PlanetCatfish.com

Working at a local aquarium store has recently kindeled an interest in owning an aquarium. Being the water testing guy and learning from my knoledgable boss and co workers I am confident in starting the hobby full blown. I recently bought a used 75 and 55. I have always been interested in animal life, but all my previous animimal hobbies have been with insects (usually social insects, Ive kept everything from termite and carpenter ant colonies to a bee hive)

Both will be planted. I am getting plently of help and advice. But I want the 55 to be a power tank with many plants and one vicious catfish.

I recently read an article in TFH about how some catfish grow very large and people can no longer care for them. I am looking for a catfish thats readily availible for purchase from regular wholesalers that the shop I work at could just order for me. It must be a carnevor but plant compatible, but I would prefer it did not outgrow the 55 and eat my family while I sleep. What species do you guys and gals recomend?

Thanks, and I look forward to the hobby.

Oh, here we go again... There are about 2500 different species of catfish, ranging in size from just over half an inch (16 mm max), to over 16 feet (about 5 meter).

Yes, some catfish grow bigger than is suitable for home aquaria.

Your best way to choose one is to look at some fish that you like, and then use the Cat-eLog on this site to check it's size/requirements. http://www.planetcatfish.com/catelog

The general rule for "how big the tank needs to be" is 4L x 2L x 2L, where L is the size of the fish. My guess on your 75g tank is that it's about 48" x 18" x 20". So, the shortest side is 18", which gives you a maximum fish size of about 9". Obviously, a fish that reaches a max length of 10" would still be feesible, but something that grows to 18" would certainly be well beyond what your tank will be capable of holding.

There are heaps of catfish that fit this size criteria, so the next thing to consider is "What else is going in the tank". Just keeping one or several catfish could be an option, but most people want to keep more than a single specie in the tank. So you need to find something that works together between your intended catfish and other fish in the tank.

You should also consider your water parameters (pH, hardness and most importantly temperature).

If you pick some other fish that is meant to live at 25'C (77'F), then your catfish must also be happy at this temperature. If you decide to keep Discus's, then you'd better not keep cold-water catfish, since the Discu's will want 28-30'C. There's some catfish that like this temperature too, but others will die very quickly at that temperature.

Finally, you obviously want to make sure that the fish aren't eating each other, or perhaps so territorial towards other fish that they do not tolerate any other inhabitants.

Also consider whether the fish should be kept on it's own, in pairs, or in a group of several fish.

All of these factors will have to be considered for all of the fish you are getting, not just the catfish.

Finally, you'll have to consider the overall stocking of the tank with fully grown fish. It's better with an understocked tank than with one that is overstocked, from a maintenance perspective, and I'm sure you're aware of the water quality perspective of fishkeeping, if you've been "the water testing guy" for some time. Bad water happens much easier if the tank is overstocked than if it's stocked to a reasonably low level.

[Obviously, most carnivorous catfish would probably eat smaller fish, so you couldn't keep small tetras, neons and the like, with larger carnivourous catfish].

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Mats