Small 'Showtank' ideas, K.minor?

[L number Banana]

Reading other thread about what people would put with what and how it would change depending on what the tank is used for - show, sharing with other hobbyists, breeding etc. Whether they would keep a species tank or what..

Sooo, my small 'Showtank' is the one in the livingroom that is meant to get other people addicted and give me pleasure. A fish TV.

It's empty!
The 'screen' is 36" wide 18" tall but only 12" front to back. 33gal

Substrate choices are black flat pebbles, black granite chunks, slate, pink granite chunks and natural brown smooth sand.

Plants are a must but I think I'm going with just a backdrop of grasses.

Obviously I'm looking for smallish catfish. The only other fish that have caught my eye are Rummynose tetras. Need to figure out the fish before I put any substrate in and it's ready to go. Bio filter is being juiced up in another tank.

Love bumblebees but they're too nocturnal for this tank.
I don't have access to that many cats so something like L200's are out.
My 'source' for interesting cats has dried up and blown away so Akysis are not easily available either (if they ever were... )
No synos around here except hybrids.

Which fish got YOU hooked on catfish?

[Fish]

Not sure on catfish as I'm just starting my self but for normal fish I've just bought some Harlequin Rasbora which look good and school well and maybe Rineloricaria Parva?

[Suckermouth]

If you're looking for catfish, I'd throw out Corydoras pygmaeus. It's a middle-dweller, but still a catfish, and extremely small. They are also active during the day. Furthermore, they are not extremely rare.

[wrasse]

Okay - start with the rummynose tetras that you have decided on. These fish like warm, well-oxygenated, soft, acidic water (or at least neutral conditions). They are happy in discus tanks, but for a non-discus community I'd aim for around 80-82degf.
That temp rules out most corydoras species. Be careful that the cat you choose doesn't make a meal of the tetras.
Consider smaller ancistrus, sturisoma, whiptails, otocinclus, glass cats and smaller pleco species such as hypancistrus.

[DJ-don]

hello
i think you would want a very active catfish so i wouldnt really look into nocturnal fish like africans

i would think a group of about 6-10 otos will look fabulous. my otos are literally mini spaz machines in a show tank in our dining room

maybe some L204? never keeped them myself but i heard they are active during the day
maybe some corydoras-sterbais perhaps?

[L number Banana]

Hmm some lovely ideas but maybe I should start again by ruling out the cats I already keep in other tanks:

Otocinclus vittatus

Megalechis thoracata

Farlowella Vittata

,Farlowella amazon type,Farlowella oxy or hahni, Farlowella hybrids

Hypancistrus sp(l401)

, will never find another..

Panaque maccus

x 4
Marbled Hatchets

Microglanis Iheringi

Corydoras Paleatus

Corydoras Trilineatus

I have never been able to find any other corys except for a by-catch(?) and albino C aenus. Would love to have C.panda but those seem to be my bane-fish. Maybe I'll try them if others fit the temp etc. No

Corydoras pygmaeus

anywhere to be found.

DJ-Don wrote:

i would think a group of about 6-10 otos will look fabulous. my otos are literally mini spaz machines in a show tank in our dining room

Have otos in the tank with the Flat nosed Farlowella and L401. But a giant school would look fabulous and they are very playful!

maybe some L204? never keeped them myself but i heard they are active during the day

Would love them but no luck at my fish shops, only 'plecos' are the clowns and monster-fish. I've tried to get a pim pictus tank going but the stock at the local LFSs don't last long enough to take a chance.

Wrasse:

Okay - start with the rummynose tetras that you have decided on.

Not decided on anything yet, just thought that they are beautiful and available.

Consider smaller ancistrus, sturisoma, whiptails, otocinclus, glass cats and smaller pl*co species such as hypancistrus

Only thing on that list that I can find but don't have are the glass cats,

Kryptopterus minor

. Now there's a good idea. I've always wanted to keep them and never had the chance. Life is short, here's my chance.
SOLD!

