stocking advice

[matt davidson]

Hi all, was wondering if I could get some advice. Im trying to set up an all catfish themed tank, hopefully with a pack of 5-8 pictus cats, probably a group of cories (havnt decided what species yet, any advice?) and maybe a M/F pair of bristlnoses.

My main worry is that Im setting up a new tank (planted)- 4ft long x 1.5ft deep x 1 ft wide- and all these species need a mature tank. Any ideas on species that would be happy in a new tank, and would fit in with the above species, to keep it ticking over for the first few months? Also would this setup be too bottom heavy?

Finally any suggestions on alternatives to the pictus cats? I.e. suitable for a 4' tank, and nice and active.

Thanks for any advice you could give- very much appreciated

Matt

[Richard B]

Welcome to Planet Catfish

The mix you suggest sounds fine to me in principle but would not be great for cory breeding as the pictus are a bit too active, perhaps even for general compatibility. You can have the tank running for a while before adding fish - maturation can be speeded up by transferring mature filter media, mature sand across & using products like BluStart (by Ferplast). You can add common bristlenose first as they are quite hardy (

Ancistrus cf_cirrhosus

). A couple of weeks later if all is well, a small shoal of corys could be added, choose something like bronze, rabauti,zygatus, metae - don't go for more sensitive types like robinae, atropersonatus (ask us if there is a particular species you like) if you go for pictus add them last.

These are all SA fish but you could replace the pictus with

Mystus bimaculatus

for a slightly more compatible mix as long as you don't mind mixing continents.

[matt davidson]

Cheers for the welcome, and the quick reply
Im getting more and more attatched to the idea of a pack of pictus, so would probably plan the rest of the tank around them.
I was originally thinking of a group of panda cories, as theyr pretty easy to get hold of (UK)- would these be ok? If not then I'll probably try and get hold of some metae. Also, what size group would you reccommend?
Oh, and what kind of area in the tank do pictus usually stick to? are they primarily bottom dwellers too?
Thanks

[nvcichlids]

Welcome to Planet Catfish

These are all SA fish but you could replace the pictus with

Mystus bimaculatus

for a slightly more compatible mix as long as you don't mind mixing continents.

I wish these were available around me

[Richard B]

Cheers for the welcome, and the quick reply
Im getting more and more attatched to the idea of a pack of pictus, so would probably plan the rest of the tank around them.
I was originally thinking of a group of panda cories, as theyr pretty easy to get hold of (UK)- would these be ok? If not then I'll probably try and get hold of some metae. Also, what size group would you reccommend?
Oh, and what kind of area in the tank do pictus usually stick to? are they primarily bottom dwellers too?
Thanks

Panda would be ok (maybe 6 in a shoal).

The vast majority (although not all) catfish are indeed bottom dwellers, which includes the pictus.