glass catfish struggling

djrodan

I just picked up my school of 6 Glass Catfish today from the LFS. I had to special order them so I'm very excited about their arrival to the tank. I have a 45 gal tank, water tests negative for ammonia, nitrite, nitrate... its been establish for 2 months. I have 4 corys, 7 black skirt tetra, 3 swordtails and a shrimp.

I have a couple caves that I knew the glass cats we're going to go right for, which they did. I just looked to check on them to find that one was pulled against the filter intake alive and still wiggling his tail like he was swimming. When I got him off he filter he started swimming nearby like normal, but started drifting towards the filter again with the current. He got himself stuck again a few minutes later so I moved him into the little breeder net.

I put a couple flakes of food in there but he refused to eat. I know that these guys are very timid and probably quite stressed from the journey to my tank, but still he is acting funny. He should be sticking with the others and be able to resist the water current, he is a catfish that likes current!

Not too sure what to do from here. Hopefully he'll acclimate tonight, but I don't want to keep him in the breeder box for too long because I'm sure that will stress him from not being with the others. He's probably not eating from stress, but it's his drifting into the filter that I'm worried about

Boredomb

How much current do you actually have in the tank? I know you say this catfish likes current but at best a gentle one is what I have read. Also not sure if that fish will survive as it most likely got internal injuries from being stuck to the filter.

djrodan

Well he's still alive this morning. He was swimming around the breeder box so I've let him out. Hes swimming at the very top at the quiet side of the tank not with his friends. The others saw him and he didn't respond to them at all.

I mean theres SOME current but its not anything aggressive. I mean my little hatchet fish (that I forgot to mention) seem to manage fine with it. The pull of the filter intake is very dispersed and not concentrated at any point. Maybe this guy was damaged from the start.... since it was a special order I picked them up straight out of the same bag the fish distributer sent them in.

Byron

It sometimes happens that fish will have been injured internally along the way from their habitat to the fish store and then to your tank. Stress can also cause what you describe. It sounds as if you are doing all that one can, so let's hope it pulls through. If not, will the store give you another, or a credit? Some stores will, if fish do not survive within a day or two.

djrodan

Yes, my LFS actually has a 7, yes I said 7, day return policy.

He's actually doing MUCH better, the next morning he was swimming around the breeder box trying to get out so I let him out. Later that night he was back to swimming alone and close to the filter. Immediately then I put him back in isolation, did a water change, then a medium dose of stress coat. The next day he was back to trying to get out of the breeder box so I let him out again and now he's swimming normal and schooling with the other cats!

Byron

There you go. May well have been stress. Or a minor injury that has rectified itself. When I moved my group of 7 Hyphessobrycon metae from one tank into another over 2 years ago, I had a real time trying to catch the last one, and I thought I had caught him against the glass with the net in the corner. He lay on the surface, on a plant leaf, floating for 2 or 3 days, respirating very slowly. I just left him. That was 2.5 years ago; today he is still within the group of 7, none have died, so I know he is still there, but no idea which one he might be.

SomeDudeAtHome

Very cool I'm glad he's doing a lot better. They're such cool fish I wish I had somewhere to keep a school of them.