Do you keep fish that you never or rarely see?

This might seem like an odd or even insensitive question. Some types of fish, especially many catfish, are nocturnal and/or very shy. For example I've kept quite a few BN's over the years but the one I currently have is the shyest of them all. She hides behind a lump of wood and rarely if ever comes out when the lights are on. On the extremely rare occasion that she does, she disappears like lightning at the first sign of any movement outside the tank. As a result I could count on one hand the number of times I've had a good look at her in nearly 2.5 years.

Nevertheless, each night I drop an algae wafer near her hiding spot and every week or two a slice of zucchini or cucumber. But sometimes I can't help but wonder, what is the point?

 

Of course, kuhli loaches. I had shistura loaches that would hide all day only to show up at dinner time. I have some synodontis petricola right now. They are not totally invisible but they rarely get out of the rocks and holes. Again at feeding time they will quickly come out to grab something and run back into the rocks.
Had a spiny eel once that I had to play hide and seek to see it. I don't mind having these sort of fish as long as I can see once in a while to know they are alive.

 

Of course, kuhli loaches. I had shistura loaches that would hide all day only to show up at dinner time. I have some synodontis petricola right now. They are not totally invisible but they rarely get out of the rocks and holes. Again at feeding time they will quickly come out to grab something and run back into the rocks.
Had a spiny eel once that I had to play hide and seek to see it. I don't mind having these sort of fish as long as I can see once in a while to know they are alive.

Yes that reminds me I do also have kuhli loaches that are rarely out in the open. I do see them occasionally though at feeding time.

 

Right now all my fish are able to just disppear, but that's more because I give them the chance to hide.

I once had a Synodontis sp. we never really managed to ID that would only come out at night and which I only saw three times by light: When we got it, when we sold it and inbetween only once during a thnderstorm, when it was so active we thought it was panicking.

 

My kuhli loaches of course! When doing maintenance I often see a couple of them at a time. There could be up to five of them still in there.

I also keep a watermelon pleco who doesn’t come out much. He sometimes has a little tantrum and he loves to eat carrot, but most of the time he hides under his driftwood house during the day.

 

I guess my bn plec but maybe I'm lucky as I see it every day at least once or twice.

 

Alejandro has lots of fish that disappear - he actually picks them out over others. Whenever we go into a shop he will always find some species of odd fish that's jammed up.a log crack or wedged behind a filter - also many of his marine critters are rarely out and quite a few burrow.

We have golden khuli loach that we see only at night by torchlight. Almost never see his spiney eel. Raphael catfish were very secretive but he lost them in an unexplained tank die off. He has weedfish and kelpfish that even if you find them look like plants. Maybe his favourite fish is his stargazer that spends 99.9% of it's time burrowed in the sand with just two dots (it's eyes) at the surface. Even when it eats you just see a goldfish swim over the eyes then vanish in a puff of sand. The speed is astonishing - one second it's a goldfish next it's disappeared- you cant even see the fish that ate it!

 

I used to have an eclipse catfish many years ago that would spend most of his time hiding. For ahile, it felt like he only came out when i was at work and would eat a tetra every time he did so!

I do have snails that i often don't see for a couple days at a time as they like to hide behid the rim and sometimes the pregnant platies feel like they hide for days on end.

 

My little pleco L129 in a 150 gallon well planted tank. Its always exciting on the rare occasions that he does appear though..
Actually I also have 4 otos in another tank, but for months I thought only 3 had survived, despite searching frequently for them I only ever saw three. I had bought 5 originally and one definitely died after about a month. Soon after another one disappeared and for a while I thought I would lose them all, but the three (apparently) could usually be found. Then one day, months later, I saw 4 all together.

 

This might seem like an odd or even insensitive question. Some types of fish, especially many catfish, are nocturnal and/or very shy. For example I've kept quite a few BN's over the years but the one I currently have is the shyest of them all. She hides behind a lump of wood and rarely if ever comes out when the lights are on. On the extremely rare occasion that she does, she disappears like lightning at the first sign of any movement outside the tank. As a result I could count on one hand the number of times I've had a good look at her in nearly 2.5 years.

Nevertheless, each night I drop an algae wafer near her hiding spot and every week or two a slice of zucchini or cucumber. But sometimes I can't help but wonder, what is the point?

I used to keep a fish that could be considered a rare find. The fish I am speaking about is a Jaguar cichlid aka parachromis managuanese. This fish was more of an impulse buy as the moment I saw it I was instantly sold on it. This was because of it grouper like shape. Unfortunately a couple months ago he was killed by my convict cichlid. I winded up getting rid of my convict cichlid after he ripped the eyes out of my pictus catfish.To this day I still want a second chance at a jaguar cichlid but unfortunately they have become very rare fish to find and its unlikely I will be able to obtain another one yet I still hope one day I can.

 

I have a few plecos out of 11 that I have that I see once a month if I am lucky

 

Not me. I have fish because I want to enjoy and see them. If I can't see them, they are wasting bio capacity that some other fish I can actually enjoy would use. I mean, if it refuses to bring me joy by hiding all of the time, then it is just a big moocher for my food! LOL So when I research a fish, I don't buy the ones that are known for hiding. But that's just me.

