Probably quite a large list of cats tbh but very much depends on what you like. A number of pim shaped fish, some hemibagrus, depends if you want a solitary fish, a number of the same or cats that can live with other tank mates.
Help with new aquarium
- Thread starter Cherrybomb
- Start date
You could try to find a couple of cheap or even free (broken) glass tanks in the 100gal range and join them to make a 200-400 gal tank, instead of your plywood build. I have just done it but not tested with water yet. It's coming. And a video showing all in detail is coming too.
Anyhow, tank build questions would go better in the DIY section, which has plenty of info on building plywood or other type tanks.
As for a catfish candidates, there are none that would look like TSN or RTC exactly but plenty of other great ones, as guys started to talk about above. The field seems too wide and needs to be narrowed. Fishman Dave and I would also offer one of our favorites, the bolt catfish.
Anyhow, tank build questions would go better in the DIY section, which has plenty of info on building plywood or other type tanks.
As for a catfish candidates, there are none that would look like TSN or RTC exactly but plenty of other great ones, as guys started to talk about above. The field seems too wide and needs to be narrowed. Fishman Dave and I would also offer one of our favorites, the bolt catfish.
Could try a featherfin catfish. They're a big (30cm) and thick-bodied fish with a pretty similar pattern to a tiger shovelnose.
They can get semi-aggressive if space is lacking, though. Chances are that won't be an issue in a >1000 liter tank, but still something to keep in mind,
They can get semi-aggressive if space is lacking, though. Chances are that won't be an issue in a >1000 liter tank, but still something to keep in mind,
I would do a hemibagrus if I had a tank that size on hand and wanted to dedicate it to a singular cat. I’d love to see someone try one in a naturally scaped tank
There are some smaller hemibagrus you could try but not often seen.
Have both variagatus and wickiodes in a naturally scaped pond and getting to see them is a rare occurance. Like the wyckii before them both are very adept and fond of living in the darkest recesses. So much so that they either live under huge tree stumps or between the two pond liners (one was there to stop the pacu biting through creases on corners) and they spend 99% of their time in hiding in the pitch black.
If you want to keep a hemibagrus in natural scape then ensure they only get a rock to hide under and have to be visible even when under it. Don’t provide small long pipes because they will take residence in the centre of them.
Have both variagatus and wickiodes in a naturally scaped pond and getting to see them is a rare occurance. Like the wyckii before them both are very adept and fond of living in the darkest recesses. So much so that they either live under huge tree stumps or between the two pond liners (one was there to stop the pacu biting through creases on corners) and they spend 99% of their time in hiding in the pitch black.
If you want to keep a hemibagrus in natural scape then ensure they only get a rock to hide under and have to be visible even when under it. Don’t provide small long pipes because they will take residence in the centre of them.
Thanks Dave, just saw your videos from a couple of years ago with the variagatus, nice fish. Which would you say are the most interactive and what's the smallest?
H.furcatus and H.olyroides are the smallest of the ones you will find for sale but then you are looking around 8” and possibly too small, certainly for human interaction.
The medium sized fish in my experience include fish like H.nemurus, usually easiest to spot when albino variant, H.filamentus these are usually 10-15” although personally I believe we also see other slightly larger growing albino Hemibagrus traded as nemurus which can get slightly bigger. Both these are fairly secretive but my two live together in a Jewel 390 corner tank so not too aggressive, although one is male and the other female so this probably helps.
Unfortunately if you want a fish that will interact with you then you are looking at the bigger ones, H.variagatus, which grows bigger than reported(at least 18”) but loses its variagated colouring at around 12” so this may be why the confusion over size, H.wickiodes or H.wyckii.
All are trainable and interactive and can be found for sale fairly regularly. You may get them to live relatively peacefully with other fish but in my experience only in tanks greater than 300g. Some of the other Hemibagrus are rarely seen so I cannot advise how interactive they are.
As with most fish, they come with their individual characters and some can be friendly and interactive, some hugely aggressive and others very secretive.
Personally I would go for one of the larger ones and either build a bigger home in three or four years or find a new home for it then, because if it’s a good character you will find a way to do right by it, and if it’s a bad character you will be glad to see the back of it by then!
The most interactive by far has to be the wyckii when she lived solitary for a few years in a 6x2x2 before moving to the pond.
The medium sized fish in my experience include fish like H.nemurus, usually easiest to spot when albino variant, H.filamentus these are usually 10-15” although personally I believe we also see other slightly larger growing albino Hemibagrus traded as nemurus which can get slightly bigger. Both these are fairly secretive but my two live together in a Jewel 390 corner tank so not too aggressive, although one is male and the other female so this probably helps.
Unfortunately if you want a fish that will interact with you then you are looking at the bigger ones, H.variagatus, which grows bigger than reported(at least 18”) but loses its variagated colouring at around 12” so this may be why the confusion over size, H.wickiodes or H.wyckii.
All are trainable and interactive and can be found for sale fairly regularly. You may get them to live relatively peacefully with other fish but in my experience only in tanks greater than 300g. Some of the other Hemibagrus are rarely seen so I cannot advise how interactive they are.
As with most fish, they come with their individual characters and some can be friendly and interactive, some hugely aggressive and others very secretive.
Personally I would go for one of the larger ones and either build a bigger home in three or four years or find a new home for it then, because if it’s a good character you will find a way to do right by it, and if it’s a bad character you will be glad to see the back of it by then!
The most interactive by far has to be the wyckii when she lived solitary for a few years in a 6x2x2 before moving to the pond.
I would look to Vulture cats ( Calophysus macropterus ) they are active, beautiful, won't get past 2 feet ( or likely to even hit that size) and they don't hate each others company
