Black eeltail catfish tank size and price.

[cambrew]

Hi I am looking to buy a 25-30cm black eeltail catfish from my lfs for $80 and was wondering first what size tank you keep yours in. I am looking at keeping mine in a 48x18x20 75gallon tank with my green texas carpintis and do you think that $80 is over priced?

[Richard B]

I think a bigger tank is in order. If this is N.Ater it gets to 15" so should be in a 5x2 foot tank minimum.
How aggressive is the Texas & what size is it? He may consider the whole tank his territory & try to kill any additions.

[cambrew]

The texas is 6 months old and between 6-7". I am guessing that the black eeltail catfish is more of an active catfish then not like a pleco that just goes and sits around the place.

[cambrew]

I just thought that maybe because the texas was still young that he would be able to grow up with it and accept it.

[cambrew]

Sounds like I am going to have to look around for something else. I have a Synodontis Eupterus in my other 4ft with my other Americans are there any other catfish that get to around the size of the featherfin and can put up with aggressive cichlids?

[Jools]

If someone said to me, would you like to keep a Texas cichlid and something else or would you like to keep a

Neosilurus

and something else, I know what I'd pick!

I've been maintaining a trio in a 48x30 and they're pushing past the 12" mark. I keep them with rainbowfishes and a

Hypostomus latifrons

. They are active during the day but are not boisterious fishes and I agree that putting them in with a Texas Cichlid would not work out well. If you don't want to go down the rainbowfish route, I'd recommend medium sized characins. Also, they eat a lot, so you need serious filtration (and so less messy tankmakes a good idea).

I'd suggest 48x24 a minimum size for one.

Hope that helps,

Jools

[cambrew]

I would chose my male carpintis over any other fish. I owned its parents that were high quality and then chose the best out of hundreds of fry, people want to buy it all the time but its not for sale lol It is fish like this that should be the center piece of an aquarium.

[Triactis Trainer]

I'm not even into cichlids... But I must say, that is one BADASS fish dude . Hopefully he gets even better with age!