Glass Catfish Kryptopterus Bicirrhis

Have you seen Catfish movie? As a wiki said "Catfish" is a 2010 American documentary involving a man being filmed by his friends as he builds a romantic online relationship on the social networking website Facebook beetween New York photographer Nev Schulman with a girl.

The trailer is fantastic, but I’m not representation of Catfish movie here. Yes, Catfish leaves a lot of room for discussion after watching it but now I’ll talk about one types of Catfish - the title used in this movie. Precisely Glass Catfish, one of the exotic aquarium catfish types.

Glass catfish with its scientific name of Kryptopterus bicirrhis differs from the “ghost catfish” (Kryptopterus minor), in terms of size in which the bicirrhis are much bigger and have relatively longer anal fins. Glass catfish is generally considered a friendly type of fish that can mix well with other non-aggressive tropical fish species and are compatible with the likes of tetras, small-sized gourami, killifish and otocinclus.

All glass catfish are very sensitive to changes in water quality. Most of the time, if these water parameters were not closely monitored, the fish will fall sick and when it does, the transparent body will turn to white opaque color. Overall, in terms of behavior, the species is not the type of fish which are active swimmers.

Plants are also beneficial in the sense that while they provide a sense of security for your exotic fish, at the same time it also helps to reduce nitrate level to the minimum resulting in less harm to your glass catfish.

If well fed, glass catfish can grow up to maximum 4 inches in length once it reaches adult age at around 15 months and normally the usual size will range from 3 inches and above.

Glass catfish are relatively difficult to keep, but if their basic conditions are met they make an interesting addition to a community tank or alone in a single species tank. If in a community tank, you must be sure to watch this "exotic fish" at feeding time to make sure they are getting some food.

If there ever was a fish that really cries out for a quarantine tank, glass cats are that fish. Even a 5 gallon tank will suffice. A quarantine tank should be used for all new fish you plan to introduce into an existing tank, but for glass cats it is an absolute must. Glass catfish care required a regular partial water changes in catfish aquarium to keep nitrates low and good filtration is recommended.