Tank Mates for Mystus leucophasis?

[kuradi8]

A few years ago I bought a cute little upside down catfish for my 20 gallon tank. Nessie the Tank Monster has now grown to be 6-1/2 inches and has eaten all but one of her tank mates (a golden algae eater.) Thanks to this site, I now know that she is a Burmese/Asian Upside Down Catfish and is not the mutant that I thought.

She is shy and nocturnal. She comes out of her cave every evening but during the day, my tank looks empty. What can I put in there that is fast and/or tough enough not to be eaten?

http://www.planetcatfish.com/cotm/cotm. ... cle_id=115 suggested cyprinids, specifically tinfoil barbs. But they will grow to be too large for my humble 20g.

What do you think the chances of for plain old Tiger Barbs are? (I've always liked them.) They're small but they're fast and fierce. Or will half a dozen of them become another gourmet sushi meal for Nessie -- like my tetras did?

Thanks,
~Kai

[Marc van Arc]

What do you think the chances of for plain old Tiger Barbs are? (I've always liked them.)

Hello Kai & welcome to PC.
Despite their fearsome name, Tiger barbs will be sitting ducks for your Mystus. Not during the day, but at night when they rest/sleep and the Mystus is on the move. She likes them too, you know.
I understand that you'd like to see something, but this should at least be 3/4 the lenght of your Mystus to prevent it from being attacked and/or eaten. I'm afraid your 20 gallons is too small for a number of large fishes. Adding a shoal of small fishes is useless.
So it's either an apparently empty tank or getting rid of the Mystus and restart with other fishes.