Pictus Catfish swimming upside down

So I've had 2 pictus cats for around 4 months now in a 45 gallon with 3 giant danios and recently added a reedfish that I just had to get, all seem to be doing good and behaving well except the one pictus is ALWAYS swimming back and forth while upside down inside of the piece of broken terracotta pot as one of the 3 caves as so all bottom dwellers each have a cave to themselves, has anyone ever seen or had one that just didn't want to swim upright? As if it thinks it's a upside down catfish? Or maybe it's possibly mixed with one idk lol any help is much appreciated, thanks all!

 

Giving this a bump up for you hope our pictus keepers can shed some light on this behaviour for you

 

Giving this a bump up for you hope our pictus keepers can shed some light on this behaviour for you

As a new member learning to navigate this site and looking back, I guess I should have posted this in a pictus catfish forum, oops

 

oh just re-read what you posted. he's eating the bio film that builds up on decor inside tank. Normal behavior.

if you have a picture, we can try help identify.

My upside down catfish is not always upside down, lol. in fatc it's pretty rare. She just likes to hide in java fern or her cave. She will rest on bottom of tank on her flat rock I got her a few months ago as well.

 

oh just re-read what you posted. he's eating the bio film that builds up on decor inside tank. Normal behavior.

if you have a picture, we can try help identify.

My upside down catfish is not always upside down, lol. in fatc it's pretty rare. She just likes to hide in java fern or her cave. She will rest on bottom of tank on her flat rock I got her a few months ago as well.

Thank you for the help! It's just weird because it's only the one that does it and there can't possibly be enough film for it to always be in the same cave 24/7 I wouldn't think, and as for a pic lol I wish I could get one of that fish, it's the only one that I haven't been able to get.


Looks just like the one in this pic if you can zoom and get a better look, got them both the same day and they both swam up in down in the same corner of the tank for about a month and I then regretted the buy a bit until they finally settled in and discovered the rest of the tank lol mostly the caves is where they stay, the normal one peeks out a lot and is always swimming like a fish should, the other however still hasn't settled down and seems to have went from glued to the corner speeding up and down to upside down in a cave speeding back and forth, while ALWAYS upside down for some reason and it drives me absolutely crazy, I just don't get it and want answers lol

 

Definitely looks pictus to my eye.

the cave behavior is normal though frustrating. I do periodically remove the cave from the tank and force my featherfin catfish out in open but I keep the room nearly dark ( my bedroom) with little ambient light so the fish is comfortable.

The upside down position in the cave is to me a resting position. My kitty kat will just rest and balance in a resting state that way. It hoovers and does a weird balancing act near filter. Imo, my catfish is eating something there - I think bio film ( the slime you feel but don't see. )

Unfortunately these types of fish are a bit more reclusive due to their noctornal periods of activity.


Are you using tannins? I use driftwood & magnolia leaves currently. The mopanI wood I had turned the tank tea colored but last big water change removed it all. The catfish loved it. The piece I have is sharp in spots, so I had to remove it & have not replaced it yet. I may get another after Christmas. I bought my larger catfish a brick sized rounded , smooth rock to help anchor plants as it's grown so much. A Christmas rock, lol. deep red. since you have gravel, I'd suggest large rocks as resting spots. I have larger rocks ( size of a small fist) in my 38 gallon with my cory catfish. they love perching on them to rest ( off the gravel), so I am replicating the effect for my larger catfish in his tank - large rocks to perch & rest on.

if you've had him 4 months, he's likely still growing. He looks very pretty.

 

Hello again and thank you for all of the information, I know they're nocturnal and they do come out and act different at night when the lights are off, I can see their shiny little bodys moving all around the bottom of the tank, although the "upside down" one is way more skittish even then, I myself am not currently using tannins, maybe something I try in the future! Thank you for your insight. Much appreciated!

 

Well I thought the cat was finally settling down as it was not swimming back and forth and upside down like it normally does, got a good look last night, covered in ich now, both catfish but not the danios or reedfish, added the reed 10 days ago today so I'm going to guess that is the culprit, done buying fish for a good while, 3rd time I've gotten a new fish and lost old ones soon after, it all started when I added the danios and lost my Male angel to ich, which was almost a year ago I'd say and no ich since, doesn't make sense to me how the old fish die but the new ones live. No more fish until these are all goners then starting over.

UPDATE: reedfish has spots too, treated the whole tank with super ich cure, now to see who survives the next 48hrs



Poor fish don't know what to do with itself

 

Just want to update on this even though I may be talking to myself lol as for the one pictus that was swimming upside down, we may never truly know why and I wonder if I had gotten a 3rd maybe it would have stopped, and as for the ich treatment, as seen in the pic the pictus catfish got it pretty bad and that was 10 days after adding my new reedfish, which got the ich also, the next day after treating both pictus didn't make it, however the reedfish seems to have recovered quite well and the 3 giant danios I have in there also did not show any signs whatsoever with this being the second outbreak in the tank that they have survived which tells me the giant danio is by far the easiest fish to care for that I've ever dealt with. Lesson learned with adding a new fish without a quarantine first, sadley have now lost a male angel which I had for 2 yrs and now 2 beautiful pictus cats, moral of this update "USE A QT TANK"

 

oh wow, so sorry for your loss. I know it's heartbreaking. : (

 

a week after ich loss