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Glass Catfish won't come out

5141 Views 1 Reply 2 Participants Last post by  Byron, 
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I've had my 29 gallon tank set up Since April. Its been cycled for over 6 weeks. I just added 8 glass catfish about a week ago to go with my 7 cherry barbs and 10 neon tetras. All fish are getting along fine but the glass catfish pretty much are in hiding and don't come out. They all hide in the hollow vertical piece of wood (see picture in aquarium log). A couple of them have barely came out for feeding and others wont come out at all. I have started dropping flakes down the hollow part but i cant see if they are eating. No fish dead or looking sick but i have not seen more than 3 at a time since i added them to the tank. My main concern is feeding them. How can i make sure they eat? Should i get a food other than flakes for them)

My two problems i believe might be:
1)not enough hiding spots (i am going to add some hornwort to thicken up a few areas)
2) the light may be too bright (i have thick water sprite so not sure what else i can/ need to do)

Maybe they just need to settle in. Maybe this is normal behavior. I was just looking for advice or seeing if this is normal.

Ammonia 0
Nitrite 0
Nitrate 10
pH 7.4 (stable since day 1)
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Byron
They may not be settled yet. This is a very skittish and shy fish, as it notes in our profile:
http://www.tropicalfishkeeping.com/catfish-species/kryptopterus-vitreolus-194753/

Lots of plants, and a good cover of floating, are the best ways to provide the "comfort" they need, and you seem to be heading in the correct way with this. Provided they have no boisterous or active-swimming tankmates, they should settle in. And not much water movement (filter current).

To deal with such fish and eating, frozen bloodworms and frozen daphnia work. Thaw some of either, and use a baster or similar to squirt a few toward the fish. They will likely gobble them up. You have to be careful not to get too close, as that will frighten them more.;-) This is an ambush predator.

Byron.
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