My Bumblebee Catfish video + new video

'ello....
Well got back from the LFS with the replacement tiger barbs, so that my mr lonely won't be so lonely anymore. He is a happy camper now with three new buddies. ;D
They were out of oto cats and I saw one that caught my eye, called a South American Bumblebee catfish. Pretty kewl looking,,. so I brought him home!
and of course, took a video of him. What do you think of the new guy??? ;D
~ kate

 

Re: My Bumblebee Catfish video..

I would LOVE to have some of those! Very cool cat there!

 

Re: My Bumblebee Catfish video..

That is very active, when I had mine, it was just always hiding, that might be why it died though. I hope you have lots of luck and fun watching your new catfish.
Tom

 

Re: My Bumblebee Catfish video..

Thank you!
I did some research on this fish when I got home and found there are a few sub species of this SA Bumblebee cat, some call it a mottled catfish. I am still researching to find out which family this particular Bumblebee cat belongs too. The research said that they usually hide and not to be surprised if you don't see it for awhile. This cat did settle down after being introduced to the tank and I find it sleeping on one of the thick fake plant leaves a lot or it goes under the bridge that I brought home with him, so that he would have a 'cave' like place to hide out. Now I'm trying to figure out what to feed him:? any suggestions from previous catfish owners? I do have some frozen bloodworms, shrimp brine etc etc. But trying to figure out how to feed him without the other fish getting the food intended for him?
any suggestions?
thanks, kate

 

Re: My Bumblebee Catfish video..

I think I found some info on your catfish.

As for feeding him, like I said, mine only lasted a day with me, and it didn't eat anything.
Tom

 

Re: My Bumblebee Catfish video..

I think I found some info on your catfish.

As for feeding him, like I said, mine only lasted a day with me, and it didn't eat anything.
Tom

HI Tom,
thanks so much for the link. I found the name of this species of catfish, called a Microglanis IheringI of the Pseudopimelodidae family. So it says that its favorite food is brineshrimp. Now I need to find out how to feed it, so that the other fish don't get the food before him. He is out in the light today going crazy in circles around the glass, then swimming around the tank. He is very active.. I hope he's ok?? jeesh....
So will have to research the food, and find out where to get this brineshrimp for him, like fresh or frozen or pellets?? More to read up on! Thanks so much for the link, its a great start! ;D
~ kate

Re: My Bumblebee Catfish video..

I would LOVE to have some of those! Very cool cat there!

Thanks! ;D He is pretty neat... hope he makes it!

Re: My Bumblebee Catfish video..

New video on the crazy catfish! He is swimming all over the glass and doing circles enough to make anyone dizzy including the other fish in the tank that are watching him! lol...
I sure hope this is 'normal' behavior for this cat!

 

You could try and feeding it at night when the other fish are asleep.
Tom

 

You could try and feeding it at night when the other fish are asleep.
Tom

I had thought of that and was wondering if that would 'wake up' the other fish and cause some activity at night. Or would they realize there is food in the tank and try to take it before he can get it. I will have to figure it out, as he really hasnt eaten ( I don't know..) any of the flakes that I give the others. So I will try at dusk to feed him at the bottom with some of the frozen bloodworms and at the same time feed the other guys at the surface and see if that works.
thanks, kate

 

Turn off the lights early when you feed him and wait about an hour with the tank in complete darkness and drop the food in and he should be fine and the other fish should be asleep by then.
Tom

 

Turn off the lights early when you feed him and wait about an hour with the tank in complete darkness and drop the food in and he should be fine and the other fish should be asleep by then.
Tom

thanks Tom, I will try that! ;D

 

Have you tried sinking catfish wafers? You can hatch your own brineshrimp or defrost some frozen one's a put a bunch in the tank and he will probably get some.

Nice fish too, very colorful

 

Have you tried sinking catfish wafers?  You can hatch your own brineshrimp or defrost some frozen one's a put a bunch in the tank and he will probably get some.

Nice fish too, very colorful

HI Atm~
thanks for that. So I can find some catfish wafers at my LFS then. For now I do have frozen bloodworms and frozen brineshrimp that I can use. don't want the poor guy to get too hungry! yikes.. he may decide to try eating one of the serpae tetras!!! I will do as Tom suggested to wait after turning off the lights for the other fish to go to sleep then I will slip some of the frozen food into the tank for him. But like the idea of the catfish wafers! Gotta get me some of those!
thanks, kate

 

'ello....
Well got back from the LFS with the replacement tiger barbs, so that my mr lonely won't be so lonely anymore. He is a happy camper now with three new buddies. ;D
They were out of oto cats and I saw one that caught my eye, called a South American Bumblebee catfish. Pretty kewl looking,,. so I brought him home!
and of course, took a video of him. What do you think of the new guy??? ;D
~ kate

nice cat I just back from the lfs and I don't think I saw one of them

 

Our cats would have 'crazy times' like that too.. I think it's normal.. just recess for them or something. if you want to do a BBS hatchery thing, we're working on figuring out how to do it and not use up so much eggs at one time.
- this brand is by FAR better in BBS production. the package instructions would have you dump pretty much the whole tube into a gallon of water, but you don't need anywhere near that much.. we're trying 1/8 tsp of the eggs with almost 1 tsp of aquarium salt in a hatchery box now filled to just under the line with treated water and an airstone. Hopefully this will produce a more useful amount of BBS.

