5 replies to this topic

[Westie]

I purchased 4 synodontis nigriventris catfish about 6 or more months back, and when I first got them they were awesome fish to watch. Definitely the most active of all fish in my tank. They would do swimming laps of the aquarium all the time. Really fun to watch, as they would start swimming in a normal upright position, then as they picked up the speed they would swim upside down and go really fast. It was like watching fish racing around a track (if that makes sense???)

Then a couple of months back, they only came out at night time or when there was food on offer. I see them hiding during the day in the driftwood, but they don't come out to swim any more. Is there something wrong? Or is this normal behaviour as they settle in? I have no idea. I'm thinking they may need more friends to encourage schooling behaviour like when they were doing laps of the aquarium. Anyone got experience with these fish?

Thanks

[Westie]

Ok to explain what I mean with the schooling behavior, have a look at this video I found on YouTube.

Notice from 38 seconds in to the video clip, this is what my 4 upside-down catfish used to do.

Now they just hide in the driftwood most of the day and I rarely see them.

Is this normal?

[Redevilz]

I have an adult Synodontis nigriventis and have noticed that he is a lot more active at night. And hides most of the day.

[Westie]

These fish were really active during the day though? Wierd hey? I asked the Fish Shop that I purchased them from why they hide all the time apart from having a feed, and they said it's probably something bullying them. They are very cool little catfish, and definately deserve a nice tank of their own. A while ago I saw that one of them had a really noticeable sunken belly. Didn't affect it's appetite though, and looked like it was swimming around happy enough. Well last week the one with a sunken belly finally lost most of it's colour and was breathing quite heavy, so I euthanized it to put the poor thing out of its misery. Took some photos and a quick vid to show. Will upload to photobucket in the next few days to show what I mean.

[Westie]

photo of the deceased:

videos to follow shortly

[Westie]

this is how the catfish looked when I noticed it was in trouble:

and here is a quick 3 second video of the fish in the net to show how cactus it looked before I put it to sleep. 

at this stage it was on it's last legs. poor thing