Bottom dweller tankmate for my ATF, need recommendations

[RampageRR]

OK, so this isn't a characin related question, but since it is directly related to my ATF, I'm putting it in here

Looking for a mainly bottom dweller type fish that'll clean up leftover fish/shrimp scraps and not bother my ATF. My 2 main choices right now are any synodontis species, or a small school of clown loaches. Are clown loaches a good tankmate for an ATF? From the reading I have done, seems like they are peaceful and they are carnivorous, so they seem like they'd fit the bill. They also get fairly large, like high flow/current, and are slow growing. Plus it seems like they are more active and would be more visible during the day than a syno cat would.

Thoughts on either idea? Upside/downside to either? Need more info on my setup now or future plans, just ask away.

 

[karaig19]

you can try hoplo catfish they will eat anything and I have had gars, aros, knife fish in with this cat but the only tankmate to do any damage was a breeding convict.

 

[Chicxulub]

I have a Brachyplatystoma juruense catfish, also known as a flash zebra catfish. She's a really attractive fish that's black with yellowish tiger stripes and a white checkerboard pattern on the upper lobe of her tail. She also has streamers on her tail that can get upwards of two feet long on a fish that's currently about eight inches. She loves to park herself right in front of a powerhead. She's not very active, she prefers to wait for food to blow past in the current. No matter how hungry she gets, she WILL NOT come to the surface to feed. I have to go out of my way to make sure she gets fed, but that's fine by me because she hand feeds and lets me pet her.

The gatf ignores her and she ignores the other fish for the most part. The only issues I have with her is that she doesn't care for other catfish and if one of the silver tooth fish is hovering too close to her too much she'll nip its tail to shoo it away. She will also eat anything that is small enough to fit in her mouth, right now I'd guesstimate that to be about 3 inches long.

She's been fairly slow growing. I've had her since June and she's only grown about two inches. I haven't been powerfeeding her though. I imagine that if I did, she'd probably grow much faster. All in all, she's a good, mellow, attractive fish that mostly keeps to herself. I'd recommend one of these fish for a silver tooth fish bottom feeder.

 

[RampageRR]

Looks pretty cool, Chicx. Just googled them and looked at some pics. I do like the way they look.

I was also looking at Lima Shovelnoses. I'm mainly worried about some of these larger cats growing at a quicker rate than the ATF (and possibly trying to eat him). If I decide to go with one of them, I may wait until he hits 7-8" just for peace of mind. If I decide to get a synodontis or clown loach, I won't have these worries. Not sure which way to go with this...

 

[Deubie Doo]

I have rays in with my goliath. I wouldnt go with small squermy fish like loaches. ill atract the tiger and he will mostlikely eat them. even if its a small tiger and large loaches or fish, sooner or later down the road he will get larger then them.
if your willing to spend the money, rays are nice and most fish dont even know there in the tank.

 

[Slippery K]

I keep a single delhezi bichir with my armatus. The army doesn't really leave any leftovers, so I have to feed the bichir seperate.

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[djaalix]

yeah, cats are scary cause generally they grow really really fast... i'd say clown loaches you could buy immediatly, something like a ray or slower growing catfish i'd wait till the tiger is at least 8 inches, and a fast growing cat, i'd wait till the tiger is at least a foot.... i have an odd tank, where my goonch cats have grownk extremely fast and are very large but have never gone after any fish, but i didnt buy them till my tigers were 8-10 inches, which i believe helped ... and do not buy an RTC, guaranteed to eat your ATF, i've seen it happen to my buddy, they just grow way too fast and are too active

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[sashimimaster]

I have 3 tin foil barbs with mine. They eat off the bottom and will pick up all the little bits of food floating around. The only downside is that they can be a little aggressive during feeding time and steal food away from the ATFs.

 

[lix.ma14]

bichirs or stingrays. nuff said.

 

[lix.ma14]

or both ^^^