OR:
- Jar of instant BBS
- frozen BBS cubes - maybe at your local LFS?

 

Our cats would have 'crazy times' like that too.. I think it's normal.. just recess for them or something.  if you want to do a BBS hatchery thing, we're working on figuring out how to do it and not use up so much eggs at one time.
- this brand is by FAR better in BBS production.  the package instructions would have you dump pretty much the whole tube into a gallon of water, but you don't need anywhere near that much.. we're trying 1/8 tsp of the eggs with almost 1 tsp of aquarium salt in a hatchery box now filled to just under the line with treated water and an airstone.  Hopefully this will produce a more useful amount of BBS.

OR:
- Jar of instant BBS
- frozen BBS cubes - maybe at your local LFS?

Make your own cubes, buy a tray, use them up, then hatch some of your own, pour excess in empty cubes, freeze and poof you have frozen bbs, perfect for when you have someone tank sitting or don't have much time.

btw: how's your hatchery coming flbettacouple

 

Make your own cubes, buy a tray, use them up, then hatch some of your own, pour excess in empty cubes, freeze and poof you have frozen bbs, perfect for when you have someone tank sitting or don't have much time.

btw: how's your hatchery coming flbettacouple

you know, that's a good idea.. we'll have to go look for ice cube trays, especially if this newest attempt still produces more than we need but some reserve BBS is a good idea too.

well, I think we've tweaked it down to ideal for our needs.. we'll see tommorrow how this latest experiment goes.. unfortunately, our 1st spawn has turned into a disaster so we have very few fry left to feed.

 

Ouch, you using the hatchery?

 

Make your own cubes, buy a tray, use them up, then hatch some of your own, pour excess in empty cubes, freeze and poof you have frozen bbs, perfect for when you have someone tank sitting or don't have much time.

btw: how's your hatchery coming flbettacouple

you know, that's a good idea.. we'll have to go look for ice cube trays, especially if this newest attempt still produces more than we need but some reserve BBS is a good idea too.

well, I think we've tweaked it down to ideal for our needs.. we'll see tommorrow how this latest experiment goes.. unfortunately, our 1st spawn has turned into a disaster so we have very few fry left to feed.

Usually the first hatching is a disaster since most people don't know how to do everything properly, even if they read all about it first, real life is very different from a 'perfect world' book.
Tom

 

we had the usual fry casualties that you expect, but the decimation came from the vanishing fry.. 45 vanished. Our best guess is that the parents ate them. The MahachaI don't intentionally eat their fry, but we think that the fry just got accidentally eaten when the adults went after BBS that the fry were eating.. and we made plenty of mistakes with feeding that i'm sure killed some of the 18 that died.. too much hikarI first bites because of the low amount of BBS while I was figuring out how to do the hatching right.. I am just hoping that the 15 that are left make it and haven't been damaged beyond repair by my mistakes with the food.

we put them in a long rubbermaid container that we sometimes use as an emergency tank, along with the heater and sponge filter from the tank they were in so I hope that will do until they get big enough to not be eaten by accident. but we'll see if my mistakes cost us the entire first spawn.

there's almost no information on mahachaI bettas and i've not found any on fry care.. so we're learning some things as we go.. like to separate the male & female while the eggs are in the nest - not because they'd hurt each other, but because the male is so protective of the nest that when the female goes to eat the infertile eggs he'll chase her away and that can ruin the nest when she 'jumps' to get away.. and we have to separate the fry because apparently they can get eaten by accident.

it's funny - one reason we felt we could breed these bettas is that they can be in a tank together.. male, female & babies.. but still they have to be seperated for a little while at certain points because of non-aggression reasons.. lol.. just figures.

 

First off, sorry capekate for hyjacking your post.
Second, FLBettaCouple, where in the tank are the fry and eggs? If in the corner, could you not just put something between them and the parents when the parents feed so the parents don't eat the fry and when the parents are done, just remove the object?
Tom

 

First off, sorry capekate for hyjacking your post.
Second, FLBettaCouple, where in the tank are the fry and eggs? If in the corner, could you not just put something between them and the parents when the parents feed so the parents don't eat the fry and when the parents are done, just remove the object?
Tom

well this spawn hatched wed. morning of last week, so we just have had the fry swimming around since the parents ignore the fry & we never thought of them being eaten on accident, but what else could explain 45 missing fry? we need to find a breeding net with SUPER small holes since these fry are SO small, they just swim through dividers or netting. for now, I guess the 'emergency tank' will do since they have whatever cycling had gone on in the tank with the sponge filter in with them. the adults ignore their bloodworms with BBS around.. LOL.

