PlanetCatfish.com

Hi!
I'm new to planetcatfish and pretty new to catfish too. I have read some of the articles here and gone back in the posts a few weeks but I find I still need to ask a question about the latest fish I fancy getting.
I started keeping fish a year ago and have 4 community tanks, all planted. They are all maintained with 50% weekly water changes. For the most part things have gone very well and I haven't killed an inordinate amount of fish.
I would really like to get a Queen Arabesque to add to my 75 gallon. It has a sand substrate, is heavily planted and includes driftwood. I already have a 2.5 inch bristlenose plec who's doing really well so far. I've had him about 2 months. The other bottom dwelling inhabitants are a school of corydoras paleatus and a few khuli loaches.
My question is about the current needed. I read that they need current but I'm not sure quite what that means. If they need a rivertank type of set up then I will definitely not get it. My tank has two filters turning 400 gph each. At the moment I keep one of the filters flow restricted to please a gourami but if I need to use both of them at full flow I can get him acclimated. It isn't critical for him since I'm not breeding.
Will the queen arabesque be a good fit in my tank or should I pass on this one?

thanks Barbie, I'm excited Now I just have to find one...

Kimrin wrote:thanks Barbie, I'm excited :) Now I just have to find one...

Be careful buying from the shops. I went thru SIX L260's from shops. All died within 48 hours. They get a difficult to treat parasite that looks like yellow ich but isn't. Quarantine this fish coming in! IMHO.

They often come in skinny and not eating so make sure the fish is eating and not emamciated. One I finally got eating escaped and took a hike across the room only to expire in a doorway.

I finally looked around for a breeder and now have three healthy, active, fat--if tiny-- L260's I got about 9 months ago.

my 2 cents,
troi

thanks troi. I'm sure I would have been tempted not to quarantine. I'll take your warning to heart now though.
I don't know what sort of choice I'll have at an lfs, seems I just have to wait for the stray one to show up somewhere. No one seems to get them in regularly. I can order online but then I still won't be able to see the fish first so that's not a good choice.

Kimrin wrote: I don't know what sort of choice I'll have at an lfs, seems I just have to wait for the stray one to show up somewhere. No one seems to get them in regularly. I can order online but then I still won't be able to see the fish first so that's not a good choice.

Find out where the LFS gets the fish--probably live caught, which is risky. You can ask them to order for you, maybe.

You can post in the Forum section for Fish Wanted. Aquabid has a number of resposible sellers for plecs. Poke around for a breeder who will ship, but chances are the fish will be tiny although healthy. They are slow growers.

troi