LFS cant help me

[Sarkis]

ok i was at my LFS today. I was looking at some otts. ( Going back to buy them tommorrow). I also decided i need a Bottom fish. Something that would eat the excess food from the bottem of the tank. They had no clue what i could get. The salesperson said flat out. I dont know what catfish would work with tiger barbs, Dwarf Gourami and a plec ANyone know if there is anything that i could get?

I searched the internet found many websites that show what fish get along with which fish, but could not find anything on bottom fish ( catfish)

 

[sunflower]

Well Corydoras are community cats but I'm a bit worried about the tiger barbs. How many do you have?

 

[Tempestuousfury]

How big is your tank?

Tiger barbs tend to be nippy, so the gourami might get nipped a lot.

Plecs get to over a foot in length (esp. if they are common) so you might not want to keep the one you have.

Bottom feeders should not be treated as "pooper-scoopers". You should not overfeed, so there should be no need for a fish that takes on such a task. You should treat these fish like any other fish, and feed and treat them accordingly.

If you have 8+ tiger barbs and thye only nip one another, then corydoras (aeneus or "bronze") should work well.

However, need tank info and water info before we can give you the most knowledgeable answers.

 

[Boggle]

I would recommend a couple of Bristlenose Pleco, they get to about 12.5cm, live for up to 12 years, but you need to have bogwood/driftwood in the tank.

Or, 4 or more Dwarf Ottos (Otocinclus affinis), which only grow to about 5 cm, live about 3 years.

With both, you need to feed spirulina/algae wafers.

 

[yhbae]

You could also try one of the smaller loaches. But I agree with the message above - you shouldn't rely on the bottom dwelling fishes to clean up the food - you should select the right food for all species and not overfeed them at the same time.
Sinking pelletes (such as New Life Spectrum small fish formula) works great for these bottom feeders.

 

[Al Bundy]

My angel fish are always eating off the bottom. Come to think of it, they eat from anywhere.

 

[MXPX4318]

yes I have learned that fish eat from anywhere, I dropped in some shrimp pellets for my corys and the white skirts, swords, and even otos were on it like white on rice, even though it was sitting on the bottom, they didn't care, I was really shocked that the otos found interest in the shrimp pellets... so yeah fish are just pigs with fins.