 

Here is the net I used for my platy fry and the mesh is very close together, it is sometimes even hard ot see through.

Tom

 

Here is the net I used for my platy fry and the mesh is very close together, it is sometimes even hard ot see through.

Tom

thanks, I'll have to look for that at the hated petco (although i'd be shocked if they had it - I don't remember seeing that there before) or order it on my next DFS order. we won't be allowing a 2nd spawn this month for sure so have some time until we have more fry.

 

You should record all your findings and later publish a book on them, seriously. You could help people out in the betta world.

 

You should record all your findings and later publish a book on them, seriously. You could help people out in the betta world.

lol, maybe a book after years & years at it.. but I do think a site with mahachaI info could be in the near future.

 

That's a pretty good lookin fish...I prefer saltwater though.^_^

 

How is your bumblebee doing?
Tom

 

How is your bumblebee doing?
Tom

HI Tom
thanks for asking! ;D The bumblebee, aptly named 'Squiggly" is doing great. Tho we hardly seem him. He stays inside the skull decoration and when I flash the flashlight on him he moves around so I know hes still alive lol. When I do see him come out in the evening he is swimming around ok and looks good. Still wondering what he is eating and hope that he finds left over flakes that have gone to the bottom during feeding times and I also bought some bottom feeder pellets, shrimp. So hoping that he likes those. Actually I don't usually see them in the am so maybe he is eating them. I add about three a night, near his 'cave' and hope that he either smells them or when he wakes up and ventures out he finds them. ;D
On another note, we are going to the LFS tomorrow to buy some otos to help with the diatom problem and I really hope they will get along! I haven't heard much about the bumblebee and otos being together or how they get along so will have to do a wait and see. If they don't get along maybe I can put the otos in with the angels or in the betta tank. I don't have a clue if these species get along with otos or not. But seems that the cory cats get along with these species so maybe the oto will too?
any ideas? thanks, kate

 

we've had otos in with the bettas and they got along fine. our bettas pretty much ignored their zippy little tankmates.

 

That's very good to hear Dave! ;D So in case they don't work out with the bumblebee, maybe they can find a home with the bettas! ;D

 

How is your bumblebee doing?
Tom

HI Tom
thanks for asking! ;D The bumblebee, aptly named 'Squiggly" is doing great. Tho we hardly seem him. He stays inside the skull decoration and when I flash the flashlight on him he moves around so I know hes still alive lol. When I do see him come out in the evening he is swimming around ok and looks good. Still wondering what he is eating and hope that he finds left over flakes that have gone to the bottom during feeding times and I also bought some bottom feeder pellets, shrimp. So hoping that he likes those. Actually I don't usually see them in the am so maybe he is eating them. I add about three a night, near his 'cave' and hope that he either smells them or when he wakes up and ventures out he finds them. ;D
On another note, we are going to the LFS tomorrow to buy some otos to help with the diatom problem and I really hope they will get along! I haven't heard much about the bumblebee and otos being together or how they get along so will have to do a wait and see. If they don't get along maybe I can put the otos in with the angels or in the betta tank. I don't have a clue if these species get along with otos or not. But seems that the cory cats get along with these species so maybe the oto will too?
any ideas? thanks, kate

OK, so his behavior is normal now. Usually, they are all nocturnal and very rarely come out in the day, but he was just exploring his new territory and is now acting like he should. Glad to hear.
Tom

 

That's very good to hear Dave! ;D So in case they don't work out with the bumblebee, maybe they can find a home with the bettas! ;D

yea, you just have to keep the betta from eating their food. lol.

 

Very nice catfish. Wonderful videos.

 

Very nice catfish. Wonderful videos.

Thank you Paul,
and welcome to fishlore forums. You will enjoy your stay here as I have found there are a lot of wonderful people here with a lot of insight into fishkeeping.
;D

 

skelley

Very nice video. I too have the same catfish. I feed it shrimp pellets and bottom feeder wafers. It also has access to any Bio-Blend herbivore the mollies and coryies miss.

Is you catfish still swimming around a lot? Mine hides most of the time, just rushes out if it sees something good to eat like a flake the rainbows missed. I have dark gravel. I noticed your gravel is light. Maybe your bumblebee is trying to find a dark place to hide??

I also had ottos in the tank but moved them when I got a couple of larger, different species, bumblebees.

 

HI Skelly
they are very kewl fish for sure... But sad to say my guy passed away quite awhile ago. Just upped and died. I have not bought anymore bumblebee's since.
glad to hear yours is doing great tho. I love the markings on these catfish.
~ kate

 

I just bought two my self cool look cat.

 

I just bought two my self cool look cat.

Hello and welcome to fishlore! ;D
So you like the catfish? ;D What kind did you get?? They are pretty kewl fish for sure...but they do hide out a lot and during the day its hard to even see them.

~ kate