Looking For A Catfish To Suit

[mattlee]

as a few of you will be aware i have been setting up a 6.5x2x2 tank. in the tank so far are -

1 x rotkeil severum
1 x BGK
1 x SAE
1 x L190

on saturday i am getting -

1 x oscar
1 x diadema acara

i am also planning on adding a group of maybe 5 firemouths at a later date.

anyway i had chosen sun catfish as my elected bottom feeders but have had a change of heart.... i dont know why and i already have got 2 small 3 inch suncats in a grow out tank so i am looking for ideas for a single catfish of about 9 inches ish or a couple of about 6 inches ish, this doesnt have to be exact just a guide. as all of my tank now seems to be central or southern american with exception of the SAE i wouldnt mind following this trend. ideally i would like to find a decent sized specimin as the oscar is about 12-14 inches and the diadema is about 7-8 inches so the cats need to be bigger than mouth size! i have the eoption of growing them out in a rio 180 but would rather buy a bit bigger if poss to save this job.

any suggestions please fire away

 

[Wills]

Sorbium Lima aka Lima Shovelnose - gets to about a foot does well on their own but also in trios really nice fish. Jaguar catfish are really good too - slow growing though and quite expensive but stunning again either singles or groups quite inactive though - Or I just found this family recently Ageneiosus slopehead catfish I really like them seen sp.Blue on the pier aquatics blog and its quite drool worthy

Wills

 

[Gaz_S]

Black Lancer can be hard to find but beautiful one in leeds few week ago going for £30 well worth it.

 

[kizno1]

I would go for a Jaguar catfish or Pimelodus ornatus thats what plan on for my 150G. Sorbium lima are great cats but need to be in groups and do best in wide tanks because since they get 16" SL and have a tendency to get spooked and swim really fast into the glass breaking there nose they do best in tanks atleast 3 foot wide when fully grown.

 

[walkers101]

Frogmouth cat

 

[always4lora]

Go with sorubim lima, i had one and it was awsome was about 14 inch and only £20 from maidenhead aquatics.

 

[mattlee]

Frogmouth cat

i thought shovel nose cats got bigger than 12 inch.

i like the jaguar catfish. ill keep an eye out for one but im sure they arent a common sale

 

[N0body Of The Goat]

Not American, but how about an Asian Upside Down Catfish, Mystus leucophasis?
http/www.planetcatfish.com/catelog/species.php?species_id=21

They reach ~11" and their fiesty temprement should help it defend itself!

 

[Wills]

Jaguars are quite rare but still findable without a doubt - if your a regular at Wharf I would be amazed if they cant find it.

Tiger shovel nose cats get massive and there are other massive species out there but Sorbium Lima has a maximum size of 16 inches but that is rare most get to 12 both in the wild and in tanks - they are mostly wild caught I think as well.

Wills

 

[MartinS]

I'd say no to limas with your stocklist - they will be outcompeted for food and are too relaxed to be mixed with your cichlid suggestions.
Jaguar (and false jaguar) catfish (Liosomadoras oncinus and L.morrowi) would be better suited, as would any of the smaller doras, such as Platydoras, Acanthodoras or Orinocodoras.
If you want an active catfish, then only the smaller pims (P.pictus, P.ornatus or P.blochi) at a good size will really work, and you would need to have a shoal of minimum 4 to get them to act normally.
HTH
Martin

 

[mattlee]

i ended up buying a jaguar catfish at the weekend and im picking a 2nd up on saturday so im sorted now

wouldnt mind a third jag though

 

[MartinS]

True jags or false? What size?

 

[mattlee]

True jags or false? What size?

true jags. the one i have currently is about 5-6 inches abd the one im getting on saturday is about 5 inches

 

[crazyforcordoras]

I would suggest a striped raphael cat. They get 8.5 inches long. Or a congicus synodontis cat. they are grayish with 2 black spots on each side,they get 8 inches.