Thank's a lot!
Actually my boyfriend was suspecting the same thing (gravid female)... But we don't know much about this species so better to ask a specialist!!
As for the other fishes, they are well (3 platies)... No problems on this side of the submarine life!

Again thank's!

Hi,
A while ago we acquired a cute microglanis iheringi :D ...
At first he(she) was very fat, and we're wondering if we overfed him... (once per day, carnivore pellets, fish, artemia, calf's heart)
Now he's a little skiny... And so we are wondering if he's sick or something else or.. if he's ...

I would say that you have it right. If it is coming out and it eats it is doing well. Another thing that can affect it's color is whether it is on a dark or light substrate. They will do their best to blend in.

I think that your pH is too high for it to have it's best colors but I would not try to ...

We're also starting to think it's the sudden light changes.

The water quality is good and the pH, though high, is stable. We haven't fed him any of the food items we thought make him sick. There's no aggression with the other fish.

But the last two nights we've noticed that he's become all pale ...

I don't think it would be an aggresion problem, he's the biggest fish in the tank and all the other (4 platies) get out of the way when he comes out.

Someone on another forum suggested that it might be a shock reaction to the lights when then turn on. Could that be possible?

In any case, we'll lay ...

We're not sure what to make of it, but it's probably symptomatic of something.

Basically what happens is that at one moment our bumblebee catfish ( Microglanis iheringi ) looks fine and the next time we see him, he's all pale. Sometimes it's only his head, but sometimes it's his whole body.

I ...

Thanks for the advice and information.

I think we'll let him acclimate to the conditions in the tank though. We just finished getting things stable after a near disaster in December, so we're not looking to do large changes in the aquarium right now.

As for salt, nope, none in the tank.

Our tapwater pH is around 7.5 and it's fairly soft (20mg/L alkalinity). I was talking about adding "pH down" to reduce the pH. But since it's just going to go back up again, I'd rather it stay stable at 8.0 than constantly swinging back and forth.

As for the beef heart, I thought is was good ...

I know my pH isn't the greatest, but we got a bad batch of gravel with limestone in it and there isn't much we can do about it. I'd rather have a stable pH at 8.0 than one that is lower but always fluctuating.

I'll lay off the beef heart and see if it changes things. But I haven't fed him any in ...

It's a Microglanis iheringi and he's been in the tank for about a week and a half now. He still swims in circles, though it's less pronounced lately.

I know it's a nocturnal fish, which is why I'm concerned, he spends a large of the day outside the various caves/hidey holes.

Water Parameters:
Temp ...

I have a question about my bumblebee catfish. He's in a 10g tank, planted with Hygrophila, has two decorative caves and there's also a piece of slate leaned against the glass in one corner of the tank. He shares it with 5 platies.

He seems to spend a lot of time up against the front glass of the ...

Thanks for the replies and the information. In the end, we decided not to take the chance with meds and just kept him in the quarantine tank for an extra week and kept up with the 20% daily water changes.

We transfered him to the display tank on Saturday night and he's doing fine. No apparent ...

Sasquatch,
If you decide to use any methylene blue please do it anywhere but your display tank. I think that was what you mean but just in case...

Yeah, I was planning on giving him a quick bath in an small container and then transfering him to the display tank.

An suggestions about what ...

Thanks for the replies.

For the moment we aren't treating with anything, the disease (if it is a disease) isn't getting any worse and seems to be getting better.

They're small white spots, kinda fuzzy. It's definatly not ich and it's not a slimy coating. It seems to be clearing up on it's own, so ...

Hi all.

I have a catfish in a quarantine tank right now and because the quarantine cycled, nitrites rose pretty high. While I don't think that the nitrites cause any problems directly, he seems to have a little problem with fungus on his body.

It doesn't seem to be getting any worse, but if it ...

Well, things seem to be moving along nicely.

The only glitch so far is that the quarantine tank is cycling and the nitrites are high. But we're doing about 20% daily water changes to keep the levels down. We don't really care about cycling the tank since we'll tear it down as soon as the quarantine ...

I pre-soaked half of a Hikari wafer last night and once it had swelled, cut it into 4-5 pieces. He had no problem eating them. I also added some veal heart (nothing but the best for my bumblebee :thumbsup:) and he jumped all over it.

I think it's mostly a question of cutting down on the portions ...

I have a Microglanis iheringi , listed as the "South American Bumblebee Catfish" in the Cat-elog.

I tried presoaking the pellets last night and it does make them easier to eat. But they're still very cohesive and when they swell, they're really too big. I'll try cutting them into even smaller ...

I've recently acquired a bumblebee catfish and I'm wondering of the food I bought for him might be too large. He's only about 3" long, and won't get much of any bigger.

The food I bought for him were Nutrafin Sinking Shrimp Pellets and Hikari Sinking Pellets. He seem to like both and jumps on them ...

Well, we picked him up today and all seems fine. He spent some time swimming all around the tank at first, but has since calmed down.

I ended up buying some shrimp pellets as well as another type of sinking pellet. They're marketed for catfish, but more corys and plecos. Are they still good for a ...

Thanks, I'd seen the article as well as the Cat-elog entry, both of which were quite useful.

I was just wondering about the experiences of other who have had this species or something related, specifically what they feed them or what I should look for in a good artificial diet.

The only experience ...

Thanks for the information. We just came back from the local fish store and our fish have arrived. We should pick them up early next week.

Any recommendations as to fresh foods? We'd like to vary the diet and feed him something other than prepared pellets.

We decided to order a Bumblebee Catfish (Microglanis iheringi) and we just got a call from the LFS and they should be arriving next week. :D

We've looked around a few places and there is some good information, but we have a few questions about our specific setup.

1. We have salt in our aquarium ...