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Hi All,

I'm a huge fan of catfish, always have been. I love the way the look and the way they swim. I really want one for my 32gal SA tank. There are Tiger Barbs in it at the mo.

Trouble is that there are just sooooo many I dont know where to begin. I would love to put a Black Lancer in there, or something, but, alas, space is an issue.

Ideally, the fish I want would be around the 5-6 inch mark, atractive, active, able to hold it's own in a SA tank and not a fussy feeder. (I dont ask for a lot!!:p)

I'm currenty looking into a Pictus cat or a Midnight cat.

Have you experince with these cats? Got another one you want to suggest?

Note: I'm am not intrested in Plecos or Corries.

Edit: SA stands for Semi-Agressive.

Well I would like to say, try south american bumblebee cats. They are small, beautiful, and awesome to watch swim (and even neater that you never know when they have bred or not lol.)

Tiger barbs can be a problem due to their "nippy" nature.

Midnight cats are not particularly active & pictus should be kept in a group.

Although they are not massively active all the time have you looked at Platydoras?

Pictus's long barbels are also a "juicy" target for fin-nipping fish in general, and I'd say that tiger barbs and pictus cats are definitely a big no-no.

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Mats

MatsP wrote:Pictus's long barbels are also a "juicy" target for fin-nipping fish in general, and I'd say that tiger barbs and pictus cats are definitely a big no-no.

--
Mats

I think most certainly

assuming tiger barbs are Barbus tetrazona, these fishes like to mob predators. Mobbing a predator means to tease the predator, by nibbing its fins, chasing it away, alarming potential prey - thus making it impossible to surprise any prey

B tetrazona are much predated by Channa, which have barbels, just as P pictus, moonfishes (P scalare) and many goramys have. All these fishes are mobbed by them, and in fact killed in captivity

As this is a natural behaviour, feeding them plenty, or any other measuree will not help at all

and I'd say that tiger barbs and pictus cats are definitely a big no-no.

Many years ago I kept these together with no trouble and visually the combo looked great together but that tank was at least a 90 gal. I agree it would not work well in a smaller tank.

You should look into some of the Asian cats to go along with the barbs you already have, there may be something there.

Birger

You say you want a SA catfish tank but already have tiger barbs which certainly don't belong on so many levels. I would remove them all.

You don't want plecos or Corydoras. I think you should consider a couple of day active Sturisoma because the majority of your other choices are nocturnal except the Pictus Cats.
The Microglanis are a good addition and so would be a couple of Banjo Catfish. The Midnight Cats Zamora would add another different looking catfish not given to growing very large. For a colorful catfish, surely Centromochlus perugiae are worth considering.

just to clarify this

Edit: SA stands for Semi-Agressive.

is at the end of Joecools first post

Sorry for the late reply, have have been quite sick over the last while.

Plenty to think about there, thanks for the feed back.

Hello and welcome to the site. Here are my recommendations based only on rough tank size, relative availability and ease of keeping.