Catfish for shellie tank....

[muzscman]

i'm looking for a good catfish to clean my 30 gallon tank that has 6 ocellatus golds and two neo. cadupunks..........i want something that is small and stays small....i was thinking about a corey cat as they are cheap and don't really grow over 3 inches long...

 

[muzscman]

actually....after just thinking about it......it doesn't have to be a catfish.....i just want something to clean the extra food off the bottom of the tank as i have tahitian moon sand in there and the red flakes of food sort of show up really bad...i have a plecostomus and a black mystery snail.....but i was going to put them in my 75 gallon......mainly because the pleco will get rather large and the snail likes to suck on the shells in there that i have and i know once my fish start breeding, they will attack the snail like crazy.....

 

[Ron]

I don't know if any of these are good ideas:
The Cory would get attacked by deffinatly the ocellatus. I would also be worried that if the corry would even get near any of the shells, it would eat eggs inside the shell.
The Pleco is too big. It might wreck all the little hills and valleys and even cover up shells that either have fry or eggs in them. (Maybe even adults)
As you said, the snail will eat the eggs and get attacked by the adults.

I won't dare try anything with my shellies. I don't want anything to ruin their little 'village'. I just do water changes frequently and I have a powerful filter.

 

[DanL]

if you are ending up with alot of un-eaten food no your substrate then you are most likely feeding to much...

I had a 29 with 1m/7f WC ocellatus and the occies themselves kept the tank clean. I would not recomend putting any bottom feeders in a tank that small with occies...

 

[muzscman]

well, i feed them all a little extra once due to the fact that i hadn't fed them for a full day.....so that was the problem...they just didn't eat it...

i have a aquaclear 110 on that tank....i believe it pumps 500gph.....so i have a plenty powerful enough filter....

 

[C.L.O]

You could try kuhli loaches (http/www.loaches.com/species_pages/kloach.html), I've got 3 of them in with my Neolamprologus caudopunctatus and they are fine together, as long as there are hiding places for the kuhli's. Though rarely seen they do get all the uneaten food to help keep the tank clean.

 

[muzscman]

You could try kuhli loaches (http/www.loaches.com/species_pages/kloach.html), I've got 3 of them in with my Neolamprologus caudopunctatus and they are fine together, as long as there are hiding places for the kuhli's. Though rarely seen they do get all the uneaten food to help keep the tank clean.

those are pretty cool.....have to see if anywhere around here has any of them

 

[Angjo72]

Hiya,

Ph may be too high for the kuhli's! I know you said you had a snail, Im not sure what type of snail(s) you had in there, but my 2 to 3 inch snails never bother my shellies or their eggs! The shellies wont bother the snails, and the snails will clean up any uneaten food, AND the higher ph is great for their shells!

Kuhli'= "They accept a wide range of water chemistries - pH of 5.5 to 7.5 and hardness up to 200 parts per million (ppm) - although optimum values seem to be more like a pH of 6.3 to 6.8 and a hardness below 80 ppm. Cool temperatures are preferred (70 to 75 degrees Fahrenheit), but they will accept temperatures into the low 80s for short periods of time."

Sorry, but this ph and temp is too low for africans!! If your kuhli's survived in an african tank, it was either by luck.. OR the ph and temp were too low for africans! I would not suggest kuhli's! Maybe try a dwarf pleco or my before mentioned large apple snail, I dont think that the aggression of the shellies will damage the snails, it doesnt in my tank!!

Ang

 

[JeremyD]

I like ancistrus sp. in my african tanks, or syndontis multipunctatus. Both seem to do really well in the high pH and dont ever seem to be bothered by the fish.

 

[Angjo72]

Yeah, I have 6 of the syno multis(almost 3 inches!), but they do tend to go after my eggs and fry, the parents do a great job of fighting them off, but no one gets hurt (except a few eggs eaten here and there). Now my syno petricolas, which are about 2 1/2 inches (I have 4 of them) they dont really go out searching for eggs or fry, the tend to stay in one small area, whereas the multis will go on an expedition LOL

 

[muzscman]

1) what is a dwarf pleco...never seen one of these....i have a rubber lipped pleco in my 75 gallon that's not supposed to reach more than 5 inches...is that a dwarf?

2) i had a snail in there when i had them in a smaller tank and it crawled all over their shells......bothered the hell out of them.....it was a black mystery snail..

 

[Angjo72]

Hiya,

I have 3 of the dwarf plecos (mine are albino bushynose plecos!) Their max size is like 5 inches! Very peaceful and lovely plecos!

Well, I know in my tank I have one wild male about 3 inches wide, and he does go over the shells, but most of the shell openings are smaller than he is, so hes never gone inside to bother eggs.. The fish kinda disregard him LOL!!

Ang

 

[muzscman]

Hiya,

I have 3 of the dwarf plecos (mine are albino bushynose plecos!) Their max size is like 5 inches! Very peaceful and lovely plecos!

Well, I know in my tank I have one wild male about 3 inches wide, and he does go over the shells, but most of the shell openings are smaller than he is, so hes never gone inside to bother eggs.. The fish kinda disregard him LOL!!

Ang

i will look for those plecos.....

the snail i had would also go over the openings....but never inside....he is to big for that...