Article © Julian Dignall, uploaded January 01, 2002.

Questions we frequently are asked at Planet Catfish are "Can you recommend a good catfish for eating algae that won't grow too large?", "Can you recommend a good catfish for eating snails" and questions along the lines of "I've set-up my first community tank and would like a catfish for it what would you recommend".

We also get quite a few questions like what catfish would you recommend that I keep with my large cichlids (or other large fish) or my catfish fish hide all the time. The first of these topics is dealt with in their own articles and can be found here (large fish) and hiding, at least during daylight hours, is normal behaviour for most catfishes - just make sure your fish isn't one of those that needs to be kept in shoals. Feed a little food after lights out if you can't see your catfish eating. If, once it's settled in for a few months, your catfish still hides even during regular feeding time, then you need to research that species and check what you are feeding it is suitable. Beyond that, you've either got one of the few catfishes that never comes out during the day or the catfish is being bullied at least during the day and maybe at night too.

If you have ever the chance to visit the fish room, hut or garage of a catfish nut then often you will find rows of fish tanks devoid of any visible life. Sometimes even plants are deemed unnecessary. Leaving the pros and cons of that to one side, it is safe to say that these set-ups are far removed from a typical "first aquarium".

In talking about a typical first aquarium we assume the aquarist has set-up their tank and has begun to lightly stock it with a few hardy fish (as any good retailer or book would have you do). Maybe this is the case, or maybe you made a few mistakes on the way and are now left with a lightly stocked tank of hardy fish. Either way, it's the size of the existing fish that should primarily direct your catfish selection decisions.

If there is one important point to get across in this article, it is this: There are well over two thousand species of catfishes, you'll likely find a hundred or more over the period of several months of regular visits to an average local fish shop - they are not all the same! Not even close, in fact, I often find myself saying that, for all the variation you find among all freshwater tropical fish, there's an equivalent amount within just the catfishes themselves.

Often tank size is expressed in gallons (particularly in the USA); this isn't so helpful for us and we want to talk about surface area or, from most catfishes point of view, substrate area. We also want to think about the average full-grown size of the fish in your aquarium. Consider the table below:

Category C for example would be catfish suitable for community fish of an average full-grown size of between 1" and 3". With this sort of generalisation and the extreme diversity found in the catfish family people will always find ways to pick holes in the fish suggested by the above, but in terms of a guide for aquarists new to the Catfish hobby - it can really help.

Second point here is definition of community fish. This would mean that a fish that, by and large, will coexist with other fish in the same environment. Again this is subject to the broadest generalisation. While you shouldn't keep fancy goldfish with discus, it is possible (and too often demonstrated). Fish that are perfectly peaceful but require specialist food or water conditions also cannot be considered true community fish as they do not coexist with other fish in the same environment. We have to look at all the fish sharing the same environment NOT catfish that will accept the conditions of specialist fish. If that is your aim then find out what catfish live in the same conditions as your specialist fish, research their wild habitat, 9 times out of 10 the fish that live with them in the wild will be the best additions (albeit often hard to acquire).

What we are saying here is that given a fish is a certain size and a community fish, we can use the following categories to help you choose a selection of your fish catfish. Click here (A | B | C | D | E | F | G ) for a shortcut link to that category.

So that's it. I have tried to include most catfish (or something similar) you can find in reasonably well-stocked dealers tanks. If it's not on this list then it will probably be the Cat-eLog. If it isn't in that then beg, steal or borrow a few pictures of it and send them to us for more information - but it is unlikely to be a beginner's fish.

You will commonly encounter Shark Catfish (Arius spp.) at your local dealer - while these are worthy additions for the brackish water community and youngsters of certain species will withstand 100% freshwater, this is not really a community fish.

Catfish you will not find listed here but may commonly find out your local dealer are species such as iridescent or dolphin sharks (Pangasius spp.), red-tail or shovelnose catfish (Phractocephalus or Pseudoplatystoma spp.) and various other ultimately super large imports. Many of these fish are simply too large to ethically house in a home aquarium. Sure some are farm raised and imports don't affect wild populations, sure you can keep some of them for some time, but in the end you are a freethinking person and it's your conscience. Even if you don't buy the politically correct viewpoint - how many dealers tanks could be housing cool new imports but are used up by housing large fish in badly cramped quarters that will not make the dealer much profit compared to a tank full of glittering tetras or plecos.

In summary, and at the risk of sounding somewhat airy, the primary art of community tank fish keeping lies in creating the illusion that a fragment of river, lake or stream in exists in your home or office. If this is true from both you and your fishes point of view then you're off to a good start. If your fish selection fits a particular biotope or they reproduce within this set-up then so much the better - these things are signs of an intermediate aquarist. After that you'll soon be eyeing up the spare room, garage or vegetable patch.

Back to Shane's World index.