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man i have a tiger shovelnose catfish about 10 inches long ... i know there nocturnal but mine always stays down by the bottom and only moves at night when the lights are off...( any suggestions ) .... everybody elses fish i see swims .... mine chills . i know there bottom dwellers but still mine just lays down 19 hours of the day lol flick the lights lol and boom hes cruzin i know there catfish but dang

That is exactly how it should behave. If its moving a lot during the day then I would actually suspect something is wrong, although they can do this if they are hungry and on the prowl.

As a catfish keeper, my tanks look probably less than half as busy during the day as they do at night. It's good I have diurnal catfish and non-catfish at all, because when I didn't my tanks looked empty until nightfall.

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The aquarist is one who must learn the ways of the biologist, the chemist, and the veterinarian.

Sounds like a perfectly healthy nocturnal fish to me.

When do you feed him? I think the best time would be just before or immediately after the light go off.

Keith

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i put feeders in during the day when the lights are on ... and he just waits till the lights go off. i know thats how cats are i just wanna see him cruz because his markings are beautiful

You could try putting a moonlight (a dim light) on the tank at night.

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The aquarist is one who must learn the ways of the biologist, the chemist, and the veterinarian.

What type of plants do you have in the tank? If they are low light plants maybe you can get away with not lighting the tank. It also depends on how much natural light reaches the tank. Do you notice more activity during the day if the tank lights are not on? Maybe if you get more floating plants for light filtration. Maybe if the tank is a little darker during the day, it will encourage a little more activity from the catfish...
Just a thought.

TTFN --->Ta-Ta-For-Now
Kelly ;o}

Nah, I doubt a TSN will come out if there's any significant lighting. You might as well not turn on the light at all. If there's a lot of natural light in the room that might even prevent the fish from swimming around!

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The aquarist is one who must learn the ways of the biologist, the chemist, and the veterinarian.

One possible way of persuading your catfish to be more adventurous is to provide deep shade. Since this is a 10 inch Tiger Shovelnose, and I presume is in a nice large aquarium, you'll have plenty of space for Psitia stratiotes, the Water Lettuce, which is a fairly big floating plant. Several of these could provide the shade your fish needs to feel more adventurous during daytime. Of course, this means that any plants underneath them will need to be low light lovers, such as large Cryptocoryne species, and for a large aquarium, you'll be looking at the likes of Cryptocoryne blassii (assuming the taxonomy hasn't been revised yet again). Any aquarium big enough to house a Tiger Shovelnose will be more than large enough to let you plant several of these, which grow to 2 feet tall, and look suitably impressive once fully grown.

Another way to make your catfish more comfortable during the daytime is to build big grottoes of bogwood covered in Java Moss and Java Ferns. Make sure that they provide caves big enough for the fish to feel secure in, and provide shaded areas under which the fish can bask, and eventually, the fish may well become bolder and more active once it realises it has a safe bolt hole to retire to if the outside world isn't to its liking.

Best way of achieving the desired effect is to obtain some large pieces of Mopani wood (a Google search for this will soon turn up a raft of dealers). Mopani wood is expensive, and it's sold by weight, which means that pieces big enough to build decent grottoes for your catfish are going to have eye-watering price tags attached, but they'll be worth it. Pick pieces that you can stack together Lego style, and if necessary, cement them together with silicone adhesive so that the catfish can't dislodge them and precipitate a disaster. Then, start cultivating Java Moss and Java Ferns on them, and eventually, you'll have a nice home for your big Tiger Shovelnose that may well encourage it to come out more often.

Combine bogwood grottoes with overhead shading from big floating plants, plant big Crypts under the shade, and you should end up with an aquarium that looks like its native home to the untrained eye, even if the plants are from a different continent.


Panda Catfish fan and keeper/breeder since Christmas 2002