Spotte Rapheal ?

[sequoiacat]

Would a spotted rapheal be able to live with a betta, kuhli loaches and cherry barbs?

[Richard B]

Very happily indeed - as it would eat any smaller fish . It is opportunistic not an out-&-out predator but does consume small fish like cherry barbs

[sequoiacat]

so it would definately eat most of what is in my tank?

[Bas Pels]

If the above is what's in your tank, I'd worry about them all, apart from the Betta. The Betta will be too large to be swallowed

[sequoiacat]

with out counting the fins the cherry barbs bodies are the same size as the bettas body espeacially with the female cherry barbs.

But since it seems that the spoteed rapheal would eat the kuhlis then what wuld be a good substitue catfish for me, preferably something that wil do well with kuli loaches and cherry barbs and a betta. i was thinking maybe a feather fin catfish or a small school of albino cories.

[sidguppy]

if by "spotted raphael" you mean either Acanthodoras or Agamyxis; your fish are perfectly safe

adult Platydoras might snack on a 1-3cm fish, but both Agamyxis and Acanthodoras are much more peaceful and slow and clumsy. these don't eat fish or maybe things as tiny as a male endler guppy; but since male endlers are the size of a big fat mosquitolarvae; who can blame them?

Cherrybarb is Barbus titteya and it's too chubby and too large to be eaten by Agamyxis or Acanthodoras.

kuhli loaches are left alone, even by larger doradids.
not in the least cause kuhli loaches are very slimy and.....up and running and wide awake when the dorads roam about.

the only way for any doradid to eat small fishes is to gobble up torpid comatose sleeping fish that daze about on the substrate

that's the way a fully grown platydoras manages to snack small characins.

but none of them is an accomplished hunter like the pimelodids or the larger auchenipterids.

[sequoiacat]

are you absolutely sure sidguppy if so thanks so much.
also how big can a spotteds mouth get? i mean agamyxis
also what would be a good diet for agamyxis, iam thinking bloodworms and diced shrimp at midnight.

[Richard B]

Unusually, i have to disagree with Sid re: Agamyxis - i have known these to consume one or three glowlight tetras after lights out (unless there is another explanation).

This may be an unusual occurrance & it was certainly a larger Agamyxis (circa 6"TL) but over the course of a week or so all glowlights vanished from a tank where there were no other losses & no other likely culprits (lemon, bleeding heart & red phantom tetras & some p.maccus). The glowlights were all in good health to start with, & no corpses were ever found.

All of Sid's info is always sound, based on experience so all i can say is it is probably unlikely but the possibility exists.

[sequoiacat]

My cherry barbs are all between 1 3/4 in to 2 in and my betta in 2 in.

[sidguppy]

bloody common names again Richard; they are still the bain and curse of my life as non native user on an English site


I GUESS......your fish were the tiny, slimbuild and slowmoving Hemigrammus erythrozonus, right?

sort of a Neon tetra without blue. this qualifies as a tiny fish. these are only slightly bigger than male Endler guppies, and worse: they tend to stay near the bottom; t night they hover semi-comatose a few millimeters above the sand.
it would have been snack heaven for any catfish larger than 3"

I'm still convinced the fish that Sequioacat has are perfectly safe.

[Richard B]

bloody common names again Richard; they are still the bain and curse of my life as non native user on an English site


I GUESS......your fish were the tiny, slimbuild and slowmoving Hemigrammus erythrozonus, right?

sort of a Neon tetra without blue. this qualifies as a tiny fish. these are only slightly bigger than male Endler guppies, and worse: they tend to stay near the bottom; t night they hover semi-comatose a few millimeters above the sand.
it would have been snack heaven for any catfish larger than 3"

I'm still convinced the fish that Sequioacat has are perfectly safe.

oooops - sorry Sid - yep those are the tetras & they do overnight on the bottom, exactly as you say. Maybe 25-30mm in size before they were snacked upon

You are probably 100% correct in that the fish will be safe, but i wouldn't put a guarantee on it in a court of law. I just think we need to advise of worst case scenario even if it is the longest of long shots. I wouldn't want anyone to come back on here saying "you said it would be fine but" when what i will say is that it "will probably be fine"

[sequoiacat]

well, thanks every one i got myself a spotted rapheal for 5 us dollars yesterday and now i just have to get kuhli loaches in spring.
the spotted sleeps all day but at night is swiming all over the tank like a madman, and when it swims it looks like it is more waddleing sort of like those fancy goldfish.

[Richard B]

well, thanks every one i got myself a spotted rapheal for 5 us dollars yesterday and now i just have to get kuhli loaches in spring.
the spotted sleeps all day but at night is swiming all over the tank like a madman, and when it swims it looks like it is more waddleing sort of like those fancy goldfish.

For people who like cats these are a very rewarding fish - your analagy of waddling is very apt.

[sequoiacat]

the spotted has now become my favorite catfish under 12 inches, and this one isn't shy at all at night but sure knows how to sleep during daylight hours, so farit is leaving alone the baby gambusia but that wont last long, kuhlis i dont have yet, but the cherry barbs are bigger than its mouth at the time being. It so far shows no interest in blood worms yet loves diced shrimp, so ill be getting it 5 pounds of kenscatfish pellets soon.