Question about Bumblebee Catfish

[Sasquatch]

We decided to order a Bumblebee Catfish (Microglanis iheringi) on Reptileguy2727's recommendation. We just got the call from the LFS and they should be arriving next week. :18:

We've looked around a few places and there is some good information, but we have a few questions about our specific setup.

1. We have salt in our aquarium (1tsp/gal), will this be safe for him? We can dilute the salt with our weekly water changes, so it's not a problem, but we'd like to know so we can start the water changes.

2. What type of diet? Specifically for the quarantine, but also longer term. We have access to Nutrafin and Hikari at the LFS. In his final home there are loads of snails for him to much on and out platties should be producing babies he can stalk, but we will probably supplement him too. Any suggestions? I was thinking little bits of beef heart and/or earthworms.

3. Anything else we should watch out for? We know that it's a scaleless fish, so treating certain things will be more difficult. But anything else?

Thanks all.

[Abbeys_Mom]

Here's an interesting article on them.
http://www.scotcat.com/factsheets/microglanis_iheringi.htm

[Drumachine09]

Just so you know, if you havent already heard this, you will almost never see him, unless you use subdued lighting. If you have a pair of live bearers such as platties or guppies in your tank, he will eat the fry are small enough.

[Sasquatch]

Just so you know, if you havent already heard this, you will almost never see him, unless you use subdued lighting. If you have a pair of live bearers such as platties or guppies in your tank, he will eat the fry are small enough.

Yeah, that's actually sort of the point. We only have a 10 gallon, so we don't want the platy population exploding on us. We've already got babies and they're not even out of quarantine!

Thanks for the article Abbeys_Mom, it's handy. What I'm most worried about is the salt levels. I looked it up other places and it looks like we'll have to lower the levels. It shouldn't be too much of a problem though, as long as it's gradual.

[Abbeys_Mom]

No problem, glad to help :)

[Sasquatch]

Well, we went to the LFS today and they have arrived. We'll pick them up next week once we get our current fish out of quarantine and the water changed.

Any recommendations about diet for either Hikari or Nutrafin?

[Abbeys_Mom]

I've used both. I prefer Nutrafin (price wise), but I did by Hikari for my cichlids. I think it depend on what fish you have. Cheap fish, Cheap food. $75 Cichlid, $10 food :)

[Fishguy2727]

Hikari Sinking Carnivore Pellets will get them doing great. Why do you have salt in there? Are you still adding it, or did you add it once and are still getting it out with water changes? Guppies and platies do not need it. If you have the tank setup right you can get it so that they hide in sight of you. What I usually do is just lean a small piece of slate against the glass and make sure there isn't anywhere else that is more appealing. They will be happy in there and you will be able to check on them. Do they have the wide light bars? (Are the dark and light bars about equal width?)

[Sasquatch]

We'll try to find those pellets. I was leaning towards the Hikari stuff, mostly on your recommendation from the diet article. Comparing the nutritional information convinced me that the price is worth it. Paying for the Hikari isn't huge and at 8$CAN, it's the most expensive fish we've ever bought thumbs2:, so might as well splurge!

As for the salt, it's for the platies. I know it's not essential, but most of the places we've read about say that a little salt is good for the platies. But now that were getting the catfish, we'll dilute it with our weekly water changes. It'll probably help our plants look healthier too, at least I hope.

We'd have bought it today, but we have platies in quarantine with salty water, so we didn't want to introduce him into that. The quarantine ends Sunday and we'll have enough aged water to add him in on Tuesday.

My girlfriend will be adding a few rocks for him to hide behind, we already have two others as well as a resin cave for him to hide in, so he should be fine. We may not see him too often, but we're usually around a couple of hours after lights out, so you never know.

As for the fish, it's exactly like the image you sent us from Planet Catfish (of which I am know a proud member:19: ) and apparently the LFSs supplier is from South America and knows about this species.

[Fishguy2727]

My platies bred like crazy with absolutely no salt. I used to think that salt will help most freshwater fish, but when I really looked into it I found that in general it will cause more harm than good long term, and it is usually only beneficial in tanks where other conditions are not ideal. Compared to how I used to keep fish a long time ago it would help, but with proper filtration and water changes you will get better results than if you use salt. The absolute best results I got with platies was in a 10 gallon when I was doing about 90% water changes with a Whisper 40. They got HUGE. The only platies I have heard of that were as big came out of a pond. All I'm saying is that I don't think salt is beneficial the way some make it out to be, water quality is more important and much more beneficial. I guess it doesn't matter as long as you are cutting it off.

[Abbeys_Mom]

Congrats on the new fish :)

[Drumachine09]

They are the fastest fish i have every kept! You gotta lovem though

[Sasquatch]

They are the fastest fish i have every kept! You gotta lovem though

Fastest how? They move fast?

What do you feed them to make them go so fast?

We can't wait to get him into the quarantine and eventually into the 10g. I'll keep you posted about how things are coming along.

[Fishguy2727]

They usually dart around eratically when disturbed from their hides, probably pretty stressful so try to avoid it.

[Sasquatch]

Well, I'm just back from the LFS, with the bumblebee in tow. He's acclimating to the quarantine and seems to be fine.

We couldn't find Hikari Carnivore Pellets, so I bought the Hikari Sinking Wafers and some Nutrafin Sinking Shrimp Pellets. It should to until we get him into the 10g and then we'll feed him some earthworms as a treat.

[Severus]

Congratulations! Good luck with him

[Fishguy2727]

I would hold off on the earthworms and all live foods. If you can't find the Hikari Sinking Carnivore Pellets you should get a varied diet of prepared foods such as those you have now as well as frozen things like beefheart, squid, and the like.

[Sasquatch]

I'll look around some of the other fish stores for the carnivore pellets. I looked at the foods in stock where I bought the fish and there wasn't really anything specifically for carnivores or fish with a penchant for meat. The closest I could find were the shrimp pellets. The Hikari pellets are marketed for catfish, but I more for corys and plecos.

As for frozen food, I'll probably get some shrimp and try to find some beef hearts (though I was cautioned against hearts by the guys at Planet Catfish).

Why shouldn't I use live foods? Is it a parasite thing, or to keep agression down?

In any case, thanks for all the help and encouragement.

[jeffs99dime]

with live food disease can be spread very easily, can create unwanted aggression, and can ween your fish away from accepting anything else. i know i'm forgetting something else here.

[Fishguy2727]

Live foods are the best way to introduce a vast number of parasites and diseases, are not even close to nutritionally complete, can increase aggression, are totally unnecessary if they will accept prepared foods, and don't really have any benefits that I can think of. You will get a much healthier fish and tank, better colors, better growth, and easier feeding if you stick with just prepared foods. You can use beefheart as long as you use it in moderation.