Non-Fish

[matt_penny1]

Hi all,

bit of advice needed!

Although I love my fish, every now and again I revert to a 16 yo boy and my love of creepy crawlies comes out,

I'm after some advice on what inverts I can add to my tropical setup,

I have a 24x12x15 tank with

1x Albino catfish ( is this actually a species or an albino version of another species)
3x Cherry Barbs
and 6 Zebra Danios

I was thinking something snail like, to help with algie (excuse the spelling)
possible something crabby for the same reason.

I love blue lobsters but have a feeling my fishy friends wouldn't feel the same!

maybe shrimps 2, but a bit boring for my liking.

I guess that the stocking guidelines for inverts would be different than for fish, with them mainly only habiting the bottom of the tank, but i'm ready to be corrected.

thanks in advance for your help.

 

[Erised]

You might want to post this in the Invertebrates + Amphibians section on this forum instead. I think you'll get more replies there Or a mod can move it ofcourse

 

[clutterydrawer]

hi matt_penny

does your albino catfish look like this?

if so he is the albino colour form of corydoras aeneus, the bronze cory. these are a shoaling fish so you should get him at least two more friends. If not, then he is an albino form of anotehr species.

your tank is quite heavily stocked but as for inverts you could try some amano shrimp, these eat algae.

 

[matt_penny1]

Looks nothing like that, sorry.

looks more horizontal than vertical (if you get what I mean) and has a lot more and longer "whiskers" the mouth looks more like a slit on the front of it's head (rather than downturned)

will have to try and get a pic on my phone and post it when i get home!

thanks again

 

[clutterydrawer]

hmm how curious...doesn't sound like anyhting im familiar with, if you can get a piccy post it in the CAtfish forum and maybe someone can ID it for you.

 

[matt_penny1]

Will do, I'm kindda curious now, looking at the Cat chats, looks like none of them!

does a strange thing where it sits face to face with my mountain shrimp and just tap "whiskers" like an underwater morse code, has also been seen relaxing in some of the plants hammock style! i call him homer! DOH!

when brought (from the fantastic fish and bits in prestatyn btw) was labled up albino catfish, thats all it said!


thanks all

 

[SirMinion]

Sounds like an albino pangasius catfish. They get BIG!

 

[matt_penny1]

I have been fishing in france and caught 75lb catfish! i guess not that big? but how big?

 

[The-Wolf]

the cat fish is it like this?

 

[matt_penny1]

Nope, not like that either, i tried to get a pic on my phone this morning but to no avail,

acording to my local fishy shop (rhyl aquaria), its gonna grow to about 3ft and eat everything in my tank!!! ouch.

it was brought at the same time as some zebras and wasn't told that would eat them all!

Touch wood, as yet it hasn't eaten anything apart from an already dead cherry barb.

never mind, back to the fish shop it will go, shame it was a character!

 

[guppler]

Hi
I also have mostly just fish and would like to add different critters. I think I'll get a dwarf frog eventually and I'd like to find some kind of newt or salamander that will work. They would go in my 30 gallon comunity tank.

You mention something snailish. Most of us probably get some kind of pond snail with plants. I actually got a few on purpose to help with algae, and sometimes they get a bit too numerus, but they do help with algae. My goldfish got big enough to eat the pond snails, so I bought them a mystey snail. It has a yellow shell and white body with neon orange snowflakes. she has lots of babies too now. watching her babies has gotten me more interested in my other snails. Most are only a few mms long, but some have interesting patterns on them, almost like lace if you use your imagination. I also noticed that I have a third species of snail, which I think are ram's horns, but I'm not sure yet. These have a flatter spiral and a few of mine have light colloured shells with black speckles, so they look almost like little pinto beans, some more goldish, some more pinkish. I only paid for the one mystery snail. All the rest were free.

You also mention shrimp, but thought they might be boring. I've seen a lot if interesting shrimp. The most interesting ones need saltwater, so wouldn't go in your tank. The only ones I have personal experience with are ghost shrimp. They are sold cheep as feeders, but they do help clean up debris and I think they are fun to watch. They crawl and swim and if you have several you might not have to look as hard to find them. I like to say they are invisible because they are transparent. Mine have never lived very long, but I might go and get more, since you reminded me. (by not living long i mean from a few weeks to a few months, generally.) shrimp are generally more active than snails and if you have time to sit and watch you can see their tiny hands (maxilipeds?) moving really fast when they eat, and the food handed from claw to hand to hand to mouth and going down their throat when they swallow and all, because they are see-thru.

 

[lsmall]

Hi,

I've got a few shrimp and they're really not all that boring. As well, many are good algae eaters. The 3 types which I've had are:

Ghost shrimp: They're a little boring, but fun to watch. Good bottom feeders. Don't eat much alagae. Very cheap.
Amano (japonicum) shrimp: They're kind of cool, they like to eat algae. They have now taken up residence in my driftwood, so I don't see them too often. Pretty cheap.
Cherry red shrimp: These are cool and like to eat algae. They develop nice colour. They're more expensive than the Amanos or ghost shrimp and harder to find. $4-6 each. They also usually come pretty small, so you may need to fatten them up in an isolation tank, because the small ones will get eaten by fish and you'll have wasted your money.

There are many other freshwater shrimp that are very interesting. I don't know much about them though. Off the top of my head, there's a bamboo "somethingor other" shrimp which gets pretty big and is pretty cool.

Good luck