Catfish newbie

[Cichlid savage II]

I am planning my Dream Tank. (See separate thread) It's going to be a SA Biotope. I want to have a catfish in it, but have never had good luck with catfish. 1 was killed by a psychotic Red Devil that was a little more than 1/2 his size. The other was doing well and I woke up 1 morning after about 6 months and he was dead every other fish in the tank was fine. Any suggestions on a nice cat and tips on care for my tank?

Thanks in advance.

 

[Deadeye]

Raphael is a nice SA cat. Stays relatively small at 6-9 inches and is incredibly well armored. Hides a lot though.

 

[thebiggerthebetter]

The more info you share about the tank, set up, scape, tank mates, water, etc. the better we might help.

If you keep psychotic tank mate-killing cichlids, you might not be able to keep anything with it / them.

My 14" midas is bad but I am experimenting with combining it with a 10" gulper catfish and in two weeks, it has been surprisingly fine. I do expect it to blow up in my face any day though.

 

[Krismo962]

Wow , a 14" Midas? Is he the one named ''Atan"?

 

[Cichlid savage II]

The more info you share about the tank, set up, scape, tank mates, water, etc. the better we might help.

If you keep psychotic tank mate-killing cichlids, you might not be able to keep anything with it / them.

My 14" midas is bad but I am experimenting with combining it with a 10" gulper catfish and in two weeks, it has been surprisingly fine. I do expect it to blow up in my face any day though.

At this point I haven't completely decided about all of the inhabitants of the tank with the exception of a few peacock bass and an arowana. So I am just in the research stage. I don't know too much about catfish.

 

[thebiggerthebetter]

Wow , a 14" Midas? Is he the one named ''Atan"?

Yup You are good! Although this is our first and only one we have ever kept.

At this point I haven't completely decided about all of the inhabitants of the tank with the exception of a few peacock bass and an arowana. So I am just in the research stage. I don't know too much about catfish.

OK.
How big is the tank?
For life or until the catfish grows out the tank?
Would you care if the catfish was active or sedentary,
hider or not?
Are catfish aesthetics of matter to you?
One or more?
What's its purpose, clean up?

 

[The Masked Shadow]

If you want cleaning catfish, and want to have plecos, bristlenose's are good. They clean up, get relatively small, and poop less than a lot of plecos. If you want a pleco, make sure you select a kind that doesn't get over a foot or 18", because plec's have been known to scrape the glass, and scrape paint off of tanks and ponds.

Other than that, we need more context. Raphael's are great, but hide 23/7. vincentwugwg has a giant tank and said "I only see him [The Raphael] once every six months".

More contect please!

 

[Cichlid savage II]

Yup You are good! Although this is our first and only one we have ever kept.



OK.
How big is the tank?
For life or until the catfish grows out the tank?
Would you care if the catfish was active or sedentary,
hider or not?
Are catfish aesthetics of matter to you?
One or more?
What's its purpose, clean up?

The tank will be 300 to 400 gallons.
For the life of the fish.
I would prefer a more active fish.
I want a catfish that is attractive to me.
Depends on the fish.
Variety of apecies in the tank.

 

[Potato Patatto]

Tigrinus or False Jurenese are very nice and SA, but definitely a hyper-sensitive fish

 

[Cichlid savage II]

Tigrinus or False Jurenese are very nice and SA, but definitely a hyper-sensitive fish

What do you mean by hypersensitive?