All posts regarding the care and breeding of catfishes from other parts of the world (North America, Europe and Australia). If you don't know where your catfish is from, post a query in the identification category.
I've had many fish, but few have any "personality" to match an RTC. Of course, few also grow in front of your eyes..
Baby RTCs -- with their tadpole like shape -- are an absolute wonder to raise, but too bad that phase is short lived.
What other catfish are good alternatives for something small (<3") and generally oddball-like?
Syno's look too generic and cory's aren't too shabby.. if only there was a way to keep an RTC at 2"..
Last edited by tomat0 on 13 Mar 2014, 02:07, edited 1 time in total.
there are loads of different plecos that fit that size and the species mostly depends on the preference of the keeper. If you keep them in a group, their social sides really start to come out in groups of 4-5+. For smaller sizes I would recommend different sorts of hypans or peckoltia's. Other members with more experience would be better insight on this though as I myself tend to keep larger species like pseado's, lepora's etc.
The Lake Tanganyika Mustache Cats mouthbrood and top out at ~4"? That's neat!
Browsing around, I stumbled onto the SA Bumblebee Cat. I don't remember ever having any before. How are their activity levels?
Sorry about the Synos, Birger!
Those Noturus look like Candiru!!! :O
Seems like evolution has dictated the actively foraging predators/scavengers to be the monsters.. could you imagine miniature b. yarellis?
I do notice the common trait is a big mouth.
The SA bumblebees (microglanis spp.) will hide all day. Many only see them briefly at feeding time after lights out. I've been fortunate to see some pretty atypical behavior with mine and I love them but that's definitely not the norm.
If you're after a catfish with in-your-face personality then I'd go for a regular male Hoplo cat. It won't be long until it's splashing at the surface every time you open the lid, giving you a whack if you don't give it food quickly enough. I suggest male because in my experience they have always been more robust in their determination to get the first mouthful.
I don't know if you are looking for something more exotic but it fits the bill as far as being active, relatively small and won't eat or attack other fish.
Hey, I was just watching a YouTube video of a pair of Syndodontis lucipinnis! I came to the Cat-eLog to double-check its maximum length, and lo and behold, I see this post! They really are cute, and they only get about 4" long Standard Length. If I didn't have so many cats already in my tank, I definitely think I'd love to keep a couple!
Heh, heh, Curly's, "I'm a victim of the circumstance" could be, in our case: "I'm a beneficiary of the circumstance"! Excuse me... I have Stooges on the brain!
Oh, I should've read the other replies before posting! I too, have a Microglanis iheringi, and he/she is always in its favorite hole in the driftwood, waiting with its whiskers just poking out at the entrance; Gordo is just not a day-time cat, but he is the exact opposite at night (go figure...).
A bouncing, baby Bagarius would be nice, though! Call me crazy but a naturally-dwarf, mini-Goonch would be adorable: a ton of attitude in a pint-sized body!! Hand-fed, I bet it'd bite a finger and never let go!
I wholeheartedly agree! That Pimelodidae crowd is a sassy one. Way back when, I had a P. pictus, and he got EXTREMELY territorial when I introduced a large, hollow, fake log ornament. He really began to get too violent (would ambush and ram into any passerby fish or human viewers, and actually knocked a "scale" off of one of my corys right before my eyes), so my kind LFS owner was willing to take him back.
From my experience, corys are the #1 active catfish: they are all really gentle and terribly friendly! My C. aeneus, along with my adult Marbled Angelfish, always greet a passerby with faces to the glass! You can't go wrong with those corys, that's for sure!!
Larry: "Why don't we get out of the restaurant business?"
Moe: (Approaches)"Why don't catfish have kittens?"(Leaves)
Larry: "I wonder..."
