Yellow bullhead.

Lately my catfish has been swimming around in circles around one of the pieces of wood that branches off. he does this for HOURS. is this normal for a catfish to be so repetitive? i have a video of him but do not know the easiest way to share with you all.

Lately my catfish has been swimming around in circles around one of the pieces of wood that branches off. he does this for HOURS. is this normal for a catfish to be so repetitive? i have a video of him but do not know the easiest way to share with you all.

Upload to youtube,copy then paste url here in your thread.

Upload to youtube,copy then paste url here in your thread.

horrible cellphone quality but here it is.

horrible cellphone quality but here it is.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qy55B4nlUSY

sonix215, Your bullhead looks stressed. and under weight.
i would vac the gravel and do a 30% water change plus clean the filters and add salt to your tank.
if this does not work try adding another catfish plus reduce other species in the tank.
some catfish do not like to be alone when young.
i hope this may help your fish.

sonix215, Your bullhead looks stressed. and under weight.
i would vac the gravel and do a 30% water change plus clean the filters and add salt to your tank.
if this does not work try adding another catfish plus reduce other species in the tank.
some catfish do not like to be alone when young.
i hope this may help your fish.

i do water changes every weekend and add salt/dechlorination i dont think i can fit another cat in there. it's a 55 gal tank with 5 sunnies and him. and he eats like a pig!

Maybe it is bored. Change around the aquarium decor, wood, rocks etc. See if that stimulates new behavior.

This is a case of abnormal repetitive behavior, also called stereotypy or sterotypical behavior. The animal is bored so it begins to exhibit behaviors that resemble obsessive compulsive disorder in humans. It happens a lot in caged animals that have nothing to play with.

This webpage talks more about this disorder: http://www.cnr.uidah.../pigs_ster.html
Here is a webpage documenting dozens of different types of animals doing it: http://www.aps.uogue...r/library.shtml (scroll down)

If you want to stop your catfish from doing that, you can enrich the quality of its life by giving it some things in its environment to manipulate. For fish that usually means a larger tank with some friends of its own species, some caves to hide in and prey to hunt down.

Edited by EricaWieser, 14 December 2010 - 11:15 PM.

Does the bullhead have a cave to hide in? If not, I'd give it one. I think they need a hiding place to feel secure.

I have a lone bullhead in a 65 gallon along with a grass pickerel, an ancistrus and a goldfish. The bullhead has a huge cave with an opening against one of the glass walls of the tank. It spends a lot of time there, looking out into the room. It seems healthy, I got it as a 2 inch youngster and now it's huge! The tank has a weird mix of fish, but they've been together over a year and seem fine together. They are all non-aggressive fish and no one is small enough to fit in anyone else's mouth.

Lately my catfish has been swimming around in circles around one of the pieces of wood that branches off. he does this for HOURS. is this normal for a catfish to be so repetitive? i have a video of him but do not know the easiest way to share with you all.

He did not do this at first? How long before he began this behavior?

He did not do this at first? How long before he began this behavior?

not to long i recently rearranged the wood in the tank and he just started swimming in circles around the one branch that sticks out.