Starting Cat tank, suggestions?

[toehead11183]

hello, im new to the forum but not to fishkeeping. I have a 150 long that i'm slowly getting ready for a catfish tank. I just have a few more fish to sell off.
A little about the tank:
As stated, a 150L
filter 1050gph (7Xhr)
2-3' strip lights but i'm taking one down to dim the lights
2-250W marineland stealth heaters
The tank is decorated with silica sand with alittle tahitian moon sand mixed in.
Decor is 2 large pieces of mopani driftwood, a few smaller pieces, a few large river stones and a 2' rock cave.

I have been keeping fish for 13+ years, worked at local fish shop and kept most everything availible in the Memphis Tn area Icluding cichlids, piranhas, electric eels, loaches etc. Meaning i have kep every catfish availible here also. I've had channel cats, synos, sun cats, corys, plecos, madtoms, banjos, pictus, otocinclus and some as small as bumblebee cats. Working at the fish shop we sold Lima and tiger shovelnose but i never kept them myself.

I found a vendor that can get most anything i want and being catfish are my favorite, i thought id set up a tank for them. I know i want another albino chanel cat, a lima shovelnose and a common pleco. I can put the channel cat out in the pond like the others who outgrew the tank. Can any of you catfish people suggest me anything? I really like oddballs like O.niger, eel tails and anything else outof the ordinary.

thanks in advance...Toe

[Richard B]

Welcome to Planet Catfish

you really have so much to choose from. I suggest you have a look through cat-e-log & identify anything you like the look of - then we can advise you better

If you are going for a lima it cuts down the smaller species due to the predatory nature so you could opt for some medium sized doradids, pims, etc

[toehead11183]

Ive been looking through the CateLong for months now but there are so many to choose from. Problem is, there are so many speciese without common names and that are just not found in the trade.
I asked ya'll because ya'll might know better what is more availible for the fish trade.

Also, alot of the fish are either 6" or 6', hard to keep or too agressive. so i'm asking ya'll whats that medium of 12-20" fish that can be kepy together without kill/eating each other or costing me a fortune and can be found semi-easily.

[racoll]

Problem is, there are so many speciese without common names and that are just not found in the trade.
I asked ya'll because ya'll might know better what is more availible for the fish trade.

You can tell how available a species is in the trade usually by the numbers of "My Cats" registered keepers. There are some exceptions (like

Hypancistrus zebra

), but usually it is fairly accurate.

What dimensions are your tank? What is your tapwater like?

[toehead11183]

tank is 72"Lx18"Wx27"D

Tap water: pH7.0 Amm0, Nitra0, nitri0, Hard/soft:? no extremes

[Martin S]

OK, going on the rule that the tank should be at least should be 4 x fish length, 2 x fish height and 2 x fish width, then the maximum size is around 9" (as your tank is 18" wide). If you use the advanced search, and limit the size to, say 9", then you will get a fair few results (well, actually max of 100). If you then limit the range from, say, 8" to 9", then that list will be much shorter, and hopefully easier to look through.
This will give you the first 100 fish in the 7-9" range http://www.planetcatfish.com/catelog/se ... esults=100
Of course, if you want to limit it by family, say pimelodae, then you can do that too.
Predatory cats may cause you problems with other tankmates, but may be more active, whereas many of the non-loricarids, like the auchenipterids, have a habit of disappearing into any hole or dark corner they can find.
I guess what I'm saying is - you need to decide what sort of catfish you want - shoaling, predatory etc, and that should help us make some suggestions.
HTH
Martin

[racoll]

I think your tank is too narrow for an active predatory pim type.

Here is my list of interesting, available, medium sized, and not too active catfish. What you want will also depend on what other fish will be in the tank. Will it be a community or a species tank?

Channallabes apus

Chrysichthys ornatus

Parauchenoglanis guttatus

Batrochoglanis raninus

Pseudopimelodus bufonius

Synodontis angelicus

Ompok pabda

Chaca chaca

Bagrichthys macracanthus

Callichthys callichthys

Hoplosternum littorale

Platydoras costatus

Hypostomus sp(l037)

Planiloricaria cryptodon

Pseudacanthicus spinosus

Panaque sp(l351)

[toehead11183]

Thanks alot for the list. I really like your suggestions. I'm going to try to hunt down the following:

Channallabes apus
Chrysichthys ornatus
Parauchenoglanis guttatus
Batrochoglanis raninus
Chaca chaca
Bagrichthys macracanthus
Planiloricaria cryptodon
Pseudacanthicus spinosus
and the Lima i wanted originally

My only concerns are the apus escaping. I have a 2" gap along the back for filters. and what about the chacas tendancy to lower the pH. Is it that much of a worry in 150 gallons?
Are any of these going to going to conflict with each other in a 150?
I apologize for all the questions. I think hearing person experiences along with written information make a huge difference when purchacing new fish.

[Richard B]

you can fill the gap with scrunched up fish bags as Channallabes are great escape artists. I have kept these with C.Ornatus & Parauchenoglanis with no problems. In fact i have mixed it with many other cat's with no issues.

I don't think all the species you list will mix well - i'd avaoid the Chaca as these do better in a species tank or a tank with fish that are not at all active

[racoll]

I don't think all the species you list will mix well

Just to reiterate what Richard said, the list I proposed does not imply that all those fish can be mixed, as many have different needs.

and the Lima i wanted originally

Also, I think that tank is too narrow for

Sorubim lima

in the long term.