Help, fish out of water!

I just bought some plants and took a while to get home. When i opened the plants up at home now , i found 2 catfish in the plants. Both have swollen tummies and are upside down. One guy is wriggling around and the guy looks cold. I've put them in a container with an airstone


What do i do now??

 

Warm the up slowly... add water from your tank and try get them used to the water and the get them in to you tank ASAP...
if you can put them in to the water in the container and that will warm the water up slowly while you add the water to the container...

what catfish ar they?

 

Were the just randomly in there? If they live you scored man!

What type of catfish is it? My upside down one now and then gets a 'swollen' belly
and after a few hours to a day of swimming around its gone. Maybe they ate too
much or pregnant?

Im no expert

 

looks like red-tail catfishes, roughly 3cm from the side markings. Man I hope they come right

 

Take a air tube and siphon water from your main tank to a "holding" tank for them so they get use to your water and gets warmed up slowly.

Hope they make it.:unsure:

 

dude if they red tails dnt stress they are stong fish... but remember they get to around 120cm big so i hope you got a big tank...

LOL

 

????

 

i have seen those, they get ginormous. Discovery or natgeo or sumthin had a doc about those not too long ago

 

i'll post an update of them later. One looks dead though

 

Post some pics as well bro maybe we can id for you

 

it looks like the image posted by ace, except the bright red tail and distinguished spots. Has the whiskers and everything

 

Sounds like a restail... what else is in the tank?
it might be worth not trying to save they will eat everything eventually, unless you want to put it in and flog it later but the chances of it eating every single fish is big...

 

it looks awesome and i am tempted to keep it. But the guy i bought the plants from was going to put them into a 2.4 meter tank. If it pulls through i'll return it to a new 2.4m home.

 

Thats good of you speedz, most of us would keep they for oursleves, now watch all the halos slip down and strangle ever one who lies...

lol

 

I wish I could get free catfish, especially redtails, with plants! If only I had the space... I support the idea to send them to that 2.4m.

 

those fish alive

 

Speedz. could you post a pic of that badboy? I'm keen to see what it is lol

 

sorry dude. The guy came and collected the little fella. Only one made it. It must have been really strong. It took me between roughly 45 minutes to get home and they were out of water with bloated stomachs. Plus our durban weather didnt help. Im glad he'll be getting a bigger home though. Next time however i'll insist water be added to the packaging my plants come in. Oh yes, it was indeed a red-tail catfish

 

If anyone ever gets the chance to go to England you must go to the London Aquarium. Besides having a huge marine collection they have a spectacular fresh water collection with all different types of setups from malawi's, to asian rivers and amazon tanks etc etc. The one tank had about 7 adult redtails in it. They really look good in big displays