New tank to be started...

Hey... I'm planning on starting a new tank... I would like to put in a few catfish that doesn't grow to big... I'm planning on a 2 foot tank... Does anyone know of catfish that will fit this tank and that i would see... Unlike bumblebee catfish...

Any ideas would be awesome...

 

Cories?

 

I'm looking for something a bit more interesting... Somthing like Hara jerdoni or small catfish... But thank you for the idea...

 

Corydoras, Aspidoras, Glass Cat fish, Banjo Cat fish . . not sure of anything else. There are small algae eaters like the Gyrinocheilus aymonieri.... Not sure if a tank full of algae eaters is really appealing.

If you're going the Hara jerdoni route...then whip tail catfish should be what you're looking for.

 

That sounds good... LIke the banjo cat fish... And the glass catfish...
Any further ideas??? Maybe reophile catfish???

 

imagine how a school of glass catfish will look in a low tech planted tank!!

 

That is sounding better and better... :smile1:

 

Even better if you have a blue light! The fish will glow blue too!!

 

My favourite, the Three_striped Catfish(Pareutropius buffei ) sold as the Debauwi Catfish, great in a school, and such character. The glass catfish (Kryptopterus bichirris) loves a good current, so somewhat reophile?

 

(o.o) That sound GOOD!!!

Now the question is there any algae eaters to add with them???

 

@azurekoi any ideas from your side???

 

Best small algae eating cats are Otocinclus - just dont make the mistake of adding them as soon as the tank is cycled - let it "mature" 1st,form some nice algae for them....

 

@azurekoi any other ideas than the glass catfish???

 

And what about an ancistrus???

 

2Footer bit too small for a nice,big Ancistrus colony.... They get a bit territorial round mating time,but if you can ensure that you get just one male A.cf cirrhosus and 2 or 3 females,it may work.... But then you sit with a tank with lotsa driftwood and four cats that you dont see much of...

Your dilemma is in trying to keep a fish group that by nature is retiring - in quite a small area,that also restricts what species you can keep... I do think that you have 2 scenarios that could work in a small tank,be interesting and have some catfish that you will actualy SEE:

- South American biotope with a small school of Corydoras panda,say 8 - 10....sandy substrate,niece "strong" piece of "rooty" driftwood placed towards the right back,boil some oak leaves,scatter these round and minimal or no planting... Few ittle Ottocicnclus later,even a single school of some tiny Tetra as well..
Corydoras realy become fascinating little creatures when kept in small shoals...

- South East Asian setup - 6 to 8 Ghost Glass Catfish and 3 to 4 Mini Anchor catfish... This tank will need a bit of good light to make the plants tie in nicely.... Get 2 or 3 Pixy Lilly bulbs and get these goiung,couple of nice big water-rounded rocks and mass some stem plants along the back - things like Limnophila and Rotalla will look nice and are biotope correct... - The idea is to even let some of the lily's get surface leaves and provide some "shade cover" for the Gost cats,alternately you can let the stem plants grow to be a mat of cover in one corner of the tank...


See what you think of these two scenarios... I could go on and suggest some other small catfish setups,but their drawback would be availibility and price....

 

I like he South East Asian setup... it sounds like the way to go... Thank you @azurekoi...

 

Pleasure mate - icing on the cake with that setup will be like 4 little Pygmy Sparkling Gouramis or a small shoal of Danio/Rasbora.... I DO love recreating South Asian setups - very rewarding! (Not even to START venturing into the miriad of fascinating loach species .... he,he)

 

Hi man, I must say I love the asian stone catfish (Hara jerdoni) also known as (like Shaun said) anchor cat! If you one could find pigmy cories - 8 would be a nice school in that size tank!

 

small shoal harlequin rasboras??? :nuts:
That would be COOL!!!

 

Some Trigonostigma hengeli's? I know at petstop they had, the form a nice tight shoal, and dont get as big as the normal T. heteromorpha's