Bottom Dwellers

[simer]

Hi

I'm not sure if this is the right place to post this question. I have a small (15G) tank and have recently bought a larger one to upgrade (55G ish). One of the reasons I bought this tank was because I wanted some clown loaches and realised that the original tank was not big enough for this. However, upon further investigation it appears as though even this is not a big enough habitat for 3/4 clown loaches and I am not buying any more tanks so I was wondering if anyone could suggest an alternative? I am looking for something that is lively and with personaility, but not a catfish/ corydorus as their whiskers give my wife the heebies for some wierd reason.

Any suggestions greatly appreciated!!

 

[sylvia]

What other fish are in the tank?

A nice alternative to clown loaches are zebra or yo-yo loaches but, zebra loaches in particular, will nip slow-moving, long-finned fish when given the chance. Yo-yos will too but to a lesser extent. Another loach I like is the dwarf chain loach which stays small and is also peaceful and active.

 

[simer]

There will be some danios, mollies, a couple of rams and my wife likes angel fish. Are either of those particluarly wormlike?

Thanks for the reply!

 

[tishygirl]

ok LOL.. I have no advice, as I dont have any bottom dwellers yet... but LOL!!!!! I'm glad I'm not the only one who gets the heebie jeebies from some of the bottom dwellers I have seen at the LFS.

 

[simer]

Yeah. I think she saw a huge dead catfish while she was working in a summer camp in the States when she was younger and the whiskers/ barbs give her the fear! And she doesn't like anything that looks like a worm. Mind you I'm not so keen on those either!

 

[GSD]

well theres khuli loaches which are nice.Theyre small though(i think 3 inches max)and prefer groups.I love mine theyre cute!But they are a little worm like!
http/www.loachtank.com/albums/userpics/1...l_khuli4412.jpg

i cant really think of any catfish that dont have too many whiskers!


angelfish should be ok in a 55 gallon,although they can nip and cant be kept with tetras,as they are the angels natural food.

danios need to be in groups and mollies like salt in their water.(although they dont have to have it!)

 

[Francis]

Corydoras are nice and fun to watch.

 

[LoachLover]

Corydoras are nice little fish to have, I agree.

Loaches are great, lot of species that stay small that you could easily keep in a tank that size.

 

[morgan]

Common catfish don't have whiskers, just one sort of whisker each side of it's mouth. They are cheap but they do get very big. They also come out a lot so you actually get to see them. Mine is about 7 inches at the moment. My tank is 20UK gals so it will need a new tank before long.

 

[simer]

Cool!

Not to sound too ignorant or anything , but what exactly is a common catfish? A little googling gives me the impression that this may be a name applied to several species. The main one I have found is clarias gariepinus which appears to be an African catfish that grows to 5 or 6 feet! I'm sure it's not that one that you are talking about, but as I say, the reason I can't have clown loaches is that they're too big so a huge catfish would present the same problem, wouldn't it?

 

[shiftingsands]

Hi, I have a little ( bout 2" ) albino bronze Corydora ( though I've learned that a few should be kept together, he seems perfectly happy on his own) and it is the most entertaining of all my fish.
He plays dead at the bottom of the tank and when you are certain he'll never move again he winks at you and then darts about like a mad thing for a few minutes until its time to snooze again. He's always at the front of the tank and never hides. He leaves all the other fish alone and even my tetchy Betta leaves him alone!! He only has a couple of small whiskers that he moves the sand around to find food with and isn't at all creepy.

When my tank is fully cycled I'm gonna get some small loaches too probably kuhlies.

Community tank:
1 cory
1 male Betta
5 female guppies
1 Cardinal tetra
1Glowlight Tetra
5 Platies

 

[scuba_jez]

hey i reckon little cory's are so funny.
they dart up to the surface for air every once in a while. they seem to like a bit of current too.


i have 1 albino cory, 2 peppered corys and a dwarf gourami in my 7.5 gal tank - fully stocked.

 

[GSD]

if i was you.for your tank i would choose cories.Im my experience the other catfish tend to by alot more shy(although not always)and you have to be carefull what you choose.Dont go for anything with mystus in the name.

 

[sylvia]

Lol... the worm-like thing made me laugh Out of those I suggested earlier, the dwarf chained loach is the best if you want to keep rams and angels as the other two would be a little too nippy for them. None of them are worm-like and the dwarf chained loach, though it does have barbels, doesn't have long obvious ones like most cories do.

 

[morgan]

Common catfish does seem to cover a variety of catfish. I bought mine as a Bristlenose. When it grew at an alarming rate I asked on this forum what it was (with pictures) and most said Common. One or two said Gibby. It should grow to 12 - 24 inches.

It is non-aggressive to the other fish (Mollies and Platies) though it will flick it's tail fin as a warning if they get to it's algae wafer at the same time! P.S. Although the fish are cheap (not many people want fish that grow that big) it will cost a lot in buying ever bigger tanks.