Weird banjo behavior

[chinnp]

Lately I've noticed strange behavior from my banjo cats. I have 2 of them and they usually spend all their time doing nothing but sitting under my intake filter. Lately though, one of them has started frequenting the top of the water. 2-3 times in the last 2 days I've seen it swimming back and forth 3-4 inches under the surface of the tank. Any idea why it may be doing this? Ammonia, nitrite, nitrate are 0. I'm trying to find out if this is normal behaviour, and if not what I need to do about it.

[kateswan]

I can only tell you how my banjos behave, after
keeping 20 of them for 6 months.

Most of them are completely out of it during the day,
crashing in the plants, or semi-buried in the sand.
But I have four or five banjos who often wake up
for daytime surfing . . . usually in the bubble cloud
from the wand. One big female makes it a routine to
patrol around the sides and top of her tank every
other day or so.

I haven't lost any of these guys in 6 months,
which is some kind of a record for me,
so I have assumed they're all healthy, this is
just normal behavior for them.

Kathy S

[kdreymann]

One big female makes it a routine to
patrol around the sides and top of her tank every
other day or so.
Kathy S

How can you know, that it is female?
Klaus

[kateswan]

I go on size difference to sex the banjos,
so my calls are purely speculative.
The big ones are females, and the little
ones are males -- I think. There is a
big difference in overall size between my
banjos.

Kathy S

[kdreymann]

I go on size difference to sex the banjos,
so my calls are purely speculative.
The big ones are females, and the little
ones are males -- I think. There is a
big difference in overall size between my
banjos.
Kathy S

Hm.......and sure they all are the same species and age?
Klaus

[kateswan]

My banjos are all Bunocephalus coracoideus,
purchased at the same time when they were all
the same size, so my belief was they came from
the same "hatch."

[kdreymann]

My banjos are all Bunocephalus coracoideus,
purchased at the same time when they were all
the same size, so my belief was they came from
the same "hatch."

Well then........I wish you luck!
I keep four species of Banjos (verrucosus, quadriradiata, kneri, coracoideus) and wish them to mate............but they won't do up to now.....
Klaus

[Yann]

My banjos are all Bunocephalus coracoideus,
purchased at the same time when they were all
the same size, so my belief was they came from
the same "hatch."

Hi Kathy!

Bunocephalus coracoideus and other species are usually wild caught so it is pretty unlikely they all came from the same batch.

Chinnp:

Any update of your fish?
If all the other fish are behaving normally I would not woory about him. Anyway, any modification of it general appearance lately, like swollen stomach or red marks...?
Cheers
Yann

[kateswan]

Yann -

Thank you for the info. I'm still finding out,
and am amazed, at how many of the fish
on the 'pet store' circuit have been imported
from the wild.

I'm also amazed at the number of fish offered
for sale that come from private sources, people
who live in the general area of the fish store, and
are breeding/selling their extras.

Are banjos particularly difficult to breed?

Kathy S

[Silurus]

Are banjos particularly difficult to breed?

They are difficult to breed, but it has been done.