All posts regarding the care and breeding of catfishes from other parts of the world (North America, Europe and Australia). If you don't know where your catfish is from, post a query in the identification category.
I'm not sure if this is the right place to post my question so if not please point me in the right direction.
I've been very interested in Catfish and would like to keep some but I don't know which ones would be right for me. This Catfish would have to be able to live comfortably in a 20g long, live in hard water with a pH of 8, and can live singally or in a small group. I was maybe thinking some Petricola but I'm not sure. There will only be Catfish in the tank.
i would agree with silurus 100 percent - petricola are attractively marked, active, peaceful, long lived, tolerant of a wide range of conditions, not too expensive, fairly easily available -in other words pretty much ideal - check out cat-e-log for further details
Dwarf Petricola was actually one of the Catfish that I was considering. I just called the local fish store and they have Dwarf Petricola in stock. They are quite expensive at $15 each or is this a good price?
How many would I be able to keep in a 20 gallon long? or could I get away with using a 15 gallon? It says in the profile that they prefer a temperature of 72-75F which seems a bit low so would they be able to live in temps around 80F?
Also would it be possible to keep Petricola instead of Dwarf Petricola in a 20 gallon long?
Any petricola are a small fish but obviously the "dwarf" version will be smaller.
If my maths is ok, $15 = £8 and is good money. Prices in England tend to vary between £7-£30 for petricola depending on size & where you get them from (approx prices).
The bigger the tank will always be a better option & i would tend to go for a group of 5 or 6 if you can afford it or alternatively build the group over time, starting with 3 to spread an aggression which should be minimal with petricola.
Mine are kept at 78-79F with no problems.
Things in the states tend to be bigger than here in the uk as local breeders might be able to supply you cheaper than a lfs but you will have the problem of what actually is "local"? It could be a day away whereas for me i can get to a breeder within an hour.
A small update. I decided to go with either a 29g(30"Lx12"Wx18"H) or a 38g(36"Lx12"Wx20"H). Would this give me more options for Catfish, but remember my water conditions that I stated in the first post. I would still most likely house a group or Petricola(Probably not Dwarf). What decorations should I use in this tank? I was thinking alot of driftwood, rocks, and maybe a few plastic plants. The lighting won't be strong enough to substain live plants.
If you can find space for it, I'd say a 40 breeder tank is better than the 38g you're looking at. For almost all catfish, floor-space is better than height (the 38g is TALL, not LONG/WIDE). It's the same length as the 38g (36"), but it's 18" wide and 16" tall, which makes for more floor-space.
If you have any artificial lighting on the tank, you can sustain plants - just that if you have low intensity lighting you need to choose your plants with a bit more care than if you have high intensity lighting. Anubias is one example of plants that work well with low intensity lighting. [I don't like plastic plants, they never look like real ones...]
Edit: And the 29g is exactly the same floor-area as the 20 long, just taller. A bigger volume of water is of course slightly better for the fish, as it gives a more stable water chemistry where the fish-waste is dilute by slightly more water.
