Do I keep this catfish?

TGP · Post by **TGP** » 09 Feb 2004, 21:42

My son received gift of a catfish listed as pimelodela on the reciept. I called the LFS it came from and they said it was a angelicus pimelodella. In doing research, I think it's a pimelodus pictus, the peruvian coloration. The LFS said it will only get a few inches long and should be fine with most other fish. I have a 55 gal. tank that has 6 zebra danios, 6 longfinned lepoard danios, 7 cherry barbs, 3 swordtails, 1 bristle nose pleco, and 6 ghost shrimp. One of the swordtails was hiding the morning after I put the new catfish in the tank. I put it in isolation and it looked like it was missing a bunch of scales on the left side. It died later in the day. Not sure why it died.

I read that they can get up to 4 or 5 inches long in the tank. It's about 3 inches now. Can these fish be agressive? Should I keep this fish or return it to the LFS.

Any advice would be great!

Thanks!

Post by **Silurus** » 09 Feb 2004, 21:54

They are actually interesting fish to keep IF you had bigger tankmates. Everything save the bristlenose is likely to be eaten.
They also do best in a small group, and the lone fish was probably showing some displaced aggression.

TGP · Post by **TGP** » 09 Feb 2004, 22:10

Thanks!

I going to take this fish back to the LFS and see if I can get something else suitable for my tank. Also, since I'm fairly new at fish keeping love my pleco, is there some other small catfish, say a cory or something else that would be a good tankmate with everything else I have.

Post by **Silurus** » 09 Feb 2004, 22:46

If you're going to get corys, get a group of half a dozen or so. They'll be more comfortable that way.

TGP · Post by **TGP** » 09 Feb 2004, 23:03

Thanks!

I'm off to the LFS!

TGP · Post by **TGP** » 10 Feb 2004, 05:12

So many corys to choose from! With the fish and size of my tank, will an upside down catfish be a good match?

Thanks!

Post by **Silurus** » 10 Feb 2004, 09:02

The true upside down down catfish () will work (you have to get a small group like in corys), not the Asian upside down (). You'll have even more of a problem with the latter than with P. pictus.