Oddball_lover101

I have just bought two upside down catfish. They seemed active in their display tank but in mine they hid all day. One of my upside down catfish hides and the other stays near my heater. They will only accept live black worms, sometimes frozen bloodworms. How do i make them more active like in their display tank and how do i get them to eat basic foods like freeze dried foods, flakes, pellets, etc

Blub

How big is the tank? What are the water parameters? How many hiding places do they have?

These fish are schoolers, and need lots of friends if you want to see them active. They feel unsafe if there is only a few of them - not many eyes to watch for predators!

sirdarksol

Same questions Hatchet asked, same concern Hatchet expressed. As long as you still have room in your bioload, and as long as you add them slowly, the single easiest way to get most cats to be more active is to give them more friends.

Also, how long have you had them? I didn't see my kuhlis for the first week. For a month or so, I thought I had lost one, because it stayed in hiding. They now come out every time the tank gets fed.

Oddball_lover101

I've had them for around 2 weeks, the only hiding places i have is my big rock leaning against my tank where my bumble bee catfish lives, he hates fish going into it's territory and my clown loaches log. But how do i get them to eat foods like flakes, freeze dried bloodworms and pellets. I don't want to always feed them live black worms i want to change their diet.

sirdarksol

That's an iffy thing. Some fish (upside-down catfish included) do not take well to non-alive food. Try slowly substituting part of their meals for frozen. From their, you can try to get them to dry foods, though it may never happen.