PlanetCatfish.com

This is the tank that is in the process of being set up.

125 gal South American
1 Geo. Brasiliensis
1 Green Terror
1 Severum
1 Blue Acara
1 Green Pike Cichlid (not sure which pike this is, thats what LFS called em.)
1 Convict

My question is: Are there any S.A. catfish that won't get too massive and can handle the cichlids if they get aggresive?

I would recomend Red-Tails & Shovel Noses, But they can out grow 125 gal fast and will up root must furniture. I like they Banjo catfish (Max Size 6") mostly bottom dewaler's and very peaceful but very weird. And of course Cory Cat's & plecostomus "pl*co". If you aply some hidding spot's for the catfish, the c*****s's should not bother them, but sometime's they find a way to pick on them . Some of my Albino Channel Cat's have been killed from c*****d's before !!!. Red Belly Pacu arn't catfish but they also look cool in South American Tank's

Freyr writes:

Are there any S.A. catfish that won't get too massive

Albino catfish replies:

I would recomend Red-Tails & Shovel Noses

The Red-Tail is THE biggest catfish common available for the hobby; it's bigger than a newborn bottlenose dolphin when mature

Freyr wrote:This is the tank that is in the process of being set up.

125 gal South American
1 Geo. Brasiliensis
1 Green Terror
1 Severum
1 Blue Acara
1 Green Pike c*****d (not sure which pike this is, thats what LFS called em.)
1 Convict

My question is: Are there any S.A. catfish that won't get too massive and can handle the c*****ds if they get aggresive?

There are plenty of S.A. catfishes you could take, but that should be your choice. Have a look in the Cat-eLog, so that you may decided which families you like. Then within these families you pick the fish you're attracted to etc. So you end up with a small list.
Btw: do you only have single C*****ds specimens or should I read 1 pair of each species?

I am going to have singles of each. That way they won't mate and attack rest of tankmates, also less conspecific aggresion.

Since we have basicly the same tank (135g here) and I keep basicly the same other fish in it, I could tell you what cats are working well in there now..

adult male Trachelyopterus galeatus
3 half-grown Orinocodoras eigenmanni
adult female Acanthodoras cataphractus
3 med/large wild Ancistrus
4 asst. young "Cochliodons"
a stunted Synodontis eupterus rescue

Other cats that I had varying degrees of success with the big substrate spawning siclids before were;

nearly any other Hypostomus
Pimelodus clarias & blochii
Ompok bimaculatus
Platydoras costatus
Horabagrus brachysoma
Mystus leucophasis
Mystus vittatus
Mystus castaneus

Of course there's one reason or another that I don't have these anymore, as some get a touch large for a 72"x18" tank & others are a bit agressive towards other cats. Then for anyone that cares, the other fish in there are 1 each of; oscar, marakely, blue tilapia, red & bellycrawler pikes, and finally a 1-eyed Beaufort's loach. A crowded mess for sure, but the floor drain & I are the best of friends..

Hope that gives you a place to start, since most all of these fish are pretty easy to get ahold of!

Freyr wrote:I am going to have singles of each. That way they won't mate and attack rest of tankmates, also less conspecific aggresion.

It should be interesting and I would not want to stop you from trying but you might have trouble talking the fish into your idea. I have a similar tank. The Male Crenicichla Johanni has killed several Geo. braziliensis. The big braziliensis has done in a Crenicichla Saxatilis. And nobody in the tank messes with the big chocolate sichlid or he will tear them apart (as observed). There is some kind of good sized cat in there that I have never identified (6+ inches, pointy nose and nice whiskers) and two Amblydoras of some sort. They all live in a 130 gallon with lots of big pots and some plastic egg crate barriers to break things up. The oddest and most unusual fish in this mix is a three inch brilliant turquoise Discus. It was supposed to be food but survived. It is definitely stunted from lack of heat and water changes but he has been holding his own in there for a year. He doesn't look like anybody else and presents no threat, so everybody leaves him alone.

One last thing, I never see the catfish unless I rip the tank apart vacuuming out s--t. And there is lots of it as you might imagine. It is fun watching predators do what they do best.

George

I was worried about the pikes too,but i'm planning on getting one of the smaller to medium sized ones. Hopefully too small to kill the other fish, but too big to be killed by them. That's the plan, anyway. We'll see how it works out.

keep the suggestions comin!

I would get rid of the Central American species on that list; not only do they require different water (hard and alcalic instead of soft and acidic), but CA cichlids are often even more bad tempered than SA ones.

I always get itchy teeth with common names, but AFAIK the Convict (cryptoheros nigrofasciatus) is a CA cichlid.

dunno about Green Terror, what is this?

and I would either skip the Geo or keep it as a small group; this is a fish that lives in groups. it's like keeping a single Glass cat.

Already on it, sidguppy. I'm not getting any Central Americans. Green terrors are South American, scientific name is Aequidens rivulatus.

I agree with you on the Geo, but since I already have had him for 4 months, not getting him is not an option. I think he'll be fine by himself, he just attacks other geophagines anyway. Maybe he's not meant to have a group.

tis nice to hear that I'm not the only one with a crazy mixed up tank full of a lot of completely random tankmates, and probably way to overstocked... but it does keep me entertained... and I do randomly buy more tanks here and there to dispurse my "family" amongst! Feel free to have a look at mine hehe