About a month ago, I purchased a baby albino channel catfish, and he wouldn’t eat, I did some research and found out he needed a friend, because they school when they are young. After getting another baby albino channel cat, they both started eating, but they would only eat the store bought food, which wasn’t a big deal, about two weeks later, they both stopped eating. I tried to change the temperature in the small pond I had them in, I tried different foods, small live worms, but nothing is working. Anyone have any ideas on what’s happening? Because all my fish are outdoor In home made ponds, thought maybe they needed to have warmer water, so I have them inside in a small bin with a filter and some cover but they still won’t eat. I have a 100 gallon pond, for them when they grow up, so it’s important keep them alive and healthy, any ideas would be appreciated, I really need some input, thanks!
Two baby albino channel catfish won’t eat again
- Thread starter Ian Goodwin
- Start date
I have two in a 1500 gallon pond and that feels a bit small to me. Mine have only stopped eating when the water quality has gone bad or the temperature drops.
An older video of my 1500 before the spring bloom and the water really warmed up you can see the cats looking thiner there.
An older video of my 1500 before the spring bloom and the water really warmed up you can see the cats looking thiner there.
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Yeah I'm not trying to crush your plans or anything but an averaged size Channel cat can grow to be around 20lbs. It can get 40-50lbs if it had unlimited clean space and you funneled food in his face all day. 100 gallons isn't as much water as you think it is. Trying to keep an adult in that volume is like trying to stuff a whale into a bathtub.
Anytime anything is off with your fish, rule number one is check your water quality first. Its the most common reason a fish's health and behavior will go south on you.
Anytime anything is off with your fish, rule number one is check your water quality first. Its the most common reason a fish's health and behavior will go south on you.
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Right now the catfish are only 2 inches, and I’m planning on upgradeing my pond to a 9 by 5 pond(in 2 months), and it’s 7 by 4 right now, also, I know the owner of the pet store, and they told me if the catfish ever outgrew the pond, he had an other client with a 1000 gallon pool pond, that would gladly take them if they ever got over 15 inches. I’m not trying to abuse my fish, I just need help getting my baby albino channel catfish to eat. Any more ideas?
Try rubbing garlic on his food. It has a very strong smell and encourages fish to eat from what I've read.
Have you tried live food? Earthworms are good, night crawlers, red wigglers, crickets, stuff like that. Don't get them wild caught though, they could have any disease.
How are you maintaining the pond? Is there any filtration? Do you test the water parameters? I'm asking these questions because you stated they were eating but stopped.