Here's the Cat of the Month entry for them : http://www.planetcatfish.com/cotm/cotm. ... icle_id=47
Temps are 21-26, PH is 5.5-6.5 AND they like plants

I've changed the title of the thread a bit to hopefully get the attention of any glass cat owners.
Can I put 6 in a 36 long x 18 high x 12 wide 33gal?
I was told to buy them together otherwise you will have the new fish form a separate tribe from the existing fish. True or false?
Life span?
Any food other than the species page list?
Susceptible to anything in particular?
Will do the black pebbles and black granite substrate unless it would freak them out. Do they ever 'use' the bottom of the tank?
Will other mid water fish freak them out? Tetras, rasboras and Danios were recommended but this tank isn't that big, will it be a problem with a couple shoals swimming in the same area?

Do they jump often?
Would they bug other catfish like plecos? Hara jerdoni?
If they 'sleep' at night, could they live with a group of SA bumblebees or would the night time activity give them insomnia?

If I ever find a Pim pictus group that has lived in the LFS for more than two weeks without getting ich, could I make a two-species tank with those AND the glass cats only?

Ooo, I'm so excited, like Sim-Aquarium game! Planning planning..
Thanks so far, any other ideas/suggestions?

[wrasse]

They're not a problem fish in any way. If you buy the same species from different shops, they will shoal together.
They can be a bit susceptible to white spot at first, but if you provide the conditions they like, that can be avoided.
Go get...

[racoll]

I would also vote for the

Kryptopterus minor

as sole centrepiece in a display tank (with maybe a few algae eaters).

A big group (about 16) in a planted tank would definitely have the wow factor. They are also about the right size not to get lost in there, or look too big.

When you view them with an actinic "blue moon" lamp, they just glow blue, like in this photo, but better. Its amazing!

Plants are a must but I think I'm going with just a backdrop of grasses

With a rich substrate, Vallisneria will grow like crazy, even in harder water with no CO2. The glass cats would love it too.

Good luck. I hope you go for this option.

[L number Banana]

Racoll wrote:

A big group (about 16) in a planted tank would definitely have the wow factor. They are also about the right size not to get lost in there, or look too big.
When you view them with an actinic "blue moon" lamp, they just glow blue, like in this photo, but better. Its amazing!

One of the tubes in that light is the actinic blue. Too bad Danios don't like water that warm, they have spectacular Blue/green/purple colours under those lights.
I'm ordering more flourite to pot the plants in and the plants are the Vals I took from the original setup, growing like weeds but good weeds! I think I can get the entire back glass covered in short order. Mossballs have multiplied nicely too. Flattened one out into a custom cave.

Do you think such a large group would be too much? It's a showtank because it's in the open but a small one, only 33 gals, small footprint but 18 tall and 36 wide.
They will be the only ones in there once it's set up and stable so it will act as my QT too, so if anyone's going to get spots or whatever, It will be taken care of ASAP. I'll ask the fish shop to order them for me and see if they'll keep them for a couple weeks before I bring them home.

After everyone is happy, I'll see what I can find for tankmates.
If I can 'hitch up' with Hitch from Toronto, I'll be able to find just about anything. Maybe some veggie eater plecos for the bottom?
I also have to get one red Betta for the hubby.

[Fish]

I'd give you my pictus but you're just a little bit too far

[Birger]

I would also vote for the Kryptopterus minor as sole centrepiece in a display tank (with maybe a few algae eaters).

A big group (about 16) in a planted tank would definitely have the wow factor. They are also about the right size not to get lost in there, or look too big.

I think you would really like these.

Do you think such a large group would be too much?

IMO no

[hydrophyte]

I don't quite see if whether have an opinion on them but I would like to cast second vote for Corydoras pygmeus. At least on our side of the border they are cheap and readily available and have such an entertaining way of swimming about, especially in a largish group.

My all-time favorite group of fishes next to cats are the goodeids. A groupof healthy adult goodeids can make an awesome display. Here is my most favorite species of all, Ilyodon furcidens...big, dumb and pretty.



A group of five or six of those would look great in this tank, but I think you might have indicated that you keep the water temperature warm. These fish fare best in cooler tank water.

[racoll]

Do you think such a large group would be too much?

Its hard to say, but they are pretty small, so they do have a limited biological footprint, so to speak.

Perhaps start off with about eight, and see how that works out?

Too bad Danios don't like water that warm, they have spectacular Blue/green/purple colours under those lights.

I would make the glass cats the sole centrepiece, so I wouldn't include any other fishes, apart from algae eaters like

Ancistrus

or

Farlowella

.

