# is this normal catfish behavior???



## fish4berly (Oct 16, 2007)

i have 3 of these little guys all between 2 - 2.5 inches and they seem to be doing great...we just got them on sunday. from what ive read and heard, being catfish, they should want to hide and swim along the bottom of the tank most of the time. but for some reason they have been hanging out at the top of the tank like little synchronized swimmers. if one moves they all do the same thing to mimic the first one that did it. all my fish in the tank are acting normal and my catfish (lfs says they are shadowfin or shadow catfish and the pic is of same type) seem to be doing fine just haning out at the top. the only time we see them at the bottom is feeding time. they have plenty of places to hide and things to hang out under but not sure if this is normal or not. please help!


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## TheOldSalt (Jan 28, 2005)

This is a result of the way they were raised at the fishfarm. No, it's not especially normal for wild fish, but for them, it is. They're fine. Someday they may even start staying at the bottom, but don't count on it.

By the way, you can make most cats do this if you really wanted to. Just put them in something like a Betta cage for a month and then let them go. They'll stay cruising at that level despite being free to return to the bottom.


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## fish4berly (Oct 16, 2007)

thank you so much for answering! ya they are still swimming near the top of the tank but they do cruise along the bottom a little more now so hopefully they'll get thru the identity crisis and learn they are catfish! do you happen to know really how big they get because i've gotten mixed answers...they are in a 55 gal now but we're waiting on a 75 thats on back order so in a few months or so they'll get a bigger home and hopefully that will be big enough for quite a while. thanks again!


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## lohachata (Jan 27, 2006)

i am not really sure exactly how big they get..... 2..... 3...... 4 feet maybe..


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