 

Not me. I have fish because I want to enjoy and see them. If I can't see them, they are wasting bio capacity that some other fish I can actually enjoy would use. I mean, if it refuses to bring me joy by hiding all of the time, then it is just a big moocher for my food! LOL So when I research a fish, I don't buy the ones that are known for hiding. But that's just me.

No I may do the same

 

I will keep invisible fish with great pleasure when they serve a purpose, like eat leftover food on the substrate, or algae, or snails, for example.

I wouldn’t get them just for the sheer pleasure of it.

 

Well I got my pleco on an impulse, and my husband was not impressed asking why I bought a fish we will never see, and one that doesn't even eat much algae. But he is nearly as excited as I am when it does appear!

 

Well I got my pleco on an impulse, and my husband was not impressed asking why I bought a fish we will never see, and one that doesn't even eat much algae. But he is nearly as excited as I am when it does appear!

Just because you won’t see your fish doesn’t mean it’s not an interesting fish! I love plecos and after some time they should feel more comfortable showing themselves during the day.

 

My little pleco L129 in a 150 gallon well planted tank. Its always exciting on the rare occasions that he does appear though..
Actually I also have 4 otos in another tank, but for months I thought only 3 had survived, despite searching frequently for them I only ever saw three. I had bought 5 originally and one definitely died after about a month. Soon after another one disappeared and for a while I thought I would lose them all, but the three (apparently) could usually be found. Then one day, months later, I saw 4 all together.

I also have otos. I bought 6 a while ago now but I never seem to find all of them. I ussually only find 4 if I'm lucky. lol. Occasionally see 5 of them. I know they are all alive though.

I think you should keep fish even though you might not see them all the time!

 

I think you should keep fish even though you might not see them all the time!

True though more than once or twice a year would be nice. I think this BN might have some extraordinary anxiety issues. I used to have a male albino BN that was quite often out and about on the driftwood and glass. I could try feeding her less which might force her to come out scavenging but I’d hate to think that she was going hungry.

 

Right now all my fish are able to just disppear, but that's more because I give them the chance to hide.

I should clarify: My fish are able to blend in the background. Even the cardinal tetras are hard to spot when they are positioned in the right angle. The pencils look like the twigs hanging in the tank, the Apisto's base/neutral coloration makes him look like a leaf of which I have a lot.
A few days ago I came into the room and didn't see any fish. There are 12 fish in there not even really hiding and you still don't see them. Once you spot one you suddenly see them all.

 

Oh and we have some fish that never see us - Alejandro has 4 blind cave fish - perhaps that's why we can always see them!

 

My dragon goby almost never comes out of his cave, but when he does he's majestic!

 

The juvenile bristlenose in the tank with a mat of subwassertang - any of the fish can go under the mat and get back out, it just looks like almost nothing is in the tank except some mystery snails (but I feed and boom! the green dragon girls come flowing out to find all the food, but they're green so they don't stand out lol).

I see my fire shrimp's molts more than I see it (I might see whiskers, but it doesn't come out except to steal food from the nems, so I tong food to the rock it hides under to keep it happy) and I'm sure it will be so much easier to see when the tank sextuples in size...

 

BN Plecos and Hillstream Loaches. The loaches do come out when they smell food and then they stick around for a while. I usually feed them when I have time to sit and enjoy the show.

I'm trying to create a little ecosystem, so if a fish contributes to that goal it's welcome. I went 9 years without cleaning the glass of my aquarium when I had BN plecos. I never saw them clean the gleass, but assumed they worked at night. They also wiped out a pond snail infestation I got from plants. I guess they were eating the eggs. At the time I had a HOB filter which remained stuffed full of pond snails for years, but they never survived in the tank. Again, I gave the BNs credit, but that was just my best guess.

 

I have three ottos that I really only see when I do water changes. They were fairly active during the day after I got them, and they'd hang out eating zucchini slices while I watched them.

I added a Siamese Algae Eater to the tank, and he was quite small when I got him. As he grew, I think he started to bully the ottos, which made them spend most of the time hiding. The SAE died about six months ago (jumped out of the tank in the middle of the night), but the ottos still hide out. Kind of bummed about that, as they're neat fish, but they're doing well in the tank, so there's that, I guess.

 

I have three ottos that I really only see when I do water changes. They were fairly active during the day after I got them, and they'd hang out eating zucchini slices while I watched them.

I added a Siamese Algae Eater to the tank, and he was quite small when I got him. As he grew, I think he started to bully the ottos, which made them spend most of the time hiding. The SAE died about six months ago (jumped out of the tank in the middle of the night), but the ottos still hide out. Kind of bummed about that, as they're neat fish, but they're doing well in the tank, so there's that, I guess.

A very similar thing happened with my otos, at first they were always out and about, would feed on algae wafers and zucchin, and go over all the plant leaves. At that time there were only some Apistogrammas in the tank with them. Later I added some neon tetras and pencilfish and after that the otos became reclusive and nocturnal, they weren't bullied by the other fish, I just think they didnt like so much activity in the tank. I removed the neons and pencifish to another tank some time ago, but the otos remain nocturnal.

 

Every year or few I do "Pleco rodeo" in my grow outs, where I remove or move cover so I can see all my plecos and get pics. Then I put it back and do not really see some plecos until the next rodeo.
I also have harlequin lancers who do not even like to come out with the blue light on. Their eyes look very nocturnal.
In my pleco breeding tanks I get to see pleco tails.