Upside Down Catfish Health

Question
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Followup To
Question -
My brother bought two upside down catfish for my sons for Christmas.  I take from the name of the fish that they have an irregular swimming pattern, but one of the fish is not swimming at all.  They each have their own tanks and each got one fish.  He also bought them two types of small sharks (not sure what they are, just going by his word)--each catfish is sharing a tank with one shark.  One set of fish is doing very well; however, the catfish in the second tank has been laying on his side at the bottom of the aquarium since last evening.  The shark and guppy that live with him appear to be healthy and fine.  I am in the process of changing the water in that tank.  What should I be doing to treat this catfish?

Thanks so much for any help you can offer.
Answer -
Hi Celeste;

Upside down cats often hide most of the time, remaining very still. I have two in my 55 gallon that only move around during feeding time. Keep in mind that they also get very large, needing at least a 30 gallon tank. Sharks get very large too, so be prepared to graduate to larger size tanks if they are in tanks less than 30 gallons right now.

Just in case there is something else going on;
How long have the tanks been set up?
What sizes are the tanks?
How often are the filters changed?
What is the water temperature?

Let me know as soon as possible.....

Chris Robbins

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Thanks for your reply.  Both of the tanks are small (<10 gallons).  I try to change out the filters every few weeks or when they start to look fuzzy.  I just did a complete water change on the tank with the odd-acting cat fish and he is actually behaving more normally now (at least behaving more like the other cat that was purchased at the same time).  The water temperature is 70.  I did notice that the fish was bloated when I isolated him so I followed some of the guidance from the other postings regarding treating with epsom salts.  This is the first time that I have had anything other than just plain guppies or algae eaters in either aquarium and I could really kick my brother for getting the kids these different fish.  The shark or the cat in the other tank ate all of the young guppies that their parents hadn't already eaten--I had just gotten over that discussion with the 5-year old when I realized that I may have to tell him that the catfish was now dead too.  

You mentioned that these will grow to be large fish.  We had a catfish in the aquarium that was caught in a minnow trap in the local river--we had him for over a year and I was really trying to kill him.  He never grew to be much more than 6 or so inches long.  I figured that the size of the tank dictated how large he would grow.  We released him back into the river last summer.  Should I look a little further into the types of sharks these are or just start looking into bigger tanks?

Thanks again for your help.

Answer
Hi Celeste;

The 10 gallon tank is probably not going to be big enough for the sharks. Most of them get at least 8 inches. If you can describe them to me I can tell you more about them.

It is a long believed myth that fish grow to the size of their tanks. They may stop growing at some point but it is cruel to the fish to put them through that. They will eat their tankmates to provide more room for themselves, or just torture them until the others die. Then the fish that is too big for it's tank will become sick easily and die of old age way before it's time. Or, it will injure itself due to lack of space. Just not a good practice all the way around.

For tropicals, your tank needs to be 75 to 78 degrees. Get the temperature up and they will be more active and healthier too.

Upside down catfish get anywhere from 3 to 8 inches. It depends on the particular type. They are pretty peaceful, but very hyper and are also schooling fish so they should be together. It will keep them more comfy and feel better about their environment. They swim upside down to eat insects from the surface of the water. Look at these sites to find out more about them and to know for sure which yours is;

http://freshaquarium.about.com/cs/catfish1/p/upsidedowncat.htm
http://www.petresources.net/fish/catfish/syn_nig.html
http://www.petfish.net/Upside-Down-Catfish.htm
http://www.planetcatfish.com/catelog/bagridae/mystus/g_thumbs.htm
http://www.timstropicals.com/Inventory/Catfish/UpsideDownCatfishInfo.asp

Followups welcome

At Your Service;
Chris Robbins

Come on over and join us on the freshwater fish forum at About.com to get even more information too;
http://freshaquarium.about.com/od/questionsanswers/a/naavigateforum.htm

My member name is ChrisR62. See You There!