Trachelyichthys Exilis Compatibility.

[PileOfRocks]

Hi there. I have currently have a single Pygmy Driftwood Catfish (Trachelyichthys Exilis) which I am looking to get some other catfish tank mates for. Within the next month I’m getting my first big tank with the dimensions of 48” Long 18” wide and 24” tall. I know I’m going to track down three more of the same woodcat species because my little guy is a shoaling fish in the wild. At the moment I have many ideas of what I want to put with him. The main one is a black lancer (I know this is Non-Biotopically correct but as this is my first large tank I’m not too bothered about biotopes as of now, but I definitely will in the future) I have heard that if you give a black lancer it’s own space and a cave to live in they will do fine with other bottom dwellers that aren’t closely related. I also would love some sort of spiny Pleco that gets 6-8” but I am finding it difficult to find many of this size would be greatly appreciated. Any other recommendations of small to medium catfish that would go well would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

[Narwhal72]

Be wary of keeping plecos with T. exilis. I lost my T. exilis when they went into caves first and the pleco came in behind them. The Pleco (small Hypancistrus) literally ate their skin off.

[Jools]

Have kept Trachelyichthys, Centromochlus and Tatia with small to medium sized plecos without issue including Hypancistrus. Those tanks were given lots of wood caves / structures above pleco caves then this would likely avoid the issue Narwhal72 describes. Specifically it was L075 that I kept with the Trachelyichthys - so pretty good sized caves.

It may be that medium sized plecos (as opposed to small ones with small caves) might be a safe option but I don't think plecos trapping woodcats is a common problem but clearly something to be wary off.


Jools

[PileOfRocks]

Ok. That makes sense. Hypancistrus like warm and fast flowing water so with the fact that I’m going to keep the tank at 24°C and that story I’ll steer clear of them. What about the medium Panaqolus species as they are largely vegetarian? Flash and mustard spot plecos seem cool, I like that the mustard spots pattern doesn’t change with age unlike the flash. I also really love L306 but they may be a bit small. I definitely don’t want my woodcat to be attacked though so I’ll definitely be very careful from now onwards with the Pleco I choose.