New fish owner... sizes of catfish?

[sixftsam]

Hello there everyone, im totally new here, ive just signed up, and im really sorry if im posting in the wrong location, i hope this is the right place as there is no newbie area (that i could find at least!) Me and the girlfriend have just bought ourselves a 45x35x85 cm tank with everything included, and so far have been running the tank with water, pump, thermostat and things to get the water ready for some hardy fish to be put into it. Im afraid i dont have any pics, and if i did i fear they would be more than a little disapointing.

The question ive been wondering, is what catfish would suit this tank? there will be angelfish and some small upsidedown catfish in the aquarium (girlfriends choices) but i would really like a medium - largeish catfish. We have small gravel in the bottom (smaller than pea size) if this matters? i was just wondering what sort of catfish would suit those other fish, and would grow to a decent size within the tank, without outgrowing the tank. I know pleco is the obvious choice, but is there anything a bit more catfishy looking? On a side note, what sort of ages would a cat fish who is well cared for live to, and do any show signs of recognising owners or any form of memory/intelligence?

Im sorry again if this is the wrong place on the forums, but given my interest in catfish in general, this is deffinatly the right place to be asking i hope! thankyou in advance for any replies, and ill do my best to give more info if i need to.
Sam

[Richard B]

Hi there (welcome to Planet catfish)

it doesn't matter if it's in the wrong place (maybe speak easy would be better) as the mod's could move it later. Which way round are the dimensions of you tank? I am presuming 85 is the length (along the front), 35 is the width (back to front)& 45 is the height(depth of water) - is this correct? with a tank this size it would be best if the max size of a fish was 4-5 inches (sorry i failed to convert fully to metric ) as this would give the fish plenty of space. possibly some of the smaller synos or doradids or dianema, or woodcats tatia might suit your requirements.

There are hundreds of species of catfish so there is no straightforward answer to how long a well cared for specimen might live unless we talk about a specific species. For example a syno flavitaeniatus might exceed 25 years old & certainly this wouldn't be the record but it a really good age for a fish of 7 inches (TL). I haven't a clue how old a 7 foot pangasiodon gigas might be? or a 7 foot zungaro zungaro?

ps - where are you located - it might help us with advice in the future?

[sixftsam]

thankyou for the advice! your right about the dimensions, 85cm is the length, 45 is height, 35 is depth. It's a 125L Fluval tank. Im based nearish London (Surrey) in England. The problem i seem to be having is different places say different things about fish sizes... ive heard estimates that we shouldnt have anything above 4 inches right up to around the 9 inch mark, its all a bit confusing for a new fish owner!

Its very interesting how long catfsh can live for, and more than a little suprising! ive seen some of the photos of the huge catfish, and they must take a long time to get to that size, but the kind of age your talking about for a 7 inch fish is impressive indeed! Would i be wrong in thinking some catfish need less space than others due to being less active, or is this a complete fantasy? I just wondered if the behaviour of the fish made much difference to their size requirements?

Thankyou for the help so far, and i look forward to hearing any other opinions!

[Bas Pels]

Re the age catfish can life, Corydoras are known to life over 10 years, I have a Pterogobliichthys gibbiceps (or quitre alike) over 18 years of age. It measures over 45 cm, but it is not yet showing signs of aging. I assume it can live another 18 years.

Re the size a tank needs, you should look at this from at least 2 different views: firstly, a big fish will pollute its water more than a small one, and need more oxygen. Here we are speaking about kilos of fish (or pounds, or ounches, if you preferr) a liter (gallon). By changing water often, and using high performance pumps, it is possible to keep a lot of fish in a small tank, over 10 grams a liter, but it will be impossible to be away for a few days, and a lack of power will kill them all.

For normal circumstances, over 3 grams a liter will be too much

secondly, a fish will need to life in the tank, not be inprisoned in it (after all, it has not been proven guilty of anything ) depending on the behaviour, the tank needs to be big, or may be small. The European pike, for instance, is a very calm fish, waiting for a prey to come by. This fish can be happay in a tank twice its size long and with, but a swimming fish will need a much larger tank. Imagine salmon in a tank 5 times their length - not nice

So, Yes, behaviour does matter, I would say, your tank being 80 cm long, and 30 cm with, any active fish over 10 cm will be unhappy in it, but a fish laying on the ground all day and night of 20 cm would fit in too - but make it impossible (because of its weight) to keep many (or even any) other fish in it

[MatsP]

The rule I generally go by is that the fish should not be exceeding a quarter of the longest side or half of the shortest side of the tank - in other words, if L is the length of the fish, the minimum tank-size is 4L x 2L x 2L - this not a FIXED rule - fast swimming active fish needs more space, slow-swimming bottom dwellers may not need quite as much - but it's a starting point. Obviously, having small fish in a large tank is no problem - you just have the added advantage of being able to keep many of them!

So in your case, the shortest side is 35 cm, and it determines [1] the max size of the fish - to about 17 cm (that would be about 7", give or take a bit).

If you want to search the Cat-eLog for fish that suits your tank, you can go to http://www.planetcatfish.com/catelog/search.php - you can enter the desired size of your fish, the temperature you aim for in the tank [keep this "tight", as broadening the temperature range means less fish are shown]. If you then sort by "hits", you will get the most commonly kept species - thus the ones that are usually easy to find in your LFS.

If you don't mind [and it's part of the Forum rules to do so], you should really fill in the "Location" in the User Control Panel. It helps us give you better localized advice.

[1] Since it's shorter than half the longest side.

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Mats

[sixftsam]

Thankyou for all of the kind and helpfull replies! i must admit i was looking at catfish around the 8-10inch range, but will cut that back a bit now and possibly concentrate more on the 5-8 inch ish range instead. I have filled in my location as being from Guildford in Surrey, but for some reason it doesnt want to show it when i post a message, any ideas how to make it get displayed on these boards? Due to you being literally just down the road MatP (its a small world after all!) do you have any recomendations on good places to buy fish, and particularly catfish? do you mind me asking where you get yours from? if youd rather not post it on the boards feel free to send me a private message, id appreciate the info, as we are a little unsure which shops are good and which are bad within our local area.

Thankyou all for the replies so far, but may i ask about one thing that hasn't been answered yet... do catfish show signs of memory or personality? they say goldfish have a bad memory, but if ive got a fish whos going to live with me for as long as many children do, i at least would prefur it if he or she would recognise me on occasion!

[MatsP]

To start from the back, yes catfish (can learn to) recognise their owner(s). I had a

Hypostomus plecostomus

a long time ago that used to come out of hiding when I walked into my room, and hide whenever anyone else walked in the room. And the myth that goldfish have short memory is untrue - it has been proven that they can learn to swim through a labyrinth, for example.

As to "good fish shops", my most frequent shop is Lynchford Aquatics in North Camp (Farnborough) - although they don't have a huge range of "exotic" catfish, they will bring in what you ask for, if they at all can. [Many shops CAN do that - whether they do or not depends on whether they "like the customer" or not]. There are also three branches of Maidenhead aquatics in the area: Woking, East Horsley (Guildford) and Farnham. All three carry pretty good stock of catfish, along with a large-ish range of other fish. I have bought fish from all three, depending on where I happen to be going for other reasons.

I can see your location in your profile, so I have no idea why it's not showing in the posts...

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Mats