Considering a lima catfish

mirandacat · Post by **mirandacat** » 02 Oct 2006, 14:00

I have a 55 with a 9 1/2" male Jack Demspey, and 8 giant danios. I have been considering non-cichlid tankmates for a while, something that doesn't get too big for the tank, and something that isn't too small, or too slow to get eaten by my JD. I kept a large pleco for a friend for a couple months, and my JD didn't bother it much, so I don't think he'd be rough on the Lima. An LFS near me has a lima shovelnose cat about 7.5 -8" long, that looks healthy. How would a lima do in my tank? Would the Lima be able to catch the danios? I would be willing if needed to feed feeders if I could not get him onto another type of food. But I'd try hard to get him off feeders.
Here's the tank

MatsP · Post by **MatsP** » 02 Oct 2006, 14:23

I would say that a Jack Dempsey (which I presume is what you mean by JD) is not a suitable tank-mate for the rather docile . On the subject of suggested tankmates, it says:

Large cichlids could be experimented with, but should not be aggressive species.

Last time I looked at Cichlids, I seem to remember JD as being in the higher ranks of aggressive ones...

It is also quite possible that it would catch the danios...

Note: I have no personal experience of these fish, but the Cat-eLog is generally a good place to find accumulated information. That page has been hit over 4000 times, and I'm sure if the information was considered "absolutely wrong", someone should've reported it by now...

--
Mats

mirandacat · Post by **mirandacat** » 02 Oct 2006, 14:34

I read that, I guess I didn't consider my JD to aggressive since he doesn't show much interest in my danios, or the pleco I kept before.

MatsP · Post by **MatsP** » 02 Oct 2006, 15:19

Part of the discussion here involves what you consider "aggressive". In my meaning of that word, it means "will attack other fish", and from what I've read about them, that's exactly what a Jack Dempsey will do if it feels threatened by another fish.

Plecos are quite sturdy, relatively slow-moving, and "unthreatening" to a Jack Dempsey. Danios are fast-swimming and small (relatively speaking), so they would be fine with the JD - it soon figures out that there's no point in chasing them for food, as they get away all the time.

Lima's are (in relation to a pleco at least) rather fragile fish, and may not withstand an attack by the rather brutish JD.

I'm of course no expert on what your individual fish is like, I'm just suggesting based on what I've read about the different fish, and I'm trying to stay the safe side of suggesting something that will end up with injury or death of any fish [in this case or any other].

--
Mats

sidguppy · Post by **sidguppy** » 02 Oct 2006, 15:26

I have to advise against it though....

Lima's are piscivores; yes, the lima is quite capable of catching the Danio's! remember it's a catfish; nocturnal and hence extremely well adapted at sneaking up on sleeping shoalers. those Danio's aren't highbuilt, they have the perfect shape to fit inside a Lima.

Another thing: the tank is not exactly suitable for such a fish.
the gravel is way too course, there's that sharp angular piece of rock sticking up, Lima's can get spooked easily....I'm sure you get the picture.
they also can mistakenly swallow things. I see a plastic lizard laying on the gravel (!). such stuff can seriously harm a fish that tries to swallow it.

Apart from that, the tank is much too bright, there are NO hiding places at all and not even a background. not exactly a tank suitable for catfishes like the Lima.

and like MatsP said: there's the possibility of the Jack's temper to consider.

I wouldn't do it, unless you want to start a whole new tank or ditch the current tank setup, the JD, the Danio's etc.

mirandacat · Post by **mirandacat** » 02 Oct 2006, 16:53

The lizard can go, all he is, is a toy for the JD, he picks up the lizard and carries it around, and bashes it into the glass sometimes. I was in the process of switching backgrounds when I took the pic. It was blue, now it's black. I could move the rocks, and easily add more driftwood, I have alot of unused wood. Most of those things can be changed easily enough. Hard to say about aggression from the JD to the cat.

Is there any type of cat, not a pleco, that woulod go with what I have? The danios can move.

MatsP · Post by **MatsP** » 02 Oct 2006, 17:47

Well, there's 2500 or so catfish species, around a third (800-1000) are "Loricariidae", which is where the Plecos etc reside in the family tree. That leaves 1500-1700 species that aren't Pleco's.

Of course, several hundred of those disqualifies themselves on other grounds (too large for a 55g tank would be the first and most obvous one, followed by too small, will end up eaten).

But there's still a huge number of fish left - unfortunately, it's hard to sit here and recommend something out of that - because it's a personal taste thing that decides what you like. It would also help to know the temperature of the tank, for example.

