How many Petricol in a 20 gallon?

JamisonBWolsh · Post by **JamisonBWolsh** » 20 Dec 2003, 23:46

Hi!

I have a 20 gallon tall 20 gallon devoted to petricola catfish. I have a mountain of lace rock for caves and tunnels and under that, 4 8" white pvc pipe for added tunnels. My question is this. How many petricols can i add to the tank??? I have 7 right now and I am thinking of adding 5 more... what do you think? Thanks!

Post by **Rusty** » 21 Dec 2003, 00:19

What variety are they? If they are the dwarves, then 13 would be pushing but would probably still be doable with adequate filtration.

Rusty

JamisonBWolsh · Post by **JamisonBWolsh** » 21 Dec 2003, 01:03

yes..they are the "dwarf variation. For filtration, I have a 280 emperor filter and do 80 percent water change weekly

Post by **Dinyar** » 21 Dec 2003, 04:03

Thirteen Synodontis cf. petricola "dwarf" in a 20 g tall is definitely pushing it. Mind you, this is a tank with the same footprint as a 10 g, only taller. And the extra height is largely wasted on the S. petricola "dwarf" and most other catfish. A 20 g long might be OK.

Also, while it's definitely good to do large weekly water changes, 80% (!!) is too zealous. Try 50-60%.

Dinyar

Post by **Barbie** » 21 Dec 2003, 22:43

Actually, the 20 gallon high tank marketed by All Glass Aquariums has a 12x24 inch footprint, its basically a tall 15 gallon long. The 10 gallons have a 10x20 inch footprint. They use the "high" or "tall" description to differentiate it from the "long" variety. Dimensions can be found Here. There is a 20 gallon Extra Tall, that has the same dimension as a 10 gallon, but its not terribly common.

I personally think 13 in a 20 gallon would be pushing the limits. In order to get optimal growth out of them, invest in a larger tank. Weekly water changes are going to help maintain the buffering capacity of your water, but you're going to play hell keeping your nitrate levels down sufficiently without risking stressing the fish, IMO. They come from a lake that has very stable water parameters, owing to its huge size. While I don't advocate matching those parameters exactly as being crucial to success, wide ranges of variation can't be a good thing either.

Barbie