Aquarium catfish hailing from Mexico?

[Iggy Newcastle]

New to the site and first post. Subject title says it all.

I have a 6' 125 gallon tank with several cichlids. A group of Thorichthys, Paraneetroplus heterospila and swordtails. All fish are found in Mexico but don't necessarily exist with one another, so this is not a true biotope. I'm looking for a cat that stays relatively small. My research has brought up zilch.

Any ideas? All input is greatly appreciated.

Thanks.

[racoll]

Rhamdia quelen

could be your best bet, but it will be from a South American rather than Mexican import.

[Iggy Newcastle]

Thanks racoll.

Certainly an interesting fish, but not ideal in my setup. Grows far too large and would make meals out of my dither fish.

[racoll]

There's always

Pterygoplichthys pardalis

;)

[naturalart]

Hello Iggy, welcome to Planetcatfish. As a general rule, you need know that combining catfish and cichlids can be a real challenge, depending on the species you are trying to combine. Strong research, detail observation and serious aquarium designing may be in order. As you may know cichlids are territorial, and substrate breeders are the worst of the bunch. This puts them at odds with many catfish species, who want to find their 'hidey hole' and defend it from all others. Catfish will also gleefully gobble up any cichlid eggs they can get their mouths around. Cichlids tend to resent this. There in lies the rivalry.

Right off the top of my head there are not many species of catfish that I'm aware of from Mexico, but I am sure there are some. I would look to the Ictaluridea and possibly the ariidea groups. And I vaguely remember some crypto-adapted species which most likely won't fit your needs in any case.
Hopefully some one more knowledgable will chime in?

Realistically, I would consider a heavily armored Doradid or (as Racoll alluded to) Loricaride. They may be able to better handle the 'harassment' your cichlids may want to dole out without being too overly aggressive themselves. Good luck.

[Iggy Newcastle]

Thank you. I posted a reply yesterday morning to the suggestion of the Common Pleco. My phone decided to not submit it.

I'll look into the genus you have recommended. Admittedly, I'm not knowledgeable about aquarium cats. I've kept Synodontis lucipinnis from Lake Tang and that's it. I'm very familiar with the flathead and channel cats I fish for, but that's certainly not helping me here.

My cichlids in this tank are substrate/surface spawners and I understand the concerns. I may need to ditch the idea entirely, or be willing to branch away from Mexico species. I doubt I'll stumble on a small species that does well in a group that come from Central America.

Thanks again for the excellent help and suggestions!

[Bas Pels]

I got a group R guatemalensis, and they are for sale.

But the most large one is over 1 foot - and frankly, I think your tank is too small for a combination of cichlids with these catfish.

I would say 2000 liters, that is 220 US gallons at te very least

Quite a few mexican cichlids grow (far) too large for your tank. You best stick to 1 species of Thorichthys, 6 of them, and swordtails

nothing more, and enjoy

[Iggy Newcastle]

I realize that my tank is too small(6' x 1.5')for most CA cichlids, which is why I chose Thorichthys Maculipinnis as my main fish and Paraneetroplus(formerly vieja) heterospila(8-9" adults) as a lone show piece fish. The swords are my dither. They are all still juveniles and I've been growing them out from a small size. I was just looking for a cat that would occupy the bottom of the tank.

Here is the tank-

IMG_1505 by Adam James K, on Flickr