# Raphael catfish



## warriorsintent (Nov 8, 2010)

i bought some the other day, and they havent moved at all hardly since i get em, is this normal?
any help would be greatly appreciated!
thanks!


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## LordDracula (Aug 4, 2010)

Even after you turn off the light during night time?


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## warriorsintent (Nov 8, 2010)

i dont really have much of an opportunity to view them at night, i usually turn the light off earlier for a few nights to see what happens


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## naegling23 (Jan 4, 2008)

give them some driftwood to hide it. You wont really see them during the day, they come out at night....eventually after they figure out the routine, you may start to see them an hour or so before the lights go off (provided they are on a timer).....

They are active, just only at night. Really cool looking fish too.


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## Camaro95 (Nov 11, 2010)

Raphs are awesome fish. They can be crazy annoying though. I had three of them and I think they made more noise than the dog did for a couple years. If you can get a dim light, which you turn on for a couple hours after (or before) you turn off (or on) your big lights, you can watch them scoot about. Unless you do that, you may not seem them for days or weeks because they can hide extremely well, to the point where you think you lost them.

You might be able to train yours to come out for feeding during the "day".


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## irondan (Nov 22, 2007)

i have a spotted raph. i thought he had died a little over a year ago as i never saw him. a few weeks ago he came out during a feeding. i was astonished


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## jameswilliam (Nov 17, 2010)

I was not aware of Raphael overeat. I dropped the food into the aquarium. The lid is removed and about 1 / 4 of the box is out. It is not enough shrimp pellets would kill them by doing the dirty tank, so I guess I'm clean the next morning. I did not know they had to continue eating.


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## the_evil_dickfeldi (Feb 17, 2006)

Starve 'em. I used to have 6. They were so timid at first, but after a day of not feeding, they'd be as eager as synodontis, darting all over the substrace! Or dropping some food after turning the lights out works too.

They are cool fish :thumb:


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## oldcatfish (May 27, 2009)

I have had several Doradid catfish species, including the striped and spotted "Raphael catfish."

And yes, they are very secretive.

I put a very small spotted juvenile in a 75g mbuna tank. After a couple of weeks, I didn't see him anymore (a lot of hiding places). I assumed that he got killed.

I even took all of the decorations out of the tank briefly to rearrange on several occasions. About 7 or 8 years later I moved----when I was breaking down the tank, I heard something moving in one of the ceramic logs. To my surprise (actually, I thought that I was going to have a heart attack), it was a 4+ inch spotted Raphael catfish. I don't know what he was eating (probably mbuna fry), but he was pretty fat.


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## Manoah Marton (Feb 17, 2009)

> ...About 7 or 8 years later ...


HOLY COW!!!! That's insane!


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