Can I have a jaguar catfish

[Oceanica]

Or... and that has just occurred to me. Keep one (or a pair) Green Terror gold saum and one SA catfish? Green terrors are beautiful, aggressive fish with a lot of personality. They also grow big - I saw one at my LFS that was about 12", a whopper of a fish, and so amazingly colourful - it made the other fish look dull.

If you get a pair and keep your big catfish, you'll need very large weekly water changes, though - that's a lot of fish in a (relatively) small tank. That's even more true of your latest proposed mix - all those big catfish will foul your water very quickly.

[Kif]

From personal experience don't buy something saying "I will upgrade" because it never happens, either start with the 180 (which I still don't think is big enough) or pick something that will fit in your tank/tanks for life not just for now !
As has been pointed out on MFK your tank is not big enough, your going to end up with a stunted fish and what is responsible about that ?

[Viktor Jarikov]

It is possible EverythingFish will be an exception to the rule/statistics but overall I have to agree with Kif.

It is hard to overestimate the wisdom and, in the end, the humanity of this principle as it appears that 99%+ of keepers fail to realize their "upgrade" plans. I got burnt by this more times than I conveniently care to remember: accommodation first, fish second... accommodation first, fish second... and one must remember the utter importance of a QT tank.

As for "I can always sell it later or trade it in to an LFS"... many do it, actually great many do it but it appears that most serious keepers think this is a bad conscience. People don't buy mammals like that, puppies or kittens. Is fish a sub-standard pet?

Sure, things happen and pets become homeless or sheltered. One thing when it occurs against someone's plans and will and another when things like that are "in the plan".

[Divemaster]

You are right man, I will just go for several smaller doradids, maybe another striped raph, a spotted, and a chocolate if I have room. I made another stock post on MFK on my bottom feeder for 75 gallon thread if you want to see my idea.

[Viktor Jarikov]

I didn't mean to preach. Sorry. I am plenty guilty of "fish first, fish home second", guilty of not always having a QT tank, and guilty of questionable word choices when posting too.

One "loophole" involves a scenario wherein the "grow-outer" has a friend with whom they agree that the friend will take the "grown-out" fish (for free) and has the right accommodations and skills to care for the fish to the end.

[knifegill]

You should forget about the non-catfish and take MY two jaguar catfish for free! PM me or I'll never find this thread again, if you end up wanting them.