Need some help choosing a catfish!

zmazza · Post by **zmazza** » 07 Feb 2006, 22:02

I know this is probably the wrong place to post this, but I couldn't find anything related to general catfish advice.

I have a few questions that I hope you can answer for me.

1.) To save my life I can't keep a pleco or any catfish for that matter for longer than 2 weeks. Despite my futile efforts to provide the best care and the biggest tank possible, they allways succumb. I'm not sure what I am doing wrong. The pH on my tank is 8.3 and the temperature stays around 78-80. I do 30-40% water changes weekly. I found out when I first started keeping fish again that 'algae eaters' will not thrive off the algae on the glass alone. So with that knowledge I bought some algae wafers, but to no avail. What am I doing wrong? Is this just a fish that I am destined to never be able to keep?

2.) I just purchased a new 40 gallon breeder that I can't WAIT to stock. I'm wanting to put a jack dempsey and a small school of dither fish, as well as a catfish of some sort. I'm hoping that someone here can point me in the right direction or recommend a good catfish for my tank that will be compatible with the jack dempsey.

3.) Do any of you have any advice on how to care for catfishes? I know it may sound like a dumb question, but I can't seem to make it work!

Thanks in advance for all the help.

smiffertins · Post by **smiffertins** » 07 Feb 2006, 23:19

Welcome!

What kind of plecs/cats have you tried to keep? I would suggest going to a LFS (Local-Fish-Store) and writing down the names of catfish and plecos that you like. Then come back here and go to the "Cat-eLog" and look up each individual name you wrote down. That's what I usually do when I'm unsure about a specific species of catfish. There is so much useful info on the cat-elog; adult size, feeding requirements, correct temp and pH needed, what types of other fish it can live happily with, ect, ect, ect.

I have 4 different types of plecs and not a single one of them will eat "sinking algae wafers", so you should definitely make sure you double check what foods your potential new pet will like. "Shane's world" has a few articles you might want to read:

Pleco Care
"Feeding Plecos" by Mats Petersson
"The Proper Way To Condition Plecos" by Larry Vires
Natural Catfish Aquarium
"Understanding habitats" by Shane Linder
"Materials and Techniques" by Shane Linder
The Catfish Basics Series
"Choosing and Housing Your Catfish" by Julian Dignall

"Feeding Your Catfish" by Chris Ralph
"How To See Your Catfish" by Chris Ralph
"The Families of the Order Siluriformes" by Shane Linder
"Filtration" by Shane Linder
"Selection, Acclimatization, and Quarantine" by Shane Linder

I left some out, but you can browse around... I'm sorry, but I don't know anything about jack dempseys! Good Luck!![/color]

zmazza · Post by **zmazza** » 07 Feb 2006, 23:35

Wow! What a helpful reply. I'll read those articles as soon as I get a chance.

Thanks again!

smiffertins · Post by **smiffertins** » 07 Feb 2006, 23:47

You are very welcome!

zmazza · Post by **zmazza** » 07 Feb 2006, 23:58

I don't know if I mentioned it in the post above or not, but my tank is 36x18x15. The list that you sent me on choosing the right catfish didn't include those dimensions. I know it's just a recommendation though, but I think the fact that it's 18" wide makes a huge difference in what I can keep. I'll see what I can find as far as some of the syndontis catfish go... thats a common pleco right?

SorubimLima · Post by **SorubimLima** » 08 Feb 2006, 00:08

Hi, from what I have read, a full grown Dempsey will toatlly destroy smaller and weaker fish like a small pl*co or a school of say, tetras as the dither fish. In a 40 gallon a Dempsey will survive but there probably isn't enough room for a cat tough and big enough to stand up to one. Another smaller c*****d like a firemouth will be fine in a 40 and won't kill decent sized tetras, like an emperor, and won't kill smaller pl*cos like peckoltias and bristlenoses. Good cats for a 40 might includ driftwood cats, farlowella twig cats, or cories. A farlowella will most likely eat shrimp pellets, algae, and algae wafers. Just adding my opinion. SorubimLima

MatsP · Post by **MatsP** » 08 Feb 2006, 10:25

zmazza wrote:I don't know if I mentioned it in the post above or not, but my tank is 36x18x15. The list that you sent me on choosing the right catfish didn't include those dimensions. I know it's just a recommendation though, but I think the fact that it's 18" wide makes a huge difference in what I can keep. I'll see what I can find as far as some of the syndontis catfish go... thats a common pl*co right?

Synodontis are the genus of some of African species of catfish, and no, they are not pleco's, common or otherwise.

Your tank-size is suitable for catfish that grows to no more than 7 inches. "Common pleco" therefore is not suitable, as they would grow well beyond this size.

I agree with SorubimLima that Jack Dempsey's are best kept with nothing else... Or in a REALLY BIG tank with some other fish that can cope with the violence (like a really BIG "Common pleco").

Also, if they die within 2 weeks, it's either something wrong with your water (and pH of 8.3 may be a factor, but not on it's own - I've got four different species of pleco's in my big tank with normal southern english hard/alkaline tap-water, pH 8+, and they are just fine). However, if they come from a shop where the water is significantly softer/less alkaline [1], you may need to get them used to the new water a little bit slower than the normal half hour to one hour long acclimatization that most people use for introducing new fish to the tank.

[1] Ask the shop what the pH is in their tanks. If they say something much less than 8.3, you'll need to worry. If they don't know, you should ask to see the supervisor - or find a different shop...

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Mats