please help with my clarias batrachus

[misterwhiskers]

I recently adopted a 18" long albino clarias batrachus. It is currently living in a 300 liters tank. I have small african cichlids with it. Water temp is 26-27 degrees Celsius. PH is about 8. i have some hiding spots for it to use. It seems to be happy and goes up to the surface once in a while to get air. I turn on the lights at 13:00 and turn them off at about 23:30. I got it on January 11th and it has NOT been eating. i tried flakes, cichlid pellets, algae wafers, pleco wafers, frozen thawed anchovy, chicken liver and even a dead cichlid. it is not eating at all. What would you all recommend? I have no idea why it is not eating... PLEASE HELP!

[Bas Pels]

if the tank is crowded, high nitrate can be the cause

How often do you change water?

[misterwhiskers]

every 2 weeks i do a 50% water change. i will check my nitrate level. thanks.

UPDATE*

You were right, my nitrate is very high. i will either buy some plants or get rid of a few cichlids. thanks. Hopefully it will help the catfish eating.

[Richard B]

300 litres sounds way too small for an 18" fish. The bioload in the tank may be exceeding the filter capacity causing water problems which may be increased by attempting to feed anchovy. Is there a cultural/language difference in what you & I know as anchovy???

The fish may be stressed from the move & yet to settle properly & not eating as this can last for a good while depending on fish type. Small cichlids will be a tasty snack for when it is hungry though.

[Viktor Jarikov]

What are your complete water paramaters? At least NH3, NO2, NO3, (pH and temp you already mentioned)? To be able to help you, this is a must-know, a step #1, of course, assuming you use a reliable, non-expired test kit, like an API liquid Freshwater Master Kit.

This cat will eat any tank mates that will fit (girthwise) in its mouth. One reason you have not seen it eating may be that he had been eating your cichlids at nights. Are all accounted for? Is the cat's belly nice and round?

I agree that the tank's too small - it'd be advisable to explore other options.

[misterwhiskers]

Thanks guys, I agree that 300 liters is small for it. I'm trying to get a bigger tank.
NO3 is super high. i just tested it. i don't have the test kits for NH3 and N02

All my cichlids are accounted for, therefore i know that it has not been eating them and its belly is not round and plumply like it should be.

I live in Germany but i'm actually American so yes an anchovy is anchovy.

okay back to serious stuff, i need to lower my nitrate so this what i'm going to do:

- make a 50% water change
- add some plants
- take out some cichlids

does this plan sound good to you all?

[Bas Pels]

every 2 weeks i do a 50% water change. i will check my nitrate level. thanks.

UPDATE*

You were right, my nitrate is very high. i will either buy some plants or get rid of a few cichlids. thanks. Hopefully it will help the catfish eating.

plants will hardly help - you would need hunderds of watts of lights, a square meter of heavily planted area, to get rid of the waste of a normal populated cichlid tank

And with normal populated, I think of normal for Europeans - and I'm afraid your tank does not qualify for a European tank

So the square meter would be double sized

Regular waterchanges and less fish is what you should be doing now. In the near future a larger tank will be needed

[Viktor Jarikov]

Sorry, forgot to welcome you to the Planet! So, willkommen (even though you aren't German)!

Plants will take a while, so I'd not bother at the moment with them; besides, I am not entirely sure your cichlids will not destroy them. WCs is what takes out nitrates.

every 2 weeks i do a 50% water change.

This may be ok for an understocked tank, even then 35% weekly would be better. In your circumstance, I'd do 75% WC every day for 3 days and then do twice a week a 50% WC or once a week a 75%-90% WC. All my fish enjoy as frequent and large (proper) WCs as possible.

If you plan to grow in your hobby, the importance of owning and using a good test kit cannot be overstated. I don't think you'll find a single seasoned keeper who'd disagree.

[Bas Pels]

If you plan to grow in your hobby, the importance of owning and using a good test kit cannot be overstated. I don't think you'll find a single seasoned keeper who'd disagree.

On the risk of vaporizing any credit I might have build in the last years, even though I graduated in chemistry, but I don't measure anything.

Why? Firstly I prefef tanks with not too much fish in them, than I don't know what level of nitrates - 50 mg/l? 80 mg/l? - would be harmfull - but I can see on my fish whether they are happy or not

And if they are slightly less happy, I know I should schange a bit more - or more often - water, or reduce the population of fishes.

In fact, I think this system - let the fishes tell you how they feel - is much better if one has enough experience

[misterwhiskers]

Mister Whiskers

Thanks for all help and the warm welcome. I will do the water change asap and update yall about my catfish.

UPDATE* 50% water change done today. Hope it will help with appetite.

UPDATE** after a few hours, it looks like the catfish is starting to be hungry.... i saw him trying to eat my pleco... Time to move the little fish out before it's too late.

UPDATE*** he finally ate 2 pieces of chicken liver! i dimmed the lights and dropped pieces of chicken liver in the tank. Then i sat in the dark to observe him. he came out of his hiding spot and ate! I did a 35% WC today so it might have sparkled his appetite! very happy! thanks again everybody!

[minipol]

let the fishes tell you how they feel - is much better if one has enough experience

This being the keypoint, experience and observation.
That's why keeping a understocked tank is sometimes easier. When you don't have time to do a waterchange, it doesn't have
a big effect on the fish.

[misterwhiskers]

He/She is eating Hikari cichlid sinking pellets. No issues.