Catfish tank mate for "squeaker catfish"

[Astoria]

I like Dave's advice.

There are many catfish that can fit the bill. So far your preferences are:
-- ok with a featherfin syno
-- like Pimelodus pictus but larger
-- visible / not a hider
-- ok with hard water (do you know the number? how hard are we talking? if you don't know, it would be beneficial if you took a sample of your water into a local fish shop because they can measure carbonate hardness KH and general hardness GH for you for free)
-- it'd be good to know pH (again an LFS can do it for free)

Looks like I'm in the 7-10.5 range which doesn't surprise me. I don't have a LFS and the nearest is a hour and a half away

 

[thebiggerthebetter]

Is this a total hardness in degrees / grains?

 

[Astoria]

Is this a total hardness in degrees / grains?

Yes

 

[thebiggerthebetter]

OK, so your water is average (at 7) or moderately hard (at 10), which opens up a field to a wide variety of catfish except those special ones at the extremes of hardness / softness.

Lima shovelnose you had mentioned may or may not work out. Some of these grow to 18"-24" and your tank would be too small for them.

Here are some catfish tank mates I've kept or keep with our eupterus. See which ones you like:

Some of my guys from 55 and 120 gal - PlanetCatfish.com

Images are copyright and may not be reproduced without permission of the copyright holder.

www.planetcatfish.com

also in these vids