# is upside-down catfish safe in community tank



## conix67 (Jul 27, 2008)

Hi Everyone,

I lost a fish last night, i found my little Panda Cory dead this morning and was being torn apart by gouramis and other fishes. The tank is fully cycled so I do not believe it was water quality problem, and have not lost a fish from this tank since the female gourami died a while ago (3 weeks).

just few days ago I moved 2 amano shrimps and one upside-down catfish from another tank which was converted to the shrimp tank.

I'm wondering what killed the panda cory. I thought most catfishes are not so cannibalistic and won't kill other fishes but would like to confirm. Is there a possibility that my Panda Cory was killed by the upside-down catfish at all?  

I did not see any signs of illness from any fishes in this tank.

The only other possibility i can think of is lack of diet. I do not feed Panda Cories separately, as they never seem to chase after any type of food I provide for others. 

thanks,


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## twoheadedfish (May 10, 2008)

without doing much research on the upside down cat, i'm going to assume it wasn't the cat that led to the cory's death.

i can tell you alllllll about dead corys. keeping them alive....that's a different story. (not that's it's difficult, i just have terrible luck).

so, firstly:

what's your nitrate/nitrite/ammonia levels?
Water temp?
Size of tank?
Weekly water changes?
Other member's of the tank?
What's your substrate like?

as far as lack of diet goes, fish can go quite some time without eating. so i doubt he starved to death.

cheerio and thanks for posting.


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## twoheadedfish (May 10, 2008)

conix67 said:


> The tank is fully cycled so I do not believe it was water quality problem,


fyi, just because a tank is cycled doesn't mean water quality won't drop. an aqauriaist's main task is constistently warding off dropping water quality. The moment you finish topping off your tank for your weekly water change, the quality of the water drops. think of it as taking a car off the sales lot - immediate depreciation.


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## conix67 (Jul 27, 2008)

twoheadedfish said:


> without doing much research on the upside down cat, i'm going to assume it wasn't the cat that led to the cory's death.
> 
> i can tell you alllllll about dead corys. keeping them alive....that's a different story. (not that's it's difficult, i just have terrible luck).
> 
> ...


I checked ammonia level immediately after seeing cory's death. It's 0. I did not have time for others this morning.
Last time I checked these parameters was on July 22nd, 0ppm/0ppm/5ppm
water temp = 80F
tank size = 12Gal
weekly water change of about 40%
other members = dwarf gourami pair, 2 male 2 female guppies, 3 zebra danios, 2 platinum angels, 3 licorice gouramis, 2 amano shrimps, 1 panda cory
substrate = expoxy coated gravel, white, from Walmart

Thanks,


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## twoheadedfish (May 10, 2008)

well, nothing obviously wrong there. i could be wrong but the tank might be approaching over stock (but you're water params are fine, so whatever). temp's a tad high for corys. low to mid seventies is best for them. cory's are also schooling fish and should preferably be kept in schools of six or more. perhaps these slight factors lead to an explotation of the fish's immune system.

panda's seem to be the most fickle of the corys. 

hopefully someone else can chime in here as well.


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## ameekplec. (May 1, 2008)

Upside down cats, despite being sold largely as community fish, are in fact predators. They are nocturnal, so you won't see them doing it though. So when you start losing a fish every morning, the cat may be the prime suspect.


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## twoheadedfish (May 10, 2008)

damn, there ya go. sorry bout the erroneous advice.


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## Chris S (Dec 19, 2007)

Also, as mentioned, cories should be kept in schools. If they aren't, it will likely stress the fish making it more susceptible to disease and death.


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## Katalyst (Jul 29, 2007)

ameekplec. said:


> Upside down cats, despite being sold largely as community fish, are in fact predators. They are nocturnal, so you won't see them doing it though. So when you start losing a fish every morning, the cat may be the prime suspect.


They are so cute though! lol I want them so bad but don't have them for this very reason. They are evil little things.


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## ameekplec. (May 1, 2008)

Katalyst said:


> They are so cute though! lol I want them so bad but don't have them for this very reason. They are evil little things.


I thought so too when I was a kid so I got one or two. I think my fish slowly disappeared  Little did I know it was this little bugger.


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## conix67 (Jul 27, 2008)

Chris S said:


> Also, as mentioned, cories should be kept in schools. If they aren't, it will likely stress the fish making it more susceptible to disease and death.


Thanks everyone.

I already moved the upsidedown catfish to another tank. Even before ameekplec answered this question, I could only suspect this fish for the death of my cory.

However, I'd like to learn more about these schooling fishes. I hear a lot that schooling fishes must be kept in schools of certain minimum number, otherwise they get stressed and potentially die. What makes this schooling so important? Am I risking death of fishes if I don't keep that minimum number?

Thanks,


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## twoheadedfish (May 10, 2008)

my understanding of it is that the more fish of a certain breed are around, the more comfortable it's cohorts will feel. fish are fickle and a dose of stress will really do a number on them so yes, you MAY be courting death if you don't have enough of a school.

more than likely though, they'll just be a lot happier and more active.


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