opinion on raphael cats?

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Plec123

Plec123

Polypterus
MFK Member
Jun 26, 2009
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North Jersey
ive been looking at striped raphael cats, and i may get one if i dont get another pleco. however, ive got a question: will the raphael cat try to squeeze into cracks in my driftwood, enough so that the pieces may fall over? im trying to think ahead to when it gets to 8".. if i do get one.
 
boy have I got a story for you about this kind of cat

I will brb to post it
 
They aren't the most persistent buggers, but repeated efforts might lead to decor collapse if alternate options aren't provided.
 
ok so I found the picture faster than I thought.

I used to have a raphael cat in this tank where this piece of wood came out of. He plain disappeared so I thought one of my other numerous plecos or cats had devoured the evidence.

One day I was remaking the interior of the tank and I found out what had happened to it. I had gotten itself into a crevice in the wood and when it tried to back out it had gotten it's dorsal spike wedged in the wood and it could not get it down and as it tried even harder to get out it got its side fins wedged to.

this picture was taken after about 1/2 hr work trying to get him out

IMGP4498.jpg


I did eventually get him out but only after busting the tip off of one of my japanese sushi knives :( .

Personally I will never have another of these cats if the tank has a space small enough for them to wedge into, which is why I have become very careful of how I design the interior of my tanks.
 
alright. i probably wont get them then... i like my wood the way it is. and i wanna keep my tetras...
 
No need to write them off just yet. They are immensely useful fish. This occurrence of a raphael becoming stuck in decor and dying is pretty uncommon. Plus, they live at least twenty years and look awesome, eat any kind of food and are usually harmless to medium and large fish. I know my tank would feel empty without him.
 
for me its more the point that nothing I could do would get this fish unstuck

just left me with a real sucky feeling
 
I absolutely love my striped raph! I say get one for sure but make sure you get one big enough that it won't fit into driftwood crevices.
 
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