# What kind of catfish would you recommend?



## 2fnlo (Jan 21, 2008)

I have an 80 gallon aquarium with 2 Uaru, 1 Common Pleco, and 10 Lemon Tetras.

What kind of Catfish could I have? I was old Corys could kill the Uaru if they try to eat them and choke. I have Synodontis in my Tang tank, but I would like to stay semi geographically correct.

My LFS (Walmart) has Corys, and Columbian Shark Catfish. I really like the Columbians however they get rather large for a 80 gallon with 2 Uaru.

Any other suggestions?


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## conoholic (Nov 12, 2005)

pictus catfish should work


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## DirtyBlackSocks (Jan 24, 2008)

Uaru won't try to eat the cory cats if you get em' at adult size, look into aenus species, they get large.


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## AlexW (Apr 20, 2008)

Bronze Cories are deffinatly the biggest of the common species of cories you are likely to find at Walmart, however there are also the Brochis genus, these get even larger.

Really, the colombians and the pictus might try to gobble the lemons at a future point in time when they are full grown but they might be the best off in your tank if you are worried about the toxins that are in cories spines (which is really dilute as of late, they have lost alot of toxin due to the lack of it's need when bred through the farms and such, wild caughts will have enough to likely kill an uaru but even a farm-raised bronze could kill an Uaru if it was swallowed backwards, forwards the spines would do nothing, backwards they will rip the inner flesh of the Uaru)


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## DeadFishFloating (Oct 9, 2007)

First of all your common pleco is going to get big, and messy. It would be my reccomendation to trade it in before it gets large.

Uaru have a large distribution, in the Amazon-SolimÃµes River drainage from the JapurÃ¡ River to the TapajÃ³s River, and in the middle and lower ***** River basin.

There are a lot of different species of catfish found over this vast range. So it really depends on what your looking for from your catfish.

For cleaning up scraps of food, you can't go past corydoras.

For trying to keep algea under controll, bristlenose plecos have a decent reputation. However you can't expect them to subsist purely on algea growth in the tank, especially as they reach maturity, and do have to feed them algea wafers and vegies like sweet potato, zuccini and cucumber. Many keepers of bn's have noted that once they attain full size they slack off on the algea eating duties.

Otherwise, there are heaps of smaller fancy plecos found over this area, and your only limited by your budget and what needs different plecos have, mostly dietry. Here's a link to a small list, http://www.planetcatfish.com/catelog/se ... order=hits just hold your curser of each name, and a picture of the catfish will pop up.

Personally I'd go for a single starlight bristlenose, Ancistrus dolichopterus, and a trio of one of the samller panaque species, only becuase they are are vegetarians like Uaru, and would eat any uneaten vegies you feed to your Uaru.

Oh I nearly forgot, you don't have to buy at Walmart or where ever. For catfish check out here, http://www.plecofanatics.com/forum/foru ... y.php?f=58 
Also check online to find out if you have a local aquarium society or cichlid club. If you do, many have a website with a forum on, and fair bit of trading will go on here. Also while C-F may the busiest cichlid forum, many states and cities will have a local aquarium or cichlid forum, and you will hardly ever have to buy at an LFS again. And prices are easily one third of the of those in LFS.


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## 2fnlo (Jan 21, 2008)

Thanks for all the really great tips so far.

To add more info/clear things up:

I have 2 juvie Silvertip BN Plecos I can easily move one across when they are a bit larger. The Common Pleco is likely on his way out eventually I have a friend with a pond who wants it. And I do feed them algae wafers already.

I would like 1 or 2 catfish that grow about 4 - 5 Inches in length that would eat leftover food, and I also love catfish so its not a strict maintenance item. I already have 3 bronze Corys and 1 Panda Cory in a separate tank, but I want a real scaleless catfish, if that makes sense. I do like the Pictus, however it would stink if they ate the Lemons, which are huge right now a about 1.5 inches each (would that be big enough to escape eating)? I suppose if that is a fear I could move the Lemons to my 30 gallon and buy some larger dither tetras like Black skirts or Black Phantom?


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