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Can most south American/African cats tolerate temps up to 86F?

There are A LOT of different habitats and species of catfish from the two continents you are asking about.

As far as my experience with catfish from SA, I've had and in tanks that were usually around 82-84 deg F. And, they survived when the water temporarily went into the low 90's during the summer and also when I had a couple of heater malfunctions over the years.

For African cats, I've kept Synodontis angelica and S. alberti in water in the 82-84 deg F range and they all have thrived. I'm pretty sure the water in my mbuna tank has gone up to 86 deg F at some point during the summer and my S. lucipinnis in there have all thrived.

I have never tried to keep any of these catfish in water that is regularly 86+ deg F. But they have been tolerant of temporary temperature spikes where other species (like Congo tetras) are not.

What species are you referring to?

I'm treating two tanks for ick. The south amarican tank has a pimelodus ornatus, hemiancistrus. Sp l-128, leporacanthicus triactis, baryancistrus demantoides, pterygoplichthys pardalis, platydoras armatulus and a horabagrus brachysoma (I know it's asian but it's in the SA tank) in the African tank I have synodontis multipunctatus and synodontis ocellifer along with some Malawi cichlids
I just wanted to know if I could crank the heat right up!

bigamefish wrote:Can most south American/African cats tolerate temps up to 86F?

Many, not most.

Jools

As a short time measure, it should be OK for many fish. The South American fish in your list all look OK (P. ornatus the one I'd worry about most)

The African (particularly the Malawi) fish are less likely to be happy with high temperatures, but most likely will be OK for the duration of "heat-treating" the Ich.

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Mats

How long is a short time for the SA fish?

bigamefish wrote:How long is a short time for the SA fish?

By short time, in this case, we're probably talking several days - I'm just trying to avoid the misunderstanding that 30'C/86'F would be fine for LONG TERM (permanently) keeping the fish you have.

Just watch the fish, and if they look like they are struggling to breathe, increase the oxygen levels in the tank.

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Mats