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I'm in the process of setting up a 55gal tank, with not-particularly-great dimensions... It's pretty tall which takes quite a bit off the width & length.
Its going to be a freshwater aquarium. I'm a big fan of bottom-dwellers, but know that I shouldnt have too many... I'm looking to keep pictus cats, fiddler crabs, and corys (unsure of species).
First, do this go well together in a tank? And second, what would you suggest as far as numbers go for these guys?
Thanks in advance.
-Kris

In generar, you can't keep fish that is smaller than the mouth of the Pictus cats in the tank. Larger corys would be fine, but really small ones, (Habrosus or Pygmaeus), I wouldn't recommend.

Corys are happier if there's a crowd of them, 5-6 minimum. Pictus cats, you should either keep a single or a few (3-4 minimum). If you have two, you will eventually only have one, as the dominant one will beat the weaker one up. With more of them, there's some dispersion of the agression, which means that different ones get picked on at different times.

I don't know fiddler crabs, so I can't say on those. I know that crawfish/crayfish/freshwater lobsters will eventually get to the fish around them. They aren't suitable companions with ANY fish. Not sure if this applies to crabs or not.

If you give the dimensions of the tank, it would help... If it's taller than usualy, it's obviously smaller than usual in some other direction (or both other directions), which makes it smaller bottom area. This will ultimately decide the numbers. Knowing the volume isn't good help, as a 4 foot tall tank with a bottom area of 12 x 13 inches would hold exactly the same volume of water as a 4ft long x 12 inches wide tank which is 13 inches tall. The latter, having much larger bottom area, would of course take a much larger number of bottom living fish.

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Mats

Sorry, I don't know the dimensions of my tank off hand, but assuming it were about 3 1/2-4ft across and about 1 1/2ft wide, would 5 larger corys (about 2-2 1/2" full grown) and 4 pictus cats be ok, or would that be too many bottom dwellers?

Spotted Raphael Cat(Agamyxis Pectinifrons)or the Striped Raphael cat(Platydoras costatus) would do well in a tank that size. They are easy to care for and don't bother other fish. All they need is clean water and a nice cave along with some good food and they are happy.

My only concern with mixing pictus cats with any other cats not as mobile and aggressive, would be that the other cats ( like corys ) wouldn't get enough food and eventually expire.

I would suspect that a group of 5-6 largish cories and a small group of 3-4 pictus cats would be fine.

Pictus cats really are more of a mid-water fish than the cories and if fed sinking pellets right before dark the cories should be fine.

As to the fiddler crabs...I don't know...but, my gut tells me its a bad idea. Most crabs are quite predatory and a bottom loving fish like a cory might not make it, especially after lights out.

Fidlers are brackish and require access to air as they actually live on mud flats. I did not have great sucess with them, even in a marsh habitat, my 4 died 1 by 1 over the course of several months.

I might try them again, but a marsh in your bedroom does not smell nice!