PlanetCatfish.com

Hi, My name is Sara and I'm new to the site. I've had a catfish for about 6 months. He is about 9-10 years old, and is about 8". I was wondering what kind of fish could be mixed with a catfish. He is in a 60 gallon tank with a small pleco. I think he is some kind of pictus catfish, but I'm not positive. I would like to add to the tank, but I'm not sure what fish won't hurt him, and what fish he won't eat. Thanks!

Hi Sara & welcome to the site.

Your fish is related to the pictus & is therefore some kind of south american 'pim'. This is not really my area of specialism but it would certainly consume fish small enough fom fit in it's mouth. I would suggest medium size tank mates, such as silver dollars, gouramis, peaceful cichlids. If you wanted other catfish i would avoid other pim's & go for something from the doradid range, or pleco, or maybe callichthys. Doubtless someone will give you an id but it's always worth looking through the cat-e-log as it is almost a bottomless pit of brilliant information. Choices of tankmates will depend on the size of tank available, but as long as you avoid small species of tetras etc you should be fine.

It looks like .

Thanks so much!!! Pimelodus Blochii is my catfish!!!

This is not P. maculatus, but .

Are you still wondering what fish you can mix in with your Pimelodus Blochii?

I purchased 6 gouramis, and a striped raphael catfish maybe 8 months ago. My catfish named sassy (blochii) ate 3 of the smallest gouramis. Now my 3 remaining gouramis have double in size and he/she leaves them alone. She doesn't mind the raphael catfish. I always like to have more ideas on fish that are compatible with my large catfish.

You need to keep fish that are "big enough to not fit in the mouth", essentially.

Night-active fish (other catfish for example) are also relatively safe, as they don't sleep when the Pim hunts.

Many catfish also have armour/spikes, such as the "pleco" types. Of course, tiny ones won't work, but as soon as they are a little larger than tiny, they should be OK.

Of course, the requirement that the fish are larger also means that you'll put more load on your tank, which in turn means that you'll be wanting to not stock it too much - 50 small fish may produce less waste than 5 big ones.

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Mats