Banjo Catfish with Moth Hara's?

[ozgrrl2]

Hi all.

I have one poor lonely banjo catfish who is approx 6 yrs old now When i first 'adopted' him [her?] from a friend he had been living solo for 3 yrs. Well I kinda feel bad since I know they are typically schooling fish. I have been trying to find another couple of banjos locally but no one seems to stock them that I can find.

I noticed some 'Moth Haras' at my LFS the other day....the guy had said he though they were "Banjos" but to me they seem TINY compared to my guy.

Would a few of these be a good match for Quincy? [my banjos name ] Or should I continue to search for the larger banjos?

Thanx for any advice. Much appreciated.

[MatsP]

I'd say that it depends on size of the

Hara hara

(assuming that is what it is, it may be another of the

Hara

genus or

Erethistidae

family - or perhaps something completely different altogether, I've seen all manner of "wrong labels" in the past several years).

Some of the fish in this group are often quite small in the shop, and they don't grow VERY large as max size either. And a 6-year old banjo cat could well be a good 6" long and be able to eat a small fish of around 1" long. Having said that, bristlenose babies do survive in the tank where I have Banjo cats...

--
Mats

[ozgrrl2]

Thank you MatsP

The cats I saw in the LFS are about 1.5 inches long. My guy is abaout 3 inches, and thats it. Maybe he is a smaller banjo?

My tank has just the banjo and an apple snail in it. It is about 28 G. Temp is at a stable 78 F and the PH is at a constant 7.8. I do WC's at 50% every 2 weeks.

Im not looking to stock such a small tank, but if I did get these other cats would it be too much to have 2 plus my banjo and snail in a 28 G?

I think I might have to get some pictures of the little ones to show here.

[Richard B]

Im not looking to stock such a small tank, but if I did get these other cats would it be too much to have 2 plus my banjo and snail in a 28 G?

This proposal sounds fine & will leave room for a few more fishes if you wanted to.

[ozgrrl2]

Great!

Well I think Quincy might finally have some new buddies this week... to hang with at night time

[wrasse]

1 banjo cat and a snail, in a 28g tank.....hmmmmmm.
Hope you don't mind me asking, but is your house interior in the 'minimalist' style?

Just a suggestion but, assuming you have adequate filtration and perhaps using the simple 1" of fish per gallon rule, howsabout adding some activity? You clearly like a very peaceful set up, but the choice is wide. Corydoras, glass cats, Syno Nigriventris, harlequins, etc. All are active and very peaceful and use the different levels in the tank. But then again, its all about personal choice.....

And if you can lower the PH to a neutral 7, all the fish, including your banjo would appreciate it.

[ozgrrl2]

Hey LOL wrasse

It was going to be an apple snail tank a few months ago. I did have a female beta sorority at one time [did NOT go down well sadly] I also had 3 platys and 3 corys another time. Had the platys for 2 years + ...the corys lasted all of a week!!
Back then I dabbled with lowering the PH and to be honest I think thats what killed the corys and the platys. They died VERy suddenly within days of trying to tinker with the tank. Then again the corys were 'new' to me at that time also. Maybe they were already ill. I had not done the proper hospital tank..choosing to acclimate them directly into my big tank. Beginner mistake Numero UNO!

I did the WC slowly as directed and am too terrifyed to try again. Soooo as they all eventually passed away Ive been left with Quincy and the PH is 7.8 right from my tap.

I tried to add a few more snails 6 months ago. Gromet was the only one who survived. I hope to add onother 1 - 2 snails along with those moth cats [unless I can really find another 2 banjos in san diego] .

The snail activity is AMAZING! I love watching how active they are. I also love to hunt for Quincy at night when I drop the bloodworms in

Anyways....I live with MANY small tanks. The 28G is the largest for my townhome [for now!] I may be moving to another home soon so wasnt going to 'fill' it until then.

