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Hi, first off i just want to say that im new to this forum but ive already gotten a lot of info so THANKS!

Ive just set up a 75 gal tank and im looking for a preaditory cat to put in it like a Tiger shovelnose but maybe not quite as big....

Any suggestions?

Hi there. Welcome to PC.



What are your tank dimensions?

A 75 gallon tank is too small for most predatory cats. Even a 6 foot 125 gallon tank is too small for the fish you mention. You might like to try a few Pimelodus ornatus. They only grow to about a foot in length and you could house a few in that tank.

Mark

You could go for Chaca chaca.
definitely VERY predatory, catfish all the way and you won't need a tankupgrade; even an adult pair will fit in a 75G just fine.

Other quite predatory cats include 5-6" Batrachoglanis raninus (they're recorded at 8" max, same size as adult Chaca), wich should fit in as well in a 75G as a small group and can and does eat fish up to half its' own size.

These are slowmoving ambush-hunters that don't need whopping big tanks; if you keep only a few of a single species, the tank is well sized. fish like these do fine in speciestanks with only preyfish in there and 1 pleco for algae-control. the Pleco should be at LEAST as big as the predatory cat. Chaca's can and do eat plecs half their own size, armour, spines and all....

Some mediumsized Auchenipterids also like to feed on guppy-sized fish, if you understock the tank or make it a speciestank.
Edit: Liosomadoras oncinus at 10" adult size gets too big for a 75G tank IMO; I messed up the size...


and you'd best keep only fish that are very similarsized together....these are fish with a BIG mouth; the size of prey they can swallow is boogling, esp Chaca.......

There's much more on predatory-cats than big shovelnosed Pims or Bagrids!

sidguppy wrote: a pair of Liosomadoras oncinus could fit in there. very pretty, eats small fish and doesn't grow much over 7".

Make that 10"/25 cm.

sidguppy wrote:
only drawback is that it's very good at staying out of sight for weeks.

Make that months

I quite agree that Chaca is an excellent preauditory cat for the (relatively) small aquarium. You could easily keep an adult pair in a 20 gallon long. They're not fish that swim around a lot, unless they're feeling out of sorts.

10"
my bad, messed up that size with the regular Driftwood-cat (not the fischeri)

Then scrap that one, a 10" fish is too big for a 75G. that size needs a bigger tank IF it wants to move.

Those fish look cool and all but i was ooking for a traditional or "steriotypical" looking catfish. i think i might go with the Ornate Pimelodus Catfish

If you like the shovlenose type then the lima shovelnose would work in your 75 gallon. That would be the minimal size tank that I would recommend. While not an aggresive predator they will eat anything that fits in their mouth.

Sik-lid appears to know the look he's looking for, so this may not be relevant to him, but it's useful to keep in mind that almost all catfish -- including many tiny ones -- are predators, it's just that they predate on organisms at different levels of the food chain.

As the saying goes, "big fish eat little fish, little fish eat shrimp, shrimp eat mud."

Pimelodus Pictus
Get 5
then you will be happy
yay
yay
lots of pictus

the Pimelodus ornatus are verry expencive, or am i just not looking in the right place?
Anyone know any good placces to get one or two of these fish at?
The only one i could find was like $60-$70 bucks!

I wouldn't be surprised if is fairly expensive. They are not exactly common in the trade, and if they are also big, which is what most people would get these particular ones for, it means that they are expensive to export [big bag / few fishes -> more cost to ship].

When searching my "usual" retailers web-site, I couldn't find anyone that had one listed...

--
Mats

i have a bullhead catfish it it eats minnows they get about 18inches. they might be a good catfish for a 75g.or maybe a eletric catfish they get like 1 meter but 10-12inches more likly

im with pictus_man_77
i've got two of those pictus cats and there great

Loisomadoras oncinus grow too big but loisomadoras morrowi grow to much smaller.
They are also very cool looking, some people think that they are the less atractive but when they settle down and are happy they go really dark with very bright tiny spots on them. I have three of these which reside with some dirt eaters and silver dollars, once they settle down they will come out regularly. As they are crepescular, they come out at dawn and dusk. When I get my lazy ass out of bed at appx, 7:00 in the morning I find them cruising around the bottom of the tank till it is quite bright looking for munchies. If you want to feed them live food they absolutely love neons, but you will have to start breeding neons cos they won't last long with a hungry cat about. Neons 'sleep' at the bottom of the tank and so are ideal feeder fish. However remember that these cats will eat any food you put in for them so live food is not needed unless you wat to study their natural behaviour.
I have found with both dorads and woodcats that if you keep them in a bigger tank than you would estimate for them they behave much more naturally, the three of mine are in a 1500l tank and they will spend hours cruising around. When I have kept them in smaller tanks they tend to just rush out when food is put in gobble as much as they can and then retire to their hidey-holes for a bit of a barney over who gets the top bunk (which can get really noisey!). If I had to get rid of all my cats except for one species (and I have got a lot of different catfish) I would keep just these.

Sik-lid,

I'd personally go with one of the following in a 75 G:

- Lima shovelnose;
- group of pictus cats;
- upside-down asian cat, Mystus leucophasis.

The lima and pictus need no additional info. The upside-down cat is a medium-sized fish (around 12 inches/ 30 cm), looks like a pim, all black and stays upside-down. Such a character, IMO.

Best regards.

Daniel.

i keep stone cats in my smaller tanks they max at 7-9 inches. rare that they are bigger. I find slow moving spots in the river that are shallow in the middle of the night and fish on the bottom with a small hook and small piece of worm. Carefull they love to swallow the hook so you need super light tackle or you will never even know they are on your line. I have two, one is 5 inches and the other is 7. they are very stereotypical catfish.

you'd be pushing it with lima. i have had one that i bought at 3 inches for 4 months now. it is now around 8 inches, and is not slowing down. Wild reports of them over 2 ft. and around 18 inches in aquarium, one guy told me his is 21 inches.