish white. I isolated em. They showed no outward discomfort. Bout 2 weeks later they regained d lost colour. Now the same thing is occurring. Only of em has lost colour. The other hasn. I remember reading somewhere dis happens with this fish. Don remember where exactly though. Any explanations???? Il add some pics as soon as im able to get some.

What else do you have in the tank?

I have a coupla Marbled Pims , one tiger shovelnose (twas a pair but one was swallowed whole by the Pims) , a coupla adult feather fins , one Mystus gulio (U Id ed it for me) , a pair of cuckoos (need to get em ID d too) , a coupla albino pl*cos , a pair of asian upside downs, one rainbow shark , 2 red tailed rainbow sharks, one walking cat ,a coupla yo yo and coolie loaches.

Sounds like a pretty crowded (unless it's very large) tank. It might be the stress of crowding that is making the fish turn pale.

its a large tank (9 footer) but wat got my attention was d fact dat it happened almost the same time last year. i do remember reading an article bout the same very recently. Is anythin known bout d breeding habits of dis species????? any pre mating sign perhaps????

This is what I meant. He s shown great improvement actually. was almost yellow before this.

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Whereas my other guy seems perfectly fine :

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I would also like to know the benefits or drawbacks of adding moss to a tank as Im not literate with regards to them.

If you're referring to the pale areas just being paler than usual (which is about the only difference I see), then I see no reason to worry.

Cool man. I was getting worried when he lost all his colour. He s regaining it quite quickly. No change in his feeding habits. Eating normally and being his usual bully self. So its quite ok now. Bout the moss??? ANy suggestions????

Hi shovelnose

Even though it is a large aquarium, Stress as Silurus states, IMHO should not be ruled out.
Labeo species tend become territorial as they mature and along with this they can be out right hostile to other tank mates especially towards those that compete with them for places that they retire to.
It may well be that the Sharks, loaches and bumblebee’s are all competing for these area’s and that this is what is damaging the health of your bumble bee’s. The only sure way to rule this out is to stay up during the night and observe the behavior in your tank when it is in darkness.

Medaka made think: bumblebee cats around the world are all adaopted to slow flowing waters, with a lot of leaves in them, preferably covered by trees (hence their loloration and thus the name)

This is not the kind of water where one would expect to find Labeo, Asian sharks (a cyprinid, I think) or other loaches than Pangio

Could it be that the circumstances are not ideal for the cat?

Asian bumblebees aren't really found in slower-flowing waters. Pseudomystus siamensis is more of a large-river species.

I did that a coupla times Medaka but the sharks do not bother him at all so im guessing its ok they stay in the same tank. The loaches do run around here and there but he doesn seem to care much bout em. The only thing that bothers him and I noticed this twice is the Mystus Gulio and the other Bumblebee and only when they wander into his territory. But his behaviour is quite indicative of the fact that he is the dominant guy of the 2 Bumblebees and the Mystus more often than not is chased away rather quickly. Maybe it is stress. I think il add a few more cave lik structures around his territory and see if that helps. As far as recovery goes he s getting darker by the day. Im just curious bout this phenomenon or whatever it actually is. Thanks for the suggestions man. Il get back to you with what happens.

HI SN

I think il add a few more cave lik structures around his territory and see if that helps. ................................................................................... Il get back to you with what happens.

Would be nice and informative if you could keep us updated, maybe more hideaway's as you suggest may be benificial?

I have read about this happening before. One possible explanation is an eye injury. Catfishes that are able to change their coloration (and there are many) may have this ability impacted by an eye injury. I have seen cats that were blinded for one reason or another remain constantly in their dark or light phase as, without being able to see the light, they cant change from day to night patterns appropriately.
If your fish is recovering his/her normal coloration, the injury is likely healing and allowing the fish to "put on" its normal coloration/pattern.
-Shane

Thanks for the tip Shane. Il check his eye tonight. I know one eye is normal cos he is visible sideways when in his hideaway. Haven checked the other. I did add more hiding places for him but now he has taken over the other Bumblebee's territory. Its almost like they have exchanged places. Colour's almost back to normal. Eating habits are normal too and no outwards irritants I can see even in the night. Dono what this behaviour means.........

Checked both eyes. Seem ok. A strange thing I noticed is the pale Bumblebee has taken over both territories (of the other Bumblebee too) and is patrolling both constantly. The other guy has shifted places and is over on the other side of the tank. Another strange thing I noticed is that Bumblebee's dont seem to mind Mystus leucophasis in their territory. Infact they live quite cordially. Both Bumblebee s have an Upside down with em and they hardly seem to notice as does the other.

Is there any kind of stress. I have notices some of my fish seem to loose or change colour if they are stressed, if I see this happening I try to find the cause of the stress. It could be something as simple as another fish moving to close to "their territory".

Well David. I wouldn rule put the stress part but he s one of the most dominant guys in the tank. Thats why Im surprised. What Shane suggested was extremely interesting and quite brilliant actually. Maybe im not checking the eyes properly or close enough. The strange thing is after recovering quite well he s started losing colour again. This is one of the worst 'attacks' I ve seen in him. Do you have Bumblebees that went through the same or is it just other fish?????????????

Recent Pics :

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Hey,

it looks like - somehow - he (because it is a male) manage to reverse his coloration. Like negative or something.
Sorry I have no idea why he could do something like this. Maybe it is really about breeding mood?
If other fish are ok and this guy also acts totally normal then I would just try to take much better picture and send it to Jools as it is very interesting phenomen.

Regards.

Hello Worton,

Yes. His behaviour s very normal. He s eating blood worms and feeder fish too. He s been eating feeder fish since I got him so I dont think that could be the problem. All the other fish are fine. His behaviour hasn changed much either. So I really dono if this is a disease or an expected apttern. I say expected pattern cos the same thing hapened last year around the same time. This is when the monsoon sets in around here. But Im still not convinced this is a breeding pattern. Any other suggestions??????

Hey,

this particular species has not been bred in captivity yet as many other species from Bagridae family so there is nothing for sure as we don't know how breeding behaviour should looks like.

Shane has tried breeding but without success - I don't remember where I have read about this and I can remember something wrong .
Feeding live fish and relatively close location to his home maybe is a key ;).
Adding any medicines without knowing what is wrong is also not right so just keep a good eye on him and everything should be ok .
It would be great if you could add a female to this tank - just in case ;). Sexing mature is really easy.
Also what are your water parameters like Ph, Gh, Kh, temperature. How often do you change water, how much and what water (RO or tap?).
This informations will help in future if someone would like to try and breed this species and find this topic .
I guess it will be great if you manage to take better picture of this yellow fellow ;).

Regards.

Hello Worton

I never add medicenes in the tank man. 80 % water changes happen once a week and I use tap water. All parameters are fine and the temperature is around 26C. There was a soil test conducted in my house sometime ago and it was found to contain high amounts of iron . There s just so many things that could have happened. Isolating the real cause is proving to be tough. I would love to take pics but I have been outta town for a month. Visit only occasionally. Once im back for good il take proper pics and send em. And im actually surprised they ve never been bred in captivity. They don seem to be the 'fussy' kind.