If you find they are shy, then maybe add more plants, bogwood branches and dim the lighting. Maybe some small dithers like Boraras or Trigonostigma would work too, but hopefully wouldn't detract from the glass cat display.

[RoseFishWatcher]

K. minor look really nice with some slight window light too. When the light comes in from the side they glimmer like rainbows.

[L number Banana]

RoseFishWatcher
K. minor look really nice with some slight window light too. When the light comes in from the side they glimmer like rainbows.

Love your avatar Can't put this tank near the window, too hard on my heaters brrrr! BUT I do have a blue actinic light that give those luscious colours!

Racoll wrote:If you find they are shy, then maybe add more plants, bogwood branches and dim the lighting. Maybe some small dithers like Boraras or Trigonostigma would work too, but hopefully wouldn't detract from the glass cat display.

I'll stick with the Glass Cats for now and after all is healthy and hale, I'll look for friends to live on the bottom floor. I've read that Glass Cats will relax a bit with the addition of floating plants so I have banana plants that I can keep to the back while their leaves float on the surface, same for lilies.

Hydrophyte wrote:I would like to cast second vote for Corydoras pygmeus

I'm going to be using the flat smooth pebbles so I think the tiny corys would do okay there but I'm not decided on them yet. I'm going to have a look at the advanced search and see what else is available that stays small. I still like the c. pandas too and they could live with the glass cats taking over the top and middle.

My all-time favorite group of fishes next to cats are the goodeids.

Nice! I had to look those up, had never heard of them. It looks like many of them are quite rare and there's lots of terrific conservation activities going on. They get kind of big for my 'second fish' choice but they would look lovely in some of my other tanks. I take it you're a member of http://www.goodeids.com?

Would like to find some decent priced

otocinclus cocama

but they still seem to be iffy in survival rate. Anyone other than Glenny having luck with these?

Okay so we've got things ready to go, sort of. Putting in a safe outlet (GFI) on Sunday. Will add the pebbles and granite and keep the back open for the plants after the flourite arrives. Move the primed filter and put it onto the back to create two different areas, current and calm. Post pics once there's something to show

Still open to bottom fish ideas. What about 'weird' fish like little eel type things or kuhli loaches? Are there big enough shrimps out there to not get eaten? Weird is good. Weather loaches are weird, will look up stuff like that. If the cats are the centerpiece, that's all that matters. No snails, I'm all snailed-out. and I don't need to decide yet.

[racoll]

What about 'weird' fish like little eel type things or kuhli loaches?

Both (Pangio spp. and small Macrognathus spp.) would be excellent tankmates, but not with a sharp flourite substrate! They both like to burrow, so need sand.

Otocinclus cocama

would be cool. The best idea with these expensive and delicate fish, is to reserve them, and wait a month or so to let them acclimate/recover in the shop. The problem is, the LFS have to know how to treat them correctly. Most don't and they lose them all!

[DJ-don]

how about celestial (or celstrial-dunno which it is actually) danios?

[L number Banana]

Racoll wrote:

Both (Pangio spp. and small Macrognathus spp.) would be excellent tankmates, but not with a sharp flourite substrate! They both like to burrow, so need sand.

For this tank, the flourite would be in pots only but I had it on the back 1/3 of this aquarium before I took it apart and the corys would snuffle around in it just as much as they would in the silica sand on the front portions. They all still have lovely long barbels so I think it's not as sharp as it looks BUT that being said, the ones mentioned above may not like the flat pebbles I was going to use either

I'm trying to get a tank going without sand because I'm just useless at keeping it clean enough. The yoyo loaches bury themselves in the same pebbles in another tank and even though it's really noisy, it seems to almost appear enjoyable! They're somewhat river-polished so they're very smooth.

Maybe I should give sand another shot, I have a new bag of natural colour silica sand. How do you guys keep your sand nice and clean? I always end up vacuuming some of it up when I do water changes. After my last snail fiasco, I don't want any at all. Maybe the kuhli and weather eels would keep it nicely mixed up?

DJ-don:
how about celestial (or celstrial-dunno which it is actually) danios?

I think they like it a bit cooler than I've been aiming at. I'll have to look that up to be sure. They are pretty stunning fish too.