Columbian Catfish Activity?

[rsabatini]

hello to all,I've recently purchased a 3 "columbian catfish(arius seemani) to help my clown loach with the bottom cleaning chores in my 110 gl.Instead of during his chores he'd rather stay vertically along the glass in the bubbles or swim upside down along the top of the tank.he is in good health,eats great and none of the SA/CA cichlids are bothering him.In doing my research prior to buying this catfish it said nothing about these above activities(it said it was a bottom dweller scavenger)Are the above statements normal activities for this catfish?Will it ever do what I bought it to do?(thanks ahead of time)

[rsabatini]

for a little update,his back at the LFS,a little note to all:
My 2 week experiance with this catfish(arius seemani)aka- columbian shark/catfish has made me realize that bottom cleaning chores are not in it's vocabulary,it's extremely active everywhere else,(swimming upside down or vertially along the glass)I strongly recommend to all that if a bottom dweller/cleaner is what your looking for,stay away from this catfish.

[Solace]

The 'Columbian shark' is actually a brackish/saltwater fish more so than being freshwater needing salt content to stay happy. The younger fish are more tolerant of being in strictly fresh water, the adults really need that salt though. Not saying you can't keep them in pure fresh water tanks because people have/do/and will continue to keep them that way. I am just saying it isn't the best place for them to be in the long run.

Maybe you should try some of the hopolo cats. These bigger armored cats are overlooked in my opinion. I think they are great tank additions and they will work the bottoms looking for tidbits here and there.

[rsabatini]

the 2 weeks I had it I uped the ph from 6.6 - 7.2 because I've read it thrives in hard fresh/brackish waters,I have never encountered a catfish before that was so active everywhere else but the bottom,I definitley will check into the hopolo cats,thanks much for the info.