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Questions About Upside Down Catfish!

3K views 1 reply 2 participants last post by  iamntbatman 
#1 ·
1.Does anyone know when did a regular catfish evolved or become able to swim upside-down in the first place? Since,they are one of the interesting fish that I came to know about,besides some fish that are able to live on land for an extended period of time.

2.Some of my upside down catifish seem to be pale,but I do put bottom feeders food at night,but I do admit sometimes I forget to?!
 
#2 ·
Well, most if not all fish *can* swim upside down, it's just that most of the time they don't. My corydoras catfish will swim upside down just under the surface to eat flake food every once in a while. I imagine that over time, competition and other environmental factors made it so traits that helped upside-down catfish feed this way were favored and thus passed on. Actually many Synodontis catfish species will swim upside down from time to time; but the true upside-down catfish just does it the most.

Color changes in fish usually have to do with stress, aggression or mating, so I don't think it's the food supply. I know many nocturnal fish (like upside-down catfish) will go pale when you first turn the lights on.
 
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