[MatsP]

Changing the pH (at least lowering it) is far from easy. I'm not sure what wrasse had in mind when suggesting this, but the only really viable way if the tap-water is high pH, is to either collect rainwater (which may be viable in the UK, but other parts of the world, rain may be fairly sparse) or use RO water (or any other form of distilled water). High pH tap water is nearly always caused by hard water, which is also alkaline.

This is quite technical - if it doesn't make much sense to you, please just ignore all of it, and skip to the next paragraph. Whilst technically, the pH can be adjusted by adding various compounds to the water, it is nearly always also raising the conductivity (the waters ability to conduct electricity). Proper soft, acidic water has a low conductivity, and mine along with several others opinion is that conductivity has more to do with the fish's health than the actual pH value - it just so happens that soft water, which has low conductivity, is also acidic, and hard water, with high conductivity, is also alkaline. It is fairly rare to find water in nature where the correlation between hardness and conductivity aren't in sync - which means that you can essentially say "Soft -> low conductivity, hard -> high conductivity" and "soft -> acidic" and "hard -> alkaline" for all bodies of water in nature.

The above paragraph explains why adding a liquid/powder to water to make it less alkaline will not actually do what the fish would like to have happen to the water.

Whilst I agree that the ideal conditions for a banjo cat (and nearly all other fish from South America) is soft, acidic water, that also makes life much harder for the aquarist. And by several accounts, these fish do fine in higher pH conditions.

My banjo cats are in a soft/acidic tank, and they are doing fine there. But you have kept your fish in the alkaline pH longer than mine has been in my tank. In fact, your 6 years of keeping beats just about all of my fish that I currently have - at least in my ownership - I have inherited a few fish that I have a poor knowledge of the history of. I think "Gus", my first Bristlenose female has been in my ownership more than 6 years by now.

--
Mats

[wrasse]

That's all fair comment from Mats. And if you've tinkered with water chemistry before and not had much success, then perhaps its best you just 'go with the flow'.....
Years ago, before I bought a RO unit, I used to tinker with water-softening resins to create soft acidic water. All the fish I like seem to come from places with those conditions.
When you move, if you have similar tap water, platies (you mentioned before) , swords and mollies maybe, should appreciate those conditions.

[bronzefry]

My Banjos eat Endler's livebearers for snacks. They look so dead to the world, then snap! I had a tank of Hara's for a time. They are sensitive to water quality. They lived for a little over a year. I never got any fry from them. I kept them in a 10 gallon tank, by themselves. Fussy eaters.
Amanda

[ozgrrl2]

Again - all your advice is greatly appreciated.

Mats you explained that better then I think anyone Ive read before - Ha!

Im not too sure why Quincy outlasted all my other fish. I am VERY greatful he has though! I had tried to find him a good home when the other fishes started to die off because I was horrified and didnt want him to die as well. He has restored my own faith in fishkeeping

I think for now Im going to do what Ive been doing. ie use my tap water, add the Prime and let it sit overnight before I do my WC's. When I move I will see what the PH is there before I decide. All I know is my PH is stable. KH and Dk readings are always stable [still trying to actually figure out what those are but I continue to check them monthly] Ammonia is always at 0 and my Nitrates are usually a slight reading or a dark yellow on my meter.

The only other water I use is de-ionized water for my beta Coccina. [Ph for that is a solid 7] I add dried Indian almond leaves and have her in a 3 G tank with a filter packed with peatmoss/filter media and have had her so far for 2+ years. Shes one of my fav fishies.

I am going to add 2 more snails to the 28G this week for Gromet to hang out with.

Yesterday I hunted around and called a store who say they actually HAVE a few banjos!!. I am going to check them out this week before I decide what to do. I hope they appear 'healthy looking' ... I currently have a goldfish in my 'quarantine tank' [rescued from the horrendous local "goldfish races" one evening recently]...and still trying to find him/her a home.

I really did love the look of those Moth's. Adorable!! Im guessing I will more then likely add 3 of those eventually down the track. Great to know they will get alone with banjos.

I suppose 3 banjos, 2 or 3 snails and 3 Moths might make a cool tank for me