glass catfish

[corycatwoman]

they are a catfish but they never dwell in the bottom of the tank and like to be in groups of 6 or more but i have just 2 and they school more than my neons ever did.


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The glass catfish is one of the most unusual fish commonly kept in the hobby, and it is certainly the most transparent. All of the bones and the sac that holds the internal organs are clearly visible through the transparent flesh of the glass catfish. Fortunately, the glass cat is delicate enough that it cannot be abused by being dyed different colors as has been done with the common glassfish.

The glass catfish is relatively difficult to keep, but if its basic conditions are met this fish makes an interesting addition to a community tank — or alone in a single species tank. The biggest problems are that the glass cat absolutely must be kept in groups of at least six, and the fish must be fed frozen (or live) foods, at least to begin with. If you purchase only two of them and toss them into a tank with active fish, they almost certainly will not survive. This fish seems to have a decided preference for worms, and should be started out on bloodworms (frozen or freeze-dried) and freeze-dried Tubifex worms. With the glass cat in a community tank, be sure to observe at feeding time to make sure this fish gets some food.

The other problem with this fish is its high susceptibility to a bacterial infection, which shows up as a blotchy, opaque place on the fish’s body. Once this starts it is very difficult to cure, so it is better to keep the conditions optimal to avoid contraction of the disease. If there ever was a fish that really cries out for a quarantine tank, the glass cat is that fish. Even a 5-gallon tank will suffice. Quarantining this fish for two or three weeks will help you ensure the fish is feeding properly and you can also watch for blotchy disease so it can be treated early. A quarantine tank should be used for all new fish you plan to introduce into an existing tank, but for the glass cat it is an absolute must.

The glass cat has never been bred, even though there have been some undocumented claims of this being done.

www.fishchannel.com/fish-species/freshwater-profiles/glass-catfish-2.aspx

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i never intended to get these little guys but all i had in my tank was cory cats and a dojo loach and a couple of platy's and male guppies. so i got them to be the oddball to make the loach feel a little more better about looking strange. they have been in the tank the longest out of all my fish have survived through a couple of treatments with melafix for my cory cats. i would not ever suggest keeping your glass catfish inside of a tank thats being treated they are very fragile and hard to treat. if your glass catfish do get some kind of illness and need treatment remove them and treat them seperately with less treatments. these guyz have lived through male betta's gourami's platy's guppie's and they have reached there max size and have been at there max size for the last 8 months. im proud to say i have these healthy guyz and ive just recently purchased a play m8 for the couple an opaline gourami. ive planted a few more live plants and im planning to purchase 4 more glass catfish when all my plants are done growing.


thanks for all your interest in these invisable fish!

[Carl]

Thanks for sharing this interesting information & observations!

I never thought about the Glass Catfish "delicateness" as a reason these fish have never suffered the fate of painting as the Glass Tetras have.

If you are interested, you could right an article for the glass catfish for this page:
Fish Profiles; Catfish

Please use your own words, although sources can be quoted, they must then be referenced.

I would however differ with a few thoughts from the already sited sources and that is the aspect of groups of six. I have found these arbitrary numbers of fish that "must" be kept together rather subjective and often inaccurate.
For instance I have often kept Glass Catfish in numbers well under six without a problem (I also have had them eat a variety of flake foods too I might add).
Another example of a numbers "rule" would be that if you keep more than 3 Yellow Tangs, they will not fight, yet I have had groups over four fight to the death (& yes I have had 3 do just fine). My point is these numbers thrown out are highly subjective and not based on hard facts and often miss other aspects such as tank mates, tank foot prints, filtration, and much more (this is why I generally do not like the inches of fish per gallon rule, see this article: Aquarium Answers; Fish Stunting, tank size

Please do not take this criticism as directed at you, as I think you posted some useful and interesting information and I think it would be great if you wrote an article that includes your own personal thoughts as well, I just wanted to give my 2 cents about this subjective aspect of fish keeping that is often treated as a fact.

Carl

[corycatwoman]

thanks carl ya i just found a quick fairly accurate profile on them. and not to disagree with you on the numbers thing because i aswell have had success in keeping them in smaller numbers than 6 but as with all schooling fish that are known for high numbers if you have a smaller tank its best to start in pairs and then go from there. ive always started all my schooling colonies with just 2 at first to see if they will even get along with the tank m8s or even show typicial species behavior. where as you said when you get more than 2 such as 3 you then establish a pecking order which could distract the species behavior from the other tank m8s but more onto themselves.

but ive witnessed similar behavior in neons that i get with glasscats. and also similar behavior in platy's and guppies.

the thing i find interesting about this, is that glass cats are a catfish with unusual species behavior. and neons show normal tetra behavior. guppies and platy's show typical livebearer behavior. why do all these completely different species act almost exactly the same in groups of 2?

i found that after adding a 3rd of all except glass cats. that each species molds to a tighter more uniform school with strategic feeding patterns and swimming routes.

the thing that im sure will be different when adding more glass cats that will set them apart from the other schoolers that i listed above will be that they wont act any different then they do now.

the behavior that they show now only being in a pair. is that they will not linger more than 3 inches away from eachother where 1 of them goes the other is always right above or below. if there is aggressive behavior going on around them (mainly during feeding) they will swim side by side making them completely invisable from the side veiw i belive the one in front can hide the spine of the one behind and the one behind hides the spine of the one in front. very unusual but very neat i personaly believe its a 2nd line of defense in there nearly invisable bodies camoflauge im sure it will be more noticable and more easily studied in larger groups.


and after i read more reputable sources for information and get my facts straight from my opinions. i think i might just write that article for you carl!

[babygeige]

Thanks for posting that. Someday I'd like to try them, especially if they are willing to eat frozen foods. My tank right now would be too boisterous for them I think because of my Flying Fox. He likes to zip around and might freak them out.

[corycatwoman]

well if its roomy enough they dont need very much they like to be in tight little wads in your tank. im sure they wouldnt get to scared just gather together more.

[corycatwoman]

also will add my own experience with my pair of glass cats with the different overactive fish i had in my tank with them. ill start with the loach. if some of you have had loaches not the big fat ones but the long skinny eel looking ones. they have very sporatic behavior specially during weather changes in the atmosphere. my loach would do figure 8s all over the tank not just on the glass but the whole tank at warp speed and none of my other fish were disturbed they just kinda looked at him like yeah big guy is that how you feel?

2ndly my betta my betta would attack anything that go with in a few inches of him the glass cats would just disapear out of site and hide behind a plant they never actually got touched by any of my fish. with this being said i would recomend them for almost any community tank no matter how agressive your center peice/ over active oddball fish may be i believe with the proper numbers and tank conditions they would be more than accepted in any tropical community.

only fear i have is that your flying fox is a young one and may truthfully be a CAE but you probably already aware of that and if it does get any larger or more agressive i suggest taking it back or giving it away. i personaly find CAE's to be a neucense to any community tank and should be kept alone.

[babygeige]

I've definitely got a fox. I think I've had him for a year or so. I've got a picture of him in my thread "Random Fish Pics" in the fish photo board. He's a silly guy, one of my favorites. He loves to hang out in my lava rock.

I'll add glass cats to my "Fish to Keep Someday" list. I've actually got a physical list in a memo pad!

[corycatwoman]

haha awesome. also add butterfly fish in that memo pad. they need a solo tank about 20 gallons. and a really tight lid. and just put some dithers you dont care much about for they will get eaten eventually. but another really sweet fish none the less.