Switched to Cats

[BrookeLea]

After rehoming all my livebearers over the weekend, I was left with 3 cories in a 55 gallon tank. I know that cats love sand, so last night I switched over to sand and the cories absolutely loved it. I decided to go into the pet shop today to pick up some more cories, but when I got there, I found all sorts of other catfish and fell in love. I ended up leaving with a spotted raphael, a striped raphael, a farowella "twig" cat, and synodontis "upside-down" catfish. The raphaels pretty much stay out of sight, but the twig cat and the synodontis are pretty much visible. I LOVE all of them! They're all still young and rather small. The info that I got on their adult sizes are as follows:

Synodontis: 4.5 in
Farowella: 8 in
Striped Raphael: 8.5 in
Spotted Raphael:6 in
Cory Cat: 3 in

So, if my maths is correct, and if this info is also correct, I have 36 inches of fish in a 55 gallon. Does this leave me room for a common plec and an apple snail?

 

[andywg]

Common plec can get well past 12"; up towards 24", and are veritable poo machines, so I would leave him out of that tank.

Also, the raphaels are naturally shoaling and should be kept in shoals wherever possible (this also leads to them being more visible).

Which Synodontis is it? Synodontis is the genus in which quite a number of species reside, ranging from 2" to 8+" for adult size.

--Edited for bad grammar.

 

[BrookeLea]

Common plec can get well past 12"; up towards 24", and are veritable poo machines, so I would leave him out of that tank.

Also, the raphaels are naturally shoaling and should be kept in shoals wherever possible (this also leads to them being more visible).

Which Synodontis is it? Synodontis is the genus in which quite a number of species reside, ranging from 2" to 8+" for adult size.

--Edited for bad grammar.

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Thanks for the info. The man at the pet shop did not tell me that raphaels are shoaling. There was one more of each of them at the shop, so I'll go and pick them up today. Won't make much of a shoal...but it's more than there is now.

The man at the pet shop called it a synodontis eruptus. He's also hiding this morning and I'm about to go and look for him.

 

[CFC]

Synodontis eupterus can grow to around 8 inches and when adult can be a bit of a terror.

The twig cats also preffer some of their own kind for company.

 

[BrookeLea]

Synodontis eupterus can grow to around 8 inches and when adult can be a bit of a terror.

The twig cats also preffer some of their own kind for company.

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A terror...how? Do you think I should move him to his own tank? I've got some epty 10 gallons and an empty 30.

 

[CFC]

No no, it should be fine for now but when its bigger keep an eye out for it bullying the other fish.

 

[FishFreaks]

I agree with everything mentioned above. instead of a common i would go with a bushynose or rubberlip pleco. they stay fairly small and wont produce as much waste