Recommendations for a good bottom feeder ...

[Jack]

Any recommendations for a good bottom feeder to also help with removal of dead feeder fish (rosey reds, guppies, etc.)?

My tank is a 75 gal w/ 15 gal wet-dry/sump. It is slightly brackish (about 1/2 teaspoon of salt for every gallon of water). The tank is somewhat planted (has two types of hornwort, moneywort, anacharis, banana plant, some unidentified floating plants and a sword). Lighting consists of two strips, one with two 55w power compacts and one with a 40w flourescent tube. Substrate is mostly aragonite coral sand (not sugarfine) with some aragonite sand (sugar fine), some "natural" gravel, some crushed coral, and some various sized pebbles. Substrate depth ranges from around 2.5"-6". Approx. 50 lbs of rock (mostly coral baserock) has been used to build wall/mound with several caves. There are also a couple of pieces of driftwood in the tank. This is obviously a fairly hardwater tank. Current is fairly strong for a FW tank, with a Mag 7 pump, pumping water through a SeaSwirl return (the SeaSwirl slowly rotates about 90 degrees); and a Maxijet 900 powerhead on a wavemaker (the wavemaker causes the powerhead to run for short period of time, then shut down for a short period of time).

 

[fishstixs05]

Shark catfish! They are bottom feeders, love brackish water, and are large enough to live with fish that eat feeders (you didnt say what type of fish you have). I have these and they are fast growers and easy feeders.

 

[i3k]

I would recommend white tip shark catfish...I got 4 and they are brackish water fish...Would suggest getting 4 as they are a schooling fish...they clean the bottom really good...after you are done feeding them they spend another 35 minutes cruising around the tank and eating up all the food that has landed into the gravel...they will dig around in the gravel to get every last peice of food...as they grow they will eat smaller fish and probably the dead feeder fish. A 75 gallon tank is big enough to house 4 young white tips, but they do grow up to 14" and would probably need a 100-125 gallon tank in about 3-4 years. By they way this fish can live up to 12 years if taken care of properly.

 

[Jack]

The fish I'm going to keep that eats the feeders in Belonesox Belizanus (pike topminnow). Belonesox pretty much only eat fish. However, they aren't as aggressive at going after those fish as say an oscar or many cichlids.

I've thought about Syndontis catfish, but they typically prefer more subdued lighting. I have two 55w PC's and a 40w flour. over a 75 gal tank. Though this lighting is not extreme, it might be a little bright for the Syndontis. I've also thought about loaches, but not sure they would do well in the brackish water (though the water isn't that brackish, about 1/2 tsp salt per gal of water). I really don't want anything that gets too big. I'm not really interested in going to a bigger tank. I could always keep a couple of channel catfish and release in my backyard (I live on a 17 acre lake). However, that really isn't my first choice. I could also keep a couple of crawdads, though would really rather keep fish.

 

[Allivymar]

If you are thinking Clown Loaches, they'll do fine in slightly brackish water. One of the recommended treatments for loaches with ich is high temps and salt.

 

[fishstixs05]

Also, there are many species of afcican cichlids that spend time on the bottom, and while clown loaches can survive in slightly brackish, theyh may not cflourish or live too long.

 

[Allivymar]

I did some research about clowns and salt when I was looking into purchasing them, and according to the folks at loaches.com, small amounts of salt is fine. Most of people on there use small amounts of salt in there tanks regularly, and it doesn't affect the loaches negatively at all.