Catfish and shark

Question
I recently bought several fish, two of which include a blackfin shark and a pimelodus pictus catfish. I had thought that both of these were bottom of the tank fish however, ever since they have been in the tank they have stayed at the top of the tank except during feeding. If they come down at all it is for a very short time and they also occupy a very small area of the 50 gal. tank where they pretty much swim in circles or back and forth. Is this normal behavior?

Answer
HiYa!

Sometimes new fish take awhile to settle into their new environments/tanks.

For example we bought two salmontail catfish about a month ago, we bought a huge 6ft x 2ft x 2ft tank to keep them in cause they grow fairly large and yet all they do is swim up and down one side of the tank lol, we may as well have put them in a 4ft x 2ft x 2ft for the amount of space they take up but over time, once they settle, they will start swimming around the rest of the tank.

My suggestion would be to just give them time, I know it's frustrating when you have bought them a big tank to swim around in but as long as they are content and happy, there is no problem with them doing what they are doing!

Hope this helps!

Cheers! Rach