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Greetings, cat keepers, I'm just now joining the forum seeking some advice. Ive got a heavily planted 90g (mostly swords and java moss) currently stocked with bronze corys, angels, congo tetras, and a big ol striped raphael. I'm moving in a few months here and will probably take the opportunity to restock. Im thinking of changing out the corys and possibly other fish if need be (even 12 corys dissappear in that tank) and trying out some SLIGHTLY larger catfish species more appropriate for this size tank. The Raph is neat, but I've only seen him leave his cave once in the year I've had him, which I was expecting. Looking for a more active, preferably semi-diaurnal species. Either one larger specimen or a small group of something that shoals/schools.


So far I've considered
A trio of synodontis eupterus, really love the look, but heard they are equally reclusive and get big enough I'd be limited to 2-3.
A school of spotted pictus would do, but I get mixed reviews looking for if I should do a group, some say they kill each other, others say they school with no issues and get stressed kept solo. Also the tried a single twice a year ago and they both died in qt after a few days.
But would love suggestions from the community. I keep it at 76-78F and my water is pretty hard and nuetral PH.

Synodontis Eupterus are territorial. I tried to keep one with a S. Decorus in a 90g and the Euperus would not leave the Decorus alone even though I had provided multiple pvc pipe hides. The stress level within that tank caused an ich outbreak that even though caught early I still lost the Decorus and several Bala sharks. I currently have a S. Angelicus and a S. Multipunctatus in a 100g(60in x 18in x 21in) and the Angelicus doesn't like sharing this space.

I had a trio of Pimelodus pictus at one time and they would nicely cruise the tank all together, a group of five would be interesting, also add a schoal of medium size tetras and it could look nice and be an active tank.
It seems to me the Synodontis are not really what you are looking for.

Birger wrote: 16 Dec 2021, 04:41 I had a trio of Pimelodus pictus at one time and they would nicely cruise the tank all together, a group of five would be interesting, also add a schoal of medium size tetras and it could look nice and be an active tank.
It seems to me the Synodontis are not really what you are looking for.

Pimelodas is the spotted variety, correct? And I already have a small school of 7 congo tetras, seemed about the right size considering the bioload and the males look neat. Ive heard that the pictus cats can be too rambunctious at night for community tanks however. Your experience?