Upside-Down Catfish??

clstewart

clstewart

Hifi_Samurai
Mar 20, 2007
16
0
0
49
Long Beach, CA
Purchased a very small upside-down catfish this evening. I've read that they are a fairly peaceful community fish, so I put him in a 20g tank with a panda cory, emerald green cory, and two small bala sharks. Within the hour I witnessed the UDC pounce onto every fish in the tank (especially the larger emerald green cory), extremely aggressive behavior! I now have him in a seperate tank for the night, so that he does not hurt or stress out any of the other fish.

After doing some more research I've found that there are a handful of different species under Synodontis which can be confused for upsidedown catfish. Just wondering if anyone has any similar experience with this fish? I keep reading that they are peaceful especially when young.. any advice would be appreciated ;)
 
ok first of all, you do realise that a 20g is far far too small for bala sharks?

second do you have a picture of your upside down cat as people may be able to ID him easier then.
 
A picture would help immensely with the situation. Lets try to solve that issue which is the top most on the OPs mind, I'm sure.
 
Synodontis nigriventris is the true 'upside down' catfish. it can be confused with S. eupterus which grows larger and is more aggressive. for best results nigriventris should be kept in small groups and i think if you did so, you'd see more normal behaviour. in any event, your tank is too small to house this species and the crowded is likely to be the cause of your problem.
 
I would agree. They are a fish that prefers groups. As are your cory cats. I would suggest if possible to return it and get a few more cories to increase the size of your schools.
 
I have two upside down cats (about 6 months now) in a 55 gal.
They live with eight albino corys, eight brilliant rasboros (?), one kissing fish, and six long finned rosy barbs.
The two upside down cats are never together, never come out during the day, one lives in a rock pile, one lives in a red plastic plant. They were bought at the same time, the same size, about an inch long. One is almost twice the size of the other. They look the same except for size.
If they are both upside down cats, which I think they are, I am under the impression they do not want or need each others company.
 
I suspect that I may have purchased the more aggressive synodontis and will take him back today. There seems to be no way to distinguish between them when they are just an inch long. I was actually planning to get another cory or two instead of the catfish... like you say they will be much happier if I increase their numbers.

With regard to the bala sharks, I am aware that they will get quite large. At this point in time though they are less than two inches long and doing fine in the 20g tank...they spend most of their time following the corys around and eating off the ground along side them. I do plan to move them into my larger 35g in another few weeks and then as they continue to grow I will purchase a much larger tank for them and my silver dollars.

Thanks all for the advice!
 
This cat was black with distinct spots all over his body... I took him to the LFS near my house this morning, where they had a whole tank of the true Upside-down catfish which were much smaller and shaped differently and with less distinct coloration. Later on during the day I went to Petsmart where they were also selling this catfish and calling it UD catfish...though this is a completely different fish (definitely not right for a community tank, way too aggressive in my opinion).
 
Good deal, I'm sure you will be pleased with the antics of a larger cory group.
 
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