Catfish Care Sheets

[divemaster99]

I know there's a sticky already for this but it seems to be just for monster catfish and got off topic pretty badly. For these care sheets you can choose ANY catfish you want! Anything from corys to Wels is fine and everything in between! Lets try to stay on topic for this thread and don't make a care sheet on a catfish you haven't at least researched. If you have any questions or comments about the thread please PM me to avoid crowding the thread with side conversations, thanks for helping out with the thread guys! Now lets get some good care sheets going!

Name: Asian Bumblebee Catfish
Scientific Name: Pseudomystus siamensis
Temperament: Peaceful (towards fish it can't fit in its mouth)
Max Size: 4-6 inches
Tank Size: 20 gallons for a single specimen, 30 or larger to be kept with other fish.
Origin: Lower Mekong River, Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam.
Experience: Moderate
Temperature: 70-78 F
ph: 6.0-7.8
Feeding: Carnivore. Feed Earthworms, frozen or live Bloodworms, brineshrimp, and black worms, and most (not mine ) will accept sinking shrimp pellets after dark
Tank mates: General community fish that won't fit in its mouth, SA or CA cichlids, larger community fish
Behavior: The VAST majority are highly if not completely noctural however if you wind up with the 1% like me they can be very friendly, active, and enjoyably fish to watch. Mine will even handfeed from the top of my 30 tall! Most will just hide during the day though.

 

[divemaster99]

Name: Striped Raphael Catfish
Scientific Name: Platydoras armatulus
Temperament: Peaceful, but don't risk putting one with small neon tetras and the like
Max Size: 6-8 inches
Tank Size: 55 gallons with 75 gallons being preferred
Origin: Peru, Columbia, Brazil
Experience: Moderate
Temperature: 74-86 F
ph: 6.0-7.5
Feeding: Carnivore. Feed Sinking Shrimp Pellets, brine shrimp, bloodworms, blackworms, earthworms
Tank mates: Community fish that it can't swallow, they're very peaceful by nature
Behavior: VERY reclusive during the day so if you want to observe it during lights on you should give it a hiding spot that it feels secure in yet you can see it. For the best chance of it getting food drop a few shrimp pellets in after all lights are off.

 

[divemaster99]

Name: Sailfin Pleco
Scientific Name: Pterygoplichthys gibbiceps
Temperament: Peaceful
Max Size: 16-18 inches
Tank Size: 125 Gallon for an adult. They are slow growing fish and thus can be grown out in smaller tanks
Origin: Very common in Peru and Brazil
Experience: Easy
Temperature: 74-84 ideally, they can go a bit lower though
ph: 6.5-7.5 (they are very adaptable though)
Feeding: Omnivore. Feed algae wafers, sinking shrimp pellets, cucumber discs, carrots, squash, and other fruits and vegetables
Tank mates: About every tropical fish under the sun, keep them with everything from small tetras to Arapaimas
Behavior: They are very peaceful fish and will seldom bug your other fish. However, do not attempt to keep them with other plecos (of the same or different species) unless you have a very large tank as they will often bully other plecos to death