New dude

[RED TIGER OSCAR]

He guys im new and what to get a catfish what do you suggest and why
And maybe some helpful hints

THANKS

[westwood8183]

It would be helpful if you could tell us something about your tank, what size, how long has it been set up, and what type of inhabitants. Water parameters would be good too.

[dag]

Yes , it really does depend on your tank . I will say that if you have the room I would go for a columbian shark . Mine is just a great fish ! He spends most of his time following and nuzzling a parrot fish I have . Anytime the parrot takes up residence in a new cave or rock formation the columbian nuzzles his way in , which drives the parrot absolutely buggy . He rams away at the shark trying to drive him away but to no avail . This has gone on for about 5 months . It started when I had to move the columbians last best buddy to another tank ( this was a jewel cichlid that beat the crap out of all of the other fish except the columbian and actually seemed to enjoy his endless nuzzling ) . I would have moved the columbian with him but for the fact that I put him in my 33 gal with 3 other fairly aggressive cichlids . This new group of cichlids don't even have plecs in their tank as they go after everything but each other . I actually put snails in that tank as they keep it real clean and the cichlids don't bother them . I won't risk my columbians safety with those guys! Anyhoos , I know that they are fairly easy going , gorgious to look at ( like silver liquid ) and , in the case of mine , damn stubborn when it comes to amoure ! Watching them eat is cool as they have an impressive mouth and move back and forth scenting the water for the food and then BANG , they grab it . He is currently in a sand bottommed planted tank with some clown loaches , plecs , a bala shark , and three tinfoil barbs ( oh, and of course , the parrot ) . Tank size is 65 gal but by the end of summer I'll have a 120gal up and running ( As almost everything in the tank will get much much bigger ) . His eating is quite varied . When I first got him , he loved those hikari cichlid pellets and for months came up top to feed . Now he rarely comes up top and prefers to move around the bottom thru tunnels and plants and caves . He occasionally eats the frozen bloodworms , sometimes he prefers the flakes and even eats the occasional hikari sinking wafer ( which isn't his favorite . The one thing he just loves is frozen mysis shrimp , and usually just grabs it while still in a frozen lump and woofs it down . Of course the tinfoils quickly fall all over the mysis too and its always the most exciting feeding of the day . I really like the columbian and although I've heard they can get to the two foot range I will keep upgrading as much as necessary to keep this guy happy , he's a beaut ! Just be real careful and find out just how big they can get and how fast they will get there before buying . I've seen lots of two foot channel cats on sale for peanuts at the lfs , probably due to the fact that the people who bought them didn't think this cute 2 inch fish could become such a bohemouth . Anyways , now that I've apparently written an " ode to columbian sharks " hope you find a catfish you really like .

[RED TIGER OSCAR]

okay my tank is 33 gal is it okay

[dag]

When the shark is real tiny a 33 gal is probably okay ( this depends on what else is in there of course ) . My understanding is that at full size this would be a little small . Thats me though and I am SURE that there are people here who know much , much more than I do about this . I knew how big my fish would eventually get and thats why I will have the 120 gal next . After that I will probably keep on going up in size . Its really addictive , thats for sure . I just really hate to see fish shoehorned in like at some of the lfs's . I look in both my tanks and see that everyone has a place they seem to call theirs and lots of swimming room to boot , no one has been ripped up by another and territory seems adequate to avoid disputes , water quality is good etc and I think that at this point the room is good . Plan ahead though , thats what I recommend .
cheers
Dag