New picus catfish swimming at the top of the tank

[hit]

so i got a new tank, its been awhile since ive owned fish. ive had the tank running for about 4 days now, put two picus catfish in it 2 days ago. one seems fine swimming all over and the other is swimming at the top and seems to be flapping the gills alot faster then the other one. everything seems to be in good condition. Anyone have any ideas on what could be going on? is this normal for a new fish in a new tank? im thinking it isnt to normal.

[hit]

sorry if this is in the wrong place. im new and wasnt really sure where this post should go.

[Bas Pels]

Don't worry about the subforum - it's the right one

P pictus is a fish which likes to be kept with a group - 5 or more, not 2. Keeping them with 2 might result in too much agression amongst themselves - where 1 is dominant, having all the shelter, and the other best moves - which is impossible, and therefore stressfull and thus the gill flaring

You did not mention anything about the tank - is it large enough to keep a group? Does it have a few, or a lot hiding places? and so on.

You wrote your tank is standing for 4 days. A tank that new normally has a lot of nitrite - which is toxic. Another explanation, but less probable, could be the fishes are not as sensitive towards nitrite - one can cope with it, the other can't. Variety between individuals in a group is often found, but not this much.

However, stress from nitrite and stress from the dominant fish does add up in a fish - and that might be why the beta fish is showing that much stress, much more than other people see with only 2 in a tank

How to solve this? The best would be to remouve the fish - if possible. The second best? I think mostly about water changes - 50 % a day, for the next few weeks. Later the amount may decrease. The water changes will not help your bacteria growing (therefore the few weeks), but without this the fish have quite a large risk of perishing

[hit]

it's a 30 gallon tank, with few hiding places as of yet. Ive been doing alot of reading on this fish the past few days and am going to adjust the tank accordingly. I only got the two because it was a new tank and planning on adding another shortly. I used a friends test stuff to test the tank yesterday and everything was fine. Ill send the wife out to get some more when she gets up and recheck it. So the best thing to do is change the water everyday for a few weeks?

[Bas Pels]

The best thing is to give your tank time to mature. WITHOUT fish

If possible, get them rehoused
If not - start with the waterchanges, and add as much hidingplaces as possible

I would NOT get more fishes now, because the tank is not mature yet.

And feeding? not for the first 2 weeks, and then only very little. Food --> nitrite too, after all

[MatsP]

I would like to add that Pictus cats are definite bad as "starter fish" to cycle the tank with. They are definitely sensitive to ammonia and nitrite that builds up during the startup of the tank.

--
Mats

[laxation]

http://www.google.com.au/#hl=en&source= ... fe656bb3be

Make sure you read up on cycling your tank. If you can find Seachem Stability, put that in your tank ASAP and continue dosage as it says on the bottle. I have used it for my tank (put fish in after 8 days) and it has been fine, but without cycling your tank your fish don't have much of a chance!

[Viktor Jarikov]

Hit, did you seed your beneficial bacteria cultures or just are hoping they will form on their own? If the latter, then you may still be cycling in as long as a few months! If you seed, you may be able to shorten that time to a few weeks.

Is there sufficient surface area for the bacteria to grow on - substrate, plants (plastic or live) and most of all biofilter?

It is not normal for a Pimelodus Pictus to swim at the surface. If it breathes heavily, it may be that ammonia is burning the gills and/or nitrites are suffocating the fish, much like carbon monoxide suffocates creatures breathing air.

[Viktor Jarikov]

one seems fine swimming all over

depending on what you mean, it may be not fine. All over the bottom, darting between hiding places etc is fine. All over the tank is not fine - the fish may be instinctively looking for a way out to escape bad quality water - could be NH3 or NO2, or pH, or hardness, or temperature, or who knows, toxic pollutants in the water...