Something in the Doradidae family perhaps? There are some huge ones in there which wouldn't work, but the smaller members are nice - although some, like the striped Raphael tend to hide quite a bit.

Fast swimmers may also be OK, like - even if the JD is unhappy with them, provided there are sufficient hiding-places, they should be fine, as long as they are big enough not to be swallowed.

--
Mats

mirandacat · Post by **mirandacat** » 02 Oct 2006, 19:03

Pictus cats would be cool, they look alot like the Lima. As long as I could find pretty big ones, say 4.5-5" they'd probably be alright. I could have more than one of those? How many, they sort of school, like corydoras right?

apistomaster · Post by **apistomaster** » 02 Oct 2006, 19:22

One of the options Sid suggested is one to seriouly consider; remove the JD and a whole realm of possibilities for an interesting commnity of fishes will be open to you. The JD could be paired with a female with no other fish but that is a daunting challenge in itself. Whereas if you found a new home for JD you could build a new community around the needs of the lima that would probably more ineresting than your status quo.

Post by **Marc van Arc** » 02 Oct 2006, 20:34

If you get rid of the JD and go for the lima, let the danios be. The lima will be glad to "house" them.
Limas and pictus go well together, put a background, smaller gravel or sand and some plants in and there you go!
Pictus are best kept in groups of 5 or more.
Well, you may have some serious thinking to do. Good luck in making the right decisions.

mirandacat · Post by **mirandacat** » 02 Oct 2006, 22:08

Unfortunately I inherited the JD when my brother in law passed away, and whenever my wife sees it, she says"there's my brother's fish" so getting rid of him is out of the question.

How about a group of pictus with him and the danios?

Post by **Marc van Arc** » 02 Oct 2006, 22:14

Well, I understand your sentiments with regard to the JD.
Adding a group of pictus could be possible, but you must make sure there will be plenty of hiding places for them, which should be no go areas for the JD.

mirandacat · Post by **mirandacat** » 03 Oct 2006, 01:36

Marc van ark-

That's an exodon tetra in your sig right? I love them, and have a small school myself.

I've got a 4.5" pictus in my quarantine tank right now, just went out and bought him and will be looking for 3-4 more.

MatsP · Post by **MatsP** » 03 Oct 2006, 11:57

Finding larger P. pictus shouldn't be terribly hard. Just make sure that when you introduce them to the larger tank, that you introduce them all at once, so that they have the same level of familiarity with the new surroundings, or at least introduce a few at a time - you may find that they squablle a bit too much if you introduce just one new to an existing group. I'd try to get 5 or more as well.

--
mats

Post by **Marc van Arc** » 03 Oct 2006, 13:48

mirandacat wrote:Marc van ark- That's an exodon tetra in your sig right? I love them, and have a small school myself.

It's way off topic, but yes it is. I have 13 specimen that go very well with my catfishes.
In what kind of tank do you keep them?

mirandacat · Post by **mirandacat** » 03 Oct 2006, 14:37

I have 10 in a 55, with a male and female ancistrus. In fact, my LFS is getting more exodons in today, and I'll be inspecting them, with thoughts to increasing my school to 20 or so. They're great: active, pretty, easy to feed.

Post by **Marc van Arc** » 03 Oct 2006, 16:13

Right. 20 Exodons. That's a nice number for sure. Don't be surprised if some fights break out as the order of the group will be re-established.
Indeed a lovely fish. But I don't think our attitude towards Exodons is shared by many people

costatus7 · Post by **costatus7** » 06 Oct 2006, 00:31

Hi just came across your post, im keeping limas with severums and accaras works really well and no agression aswell. only just added so theres still time but i dont expect any. Dempseys i would rekon would feel fairly threatend by limas and limas arnt the most armour plated catfish around, so if you go for limas then severums and accaras are cool, i also have a striped and spoted doridea catfish in my tank might be worth considering the striped being more active definatly recomend one in the tank. also have plecs aswell in there. pictus would go well with the dempsey best kept in a small schoal off three i would say very active might be worth looking at the other pims such as the maculatus and ornatus.

ben

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mirandacat · Post by **mirandacat** » 07 Oct 2006, 04:11

I have a pimelodus blochii in QT right now, about 5.5"

We'll see in couple weeks how he does.

costatus7 · Post by **costatus7** » 07 Oct 2006, 18:24

sounds great pims are great cats to keep.