Catfish for Planted Tank

ranchwest · Post by **ranchwest** » 28 May 2003, 19:36

I am setting up a (very) planted tank and I like catfish. I am aware of the common choices, cories, otos, whiptail. Any other recommendations? There will also be some fairly small fish in the tank, so nothing with a large mouth, please.

Andy · Post by **Andy** » 28 May 2003, 21:50

How about a couple of raphaels or talking catfish. They are shy but should be a good choice if you've got some form of hiding place for them. The spotted raphaels shouldn't be too greedy and they are one of the smaller species.

Post by **Barbie** » 28 May 2003, 22:01

An often overlooked fish that you might really enjoy in your tank, is the debauwi cat. They school tightly and are really interesting to watch. They don't get too large, and are usually available. Another neat fish for a planted tank is a large school of aspidoras. They're busy all of the time, but you can add more of them, due to their tiny size.

I just finished getting my planted tank set back up after the move, and its going to contain threadfin rainbows, blue rams, cardinal tetras, amano shrimp, otocinclus and botia sidthimunki. I'm starting to get excited about getting the fish ordered. I have the botias already. Now hopefully I can just keep myself from finding more interesting small fish that I've been looking for

Barbie

BIGblue · Post by **BIGblue** » 28 May 2003, 22:51

How about some zamora (wood) cats [Auchenipterichthys Thoracatus]. They do well in planted tanks, but you may want to throw at least one piece of driftwood in there for them.

There are also plenty of loricariidae to choose from: bristlenose, bulldod (rubbernose) pleco, leporacanthicus...

You never said how big the tank is so its kinda hard to say what you can keep in your tank. It would help a lot if you gave us some info about your tank.

ranchwest · Post by **ranchwest** » 29 May 2003, 00:07

It is a 100 gallon tank. It will arrive tomorrow, but there won't be much going in it in the first month or so. That joselimei is pretty awesome. How rough are those on plants?

Zack · Post by **Zack** » 29 May 2003, 01:28

How about some P. Gracillus?? Or some gold shadow cats?? Or some oil cats?? Or clown plecos?? Or blue panaque?? I dont know much about these fish except the pim and the goldshadows, But i know they all are under four inches and wont eat your other fish.

BIGblue · Post by **BIGblue** » 29 May 2003, 01:38

ranchwest wrote:How rough are those on plants?

I don't have any plants with my joselimai, but he doesn't touch any kind of vegetation that I've ever put in there. I'm sure he'll do fine.

Pooks73 · Post by **Pooks73** » 29 May 2003, 05:00

it's not really a cat, but clown loaches are always nice in a planted tank. i've got 7 in my 90 gallon planted discus tank.

Post by **Silurus** » 29 May 2003, 09:04

Seven clown loaches in a 90-gallon is terribly crowded. Bearing in mind that the fish will reach 30 cm (12") full grown, I'sd say you need about 300 gallons to house the lot properly.

Pooks73 · Post by **Pooks73** » 29 May 2003, 15:35

i am aware of their final size, and i am also aware of the fact that it is rare for a clown to reach over 6" in captivity, and when they do, it takes a very long time. they are only about 2" right now, and sometime in the future will be upgraded to a 125 or 150. the 12" size of clowns is a wild measurement, not at all common in the home aquaria.

ranchwest · Post by **ranchwest** » 29 May 2003, 15:41

Pooks73 wrote:it's not really a cat, but clown loaches are always nice in a planted tank. i've got 7 in my 90 gallon planted discus tank.

Not to worry, clown loaches are near the top of my list. As soon as I get the tank established a bit, I'll get about 7 myself. Overcrowded? Improve filtration, do more water changes. Tanks are meant to be occupied.