Aquariums: My new “loach” (I got catfished)

My new "loach"…

Someone I know is moving states soon. They said they had a "large loach, with black and orange/yellow striping", that had been given to them by a relative and it was pretty old (more than 3 years old, I don't recall the approximate age but probably pre-pandemic).

They had a tank crash and only a handful of fish lived, including the "loach", and had tried to restart their tank. The new fish they got "went missing"..

I thought, wonderful, I love loaches, it'll do well in my peaceful community tank! I already have some smaller loaches, it should be happy to be with the other ones! The description, I thought, wow, maybe it's a super sized giant Khuli loach!

It's a full grown Asian bumblebee catfish. Buddy's 6, almost 7 inches. Very cute, but definitely not the cute community addition I was hoping for.

Would have really preferred to get them housed in a more adequately sized tank, but scrambled to get this together. By itself the 20 g long isn't too terrible, considering it was in approximately the same footprint (29 gallon), and is now living by itself with more hiding spots. It was living with a very, very large angelfish and had 1 hide that was a little too small for it. I know that the 20 gallon long isn't ideal but it's much, much better than what it was living in.

Hoping that when the plants are more grown out, it'll feel a bit more secure. It felt secure enough to explore a bit, hence the photos. (Don't worry, lights are on moonlight mode.)

I see glimpses of it exploring, and it's definitely been eating the carnivore wafers I've dropped in.. In its previous home, when it wasn't eating danois and tetras, it was eating algae wafers. Occasionally I hear it digging around in the gravel and shifting things around.

(I just switched my community tank from a 29 to a 40 and still had the base; had to switch from the 29 anyways because I found a crack in the glass. Using the filter from that tank for the beneficial bacteria.)

If it had been a loach, I would have very happily added it to my 40 gallon community aquarium but ALL of the fish in my community aquarium fit into this monster's mouth. 🙁

It's really cute but I will not be deceived..

I'm calling it Dr. No after the doc from My 600LB Life.