Catfish crazy

[Miss Dib Dabs]

Yes I really have gone mental. Yesterday I bought no less than 5. 2 are subadults of the sailfin synos and the other 3, now in the 35 with my gouramies are all babies. No bigger then half an inch.
The two sub adults have gone in with my other two in the 55g. How long will it take them to sort themselves out heirarchy wise? One of my older members and the bigger newbie are bickering (no actual fighting, just alot of sillyness) over the larger castle still. The other two have calmed down quite quickly. Am keeping a watchful eye on them. Don't want all out war! I wouldn't mind if they were short of hiding spots but there's loads. Fickle beggars.
I shall try to get pics soon. They really are beautiful creatures. My Mother thinks I'm nuts.
Hugs,
P.

 

[Fishy411]

this si what happens when you keep catfish. you need more and more. its like a drug. it shoudlnt take too long to sort out a heirarchy especially if one is significantly bigger than the other. i do think 7 is a bit too many synos for a 55 gallon though.
i already have 4 pims and im buying another 1 or two soon. i wont be able to stop until my tank is completely full

 

[Miss Dib Dabs]

7 would be too many!! The 3 babies are in the 35g. I wouldn't put them in with the 4 sub-adults! Utterly swamped size wise.
I went out this afternoon and got another piece of bogwood and an extra hiding spot thingamy (think naff ornament type thing) for them to use. Until the plants in there start to fill out a bit more I guess maybe they still aren't covinced there are enough prime hiding spots.
So do not fret there's only 4 synos in the 55g. And once the platties and gouramie move out they'll only have the 2 angels in there with them. So really, a fair amount of room for them to go nuts in. And they do love to go nuts!
Hugs,
P.

 

[bunjiweb]

I have 4 dwarf petricola, 1 true petricola and 2 nigrita in a 50Gallon, the biggest is the true petricola at about 4.5" The rest are 2.5-3.5". I do however have a pile of rocks that fills one end of the tank and provides 35-40 different caves.

As long as you provide LOTS of rockword you can have plenty of the smaller species of syno in a 50Gallon.

Ben

 

[Fishy411]

babies do grow to be adults though. but im sure by then you'll have at least 2 tanks with mostly catfish. its Ok it happens to all of us

 

[Miss Dib Dabs]

Being that these are the first I've had from such an early age it'll be interesting to watch them grow. See just how fast they do and their body patterns changing.
Now I have the extra hiding places in the 55 they've stopped bickering and have settled down somewhat. I suspect my big baby (I call big baby simply because I do ) ) is currently sulking since he got booted out of his favourite hiding place by one of the newbies. Poor fella. At least no one has gotten hurt.
On a slightly different note, as I fed the catfish after lights out (I feed the other members a little before lights out, seems to work well) one of my sleepy platties let me gently stroke her. She didn't budge an inch bless her. Until I took my finger away and dangled it further away, then she moved to it.
Hugs,
P.