Beggining to worry

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Fishman1995

Superstar Fish
#1
May 11, 2010
1,341
0
0
North Carolina
#1
I bought 2 of what i thought were South American Bumblebee Catfish. They were just labeled as Bumblebee cat's but they looked like the South American variety so i got them but........last night, one was in his log and the other was zipping around the tank, everytime zipper (the zippy ones name) entered Rojo's log, Rojo would lock jaws with him and push him out and chase him off! Now from what ive read they are supposed to be peaceful and thats not what i call peaceful :p Can anyone offer some advice or what they think.

Also id like to add neither has eaten since i brought them on, they had just arrived in the petstore night before last, so is it just skittishness or what?
 

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Fishman1995

Superstar Fish
#3
May 11, 2010
1,341
0
0
North Carolina
#3
Well they were in one huge group in a cave at the store except 1 on the outside swimming, so idk why there doing this but this morning one is in the log and the other is in the cave so i guess they deicided not to like each other :D
 

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OrangeCones

Elite Fish
#5
Feb 27, 2009
4,395
0
36
#5
Microglanis iheringi, according to this link, need 20 gallons for 1 and 10 gallons for each addtional fish. It may be that they are too crowded in the tank.

Bumblebee Catfish - Microglanis iheringi

It may be that they are the more aggressive Asian bumblebee catfish, Pseudomystus siamensis. They are intolorant of their own kind in close quarters.

Do your catfish have a pair of barbles in front of the eyes?

Both species are known to ambush smaller fish during the night when they hunt.
 

Last edited:
Newman

Newman

Elite Fish
#8
Sep 22, 2009
4,668
0
0
Northern NJ
#8
both cats look like the correct small variety, i think youre ok. a bigger tank may benefit them. your problem sounds like only one suitable hiding spot for the catfish. get another large log or cave for your other catfish to claim as his own territory.
 

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Fishman1995

Superstar Fish
#10
May 11, 2010
1,341
0
0
North Carolina
#10
They have both been identified as the Dwarf South American Bumblebee catfish. The issue was the big cave i had in there was to high up of an entrance for Zippy to get in so i switched the cave with the one in my 5 gallon and now Zippy has been hiding in his own cave all day and more good news is they both just ate :D But i will not be getting anymore of those because they are territorial :/ Il just do something different maybe some cory's or maybe a small pleco species. I also find it weird that only Rojo does the attacking, Rojo entered Zippy's cave once, swam right by him and right out back to his log, Zippy did nothing???
 

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Fishman1995

Superstar Fish
#14
May 11, 2010
1,341
0
0
North Carolina
#14
I went and took a few pictures they have 6 Barbels is all i know and 2 are beside the mouth, 1 set right below and 1 set at the very bottom. The first pic is of Zippy in his little cave at the very back in that indention the rest are of Rojo since i can get the best closeup of him. You may not be able to tell about the Barbels. If any other closeup can help let me know.
 

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