Stonecat madtom

[shaft6977]

Anyone keep stonecats? I know that they're mostly nocturnal, but mine is ridiculous. It literally acts like it's scared to death of light. It's still young (only about 4") but I can't get it to come out at all until it's pitch black in the room that it's in. I've tried feeding it nightcrawlers during the day, but it just acts scared of those too. I've been putting a freeze-dried blackworm cube in the tank every night and it's always gone in the morning, but I don't know if it's eating it or if the shiners are eating it. Can't seem to find anyone anywhere that's ever kept one of these little guys.

[Birger]

I have kept a couple species of Noturus, they always got braver with time....a single one may take quite a while and I have not kept this species.

where was yours collected??

Birger

[shaft6977]

I actually purchased it online from btdarters.com.

[nvcichlids]

I am 95% sure I know where he collects from

based on your information above, the shiners are probably eating it. I would recommend breaking up the earthworm into bite size pieces to make sure they can find it. I am suprised you are having issues feeding. When I kept them in the past, no matter how new, they would come out in bright light for earthworms.

[shaft6977]

Well, I've had 7 shiners disappear in the last 3 weeks. A couple of them should've been too big for it to eat, but it's doing it somehow. Until it works its way through the 3 that are left, I think I'm gonna have trouble getting it to take anything else.