Feeding Bumblebee Catfish??

Hey guys this is my first post on a forum so go easy on me.
I'm working with my first community tank, it's a 30 gallon with 5 zebra danio, 3 harlequin rasbora, 2 pearl gourami, a south american bumblebee catfish, and an amano shrimp and one assassin snail. Moderately planted. Everything is going great in the tank, my main reason for posting this is my catfish. I just caught my first glimpse of him since I put him in the tank 9 days ago and I am so excited...I was kinda regretting buying him before because I thought I would just never see him since he spends so much time hiding up in his cave. But that feeling is gone now. He came out for a few seconds at feeding time and managed to snatch up one flake of food. My question is this: what are some ways/things I could feed my lil guy so that I ensure he gets some food? This was the only time i've seen him eat in 9 days and although he looked pretty plump I am worried he's not getting enough food. I have high quality shrimp pellets and I drop a couple in the tank before I go to bed but i'm worried he either doesn't eat them before all the other fish get to them or he just may not even see them as he kinda appears to be blind. Any info on your experiences feeding them and maybe the way they see their surroundings compared to other fish would be greatly appreciated. Sorry if I kinda rambled lol. Thanks!!!

 

Hello there Zoso94, I have a very large bumblebees catfish that I have had for 2 years now. They can be quite shy and secretive at first, but be patient they will eventually warm up and be less shy. In the beginning feeding him/her was difficult until I started using a target feeder especially for it. I use a regular turkey baster that you can be at just about any grocery store. All I do is turn off the lights, insert baster with food, then blow food towards the bottom. In my experience they seem more active at night or when the lights are off.

Hope I helped.

 

That seems like a great idea!! Definitely will try using a turkey baster tonight. Thanks for the response, I love this fish even though I never see him it is cool just knowing he is in the tank.Although I do really hope he will eventually become less shy.

 

First Welcome to the sight Zoso, I've had a few of them over the yrs. they are primarily nocturnal, they don't really need to see to eat, if he is plump he more than likely is eating fine, they are one of the predatory cats and if he can get it in his mouth he will eat it.

 

I was worried he may try to eat my amano shrimp but I did notice he has a very small mouth. He is only about 2 inches in length right now...hopefully won't get much bigger.

 

That seems like a great idea!! Definitely will try using a turkey baster tonight. Thanks for the response, I love this fish even though I never see him it is cool just knowing he is in the tank.Although I do really hope he will eventually become less shy.

Glad I helped, good luck.