PlanetCatfish.com

Hi all,

I recently bought a Sturisoma barbatum (thats what the label in the shop said). I have done some research on the net and found out what he likes to eat etc. I have placed cabbage, courette (zucchini) and peas in the tank, and fed with sinking wafers but I have not seen any evidence that my fish has eaten any of these.

The other fish in my tank are: 3 albino red tailed sharks, 4 rainbows, 1 ghost knife, and a spotted raphael catfish. I haven't seen any of these other fish bullying my Sturisoma. My tank has many plants, and I'm hoping he's eating those, as I haven't seen any evidence that he's eaten anything else since I bought him 2 weeks ago.

The nitrite levels are 0, and the nitrate level is 20. I remove the old food each day and replace is with new.

If anyone has any ideas, or can put my mind at rest I would be very grateful. I know this fish is nocturnal and probably will eat at night, but it's difficult to tell if he is healthy because he doesn't swim around like other fish!

Thanks for any replys,

Ali

If you can, look at the belly. If it is still rounded and not sunken in (a fish that has not eaten for two weeks will have a sunken-in belly), it's eating.

Thanks for your reply!

He's on the glass at the moment, and the belly doesn't look rounded at all.

Maybe I should have rephrased what I wrote. The belly does not have to be rounded. As long as it's not grossly sunken in, I guess you don't have much to worry about.

Yeah, I knew what you meant, and it looks concave to me.

I don't know what else to try to feed him!

Try with some meaty foods like frozen cyclops or brine shrimp, they are not totally vegetarian...they are omnivores.

Janne

mine likes to devour shrimps..

My Sturisoma agressively fed on Cherrystone clams (raw on the half-shell). Two days of that, they spawned three days later (not an uncommon event though)!

You may also want to dose the fish with Metronidazole just to knock the intestinal parasite load down a bit. I have yet to dissect a Loricariid and not found a heavy loading of Flagellated protozoans in the digestive tract.
Metronidazole has very low toxicity to vertibrate animals and is very well tolerated.

Sincerely,
Paul E. Turley

Hey it's official, my fish often eat better than I do!

Thanks everyone for your advice, I think he is actually eating now, maybe I was being a bit panicy before!

Unfortunatley, the next problem with my Sturisoma is that he has 2 pink 'wounds' on it's head/neck area, I think maybe he is getting bullied by one of my other fish. They definately look like wounds because there is a small amount of blood visable, but no 'growth' like white spot. The aquatic shop where I bought him from wasn't very helpful, they basically said that I should put him in a seperate tank (which I don't have), but that they probably wouldn't take the fish back.

Any advice would be helpful, maybe my only choice is to find him a new home?