Bumblebee Catfish Feeding (Diet Guide & Foods)

Bumblebee catfish refers to the beautiful and vibrant colored freshwater fish categorized further as Asian and South American bumblebee catfish.

Typically bumblebee catfish can grow up to an average length of 3 inches and is carnivorous. It feeds on insects, worms, and other small fishes in the wild thanks to its wide mouth.

In the home aquarium, it can be kept on a varied diet of commercially prepared foods and live and frozen foods.

What Do Bumblebee Catfish Eat

Keeping in mind the natural feeding preferences of the bumblebee catfish, they can be regarded as carnivores. These are nocturnal fish and are supposed to be the night players.

They keep themselves hidden in crevices and shady places during the daytime. However, if they smell or sense the presence of food around, they come out not to let go of the opportunity even during the day.

They feed on almost everything that fits in their wide mouth unless that is not an aggressive predator. Small insects, their larvae, and other small fishes make up most of their food in the natural habitat.

They are also known to feed on plant detritus. It is best to feed them a blend of commercial flakes and frozen diets such as shrimps, daphnia, and freeze-dried bloodworms in captivity.

A chart manifesting the balanced of all the bumblebee catfish diets is given below.

Bumblebee Catfish Diet Chart

Food	How much and How often
Flake Food	Flakes can be used as their food staple. Feeding them with flakes enough to be finished off within 2 minutes twice a day is more than enough.
Pellets	3 times a week. 1-2 pellets per fish would make a great addition to your bumblebees catfish diet.
Live and frozen foods	Frozen foods are always preferred over the home aquariums’ live ones to avoid the probabilities of infection spread by the live foods. However, feeding the live foods twice a week will provide it with the nutrients needed. But also help to bring out the fish’s natural predatory instinct. Live and freeze-dried bloodworms twice a week and 1-2 brine shrimp once a week is an excellent addition to their nutrition.
Veggies	Vegetable matter and other supplements will also readily be accepted by the bumblebee catfish. Therefore, 2 feedings every with each to be consumed in 90 seconds is just fine.

Do Bumblebee Catfish Eat Other Fish?

Being carnivorous and having a wide mouth, bumblebee catfish feed on any other fish compatible with its eating size, provided the fish to be eaten is not a predatory invader.

So, housing them in a tank with small, timid fish is not a good idea at all. An aquarium bumblebee catfish is adapted to the timely feedings.

However, its predatory instinct can never be undone. It will explore the tank’s hideouts during the night, and if it finds any small fish, it will eventually eat the fish.

Will Bumblebee Catfish Eat Shrimp?

If the shrimp fits their mouth, they will eat it. However, some aquarists have successfully kept the big bamboo shrimps and ghost shrimp in the same tank as the bumblebee catfish.

We wouldn’t recommend adding shrimp to your bumblebee cat’s tank because this fish cannot be trusted.

Some hobbyists have also complained about their bumblebees slurping up fishes like cardinal tetras. So, it’s not wise to think of adding the shrimps in their tank.

How Often Bumblebee Catfish Eat?

You should feed them no more than three times in 24 hours. However, they are nocturnal and come out of their caves only during the night to scavenge along the bottom.

How Often To Feed Fish & How Much? A Proper Fish Feeding Guide

The presence of food can attract their attention even during the daytime. Put the flakes in their tank, let them settle, turn out the lights, and keep the aquarium’s soft lightings on. The bumblebee cat will come out and continue its scavenging.

Many people believe feeding them 3-5 times is just fine, but I wouldn’t prefer you to go for this range’s upper extremity.

Overfeeding has always been a problem with many novice hobbyists, which needs to be sorted out by maximizing the minimally suitable feeding routines.

Do Bumblebee Gobies Eat Snails?

Again it all depends on the size. The baby snail will be prone to get nipped on your bumblebee goby, just as we have discussed previously, anything living or dead that will fit their mouth.

They will not let go of the chance. So, there is a probability that your bumblebee goby will eat the snails if it’s small enough to trigger its predatory instinct.

Final Words

All the queries which many beginners normally ask for feeding this amazing catfish species are solved above in the complete bumblebee catfish diet.

The most commonly and popularly available in the South American variety and differentiated from its Asian counterpart by a squared spot at the base of its caudal fin. This spot is pointed and somewhat of a triangular shape in the Asian bumblebee catfish.

It is found in the water bodies with strong water currents and rocky substratum where it hides and scavenges along in search of food.