Compatibility with pygmy catfish

[FishSim]

Just an fyi I have Pygmy catfish with platies in a 10 and they live happily together. The only time there are issues is during feeding since the platies are piggies and eat so fast that food may be hard to find. But they do find food or else they'd be goners by now. Had the for over a year together.


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[dragon14]

Just an fyi I have Pygmy catfish with platies in a 10 and they live happily together. The only time there are issues is during feeding since the platies are piggies and eat so fast that food may be hard to find. But they do find food or else they'd be goners by now. Had the for over a year together.


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Thanks for letting me know! Yeah... piggies... our female betta was being a piggy with their food! But they still got some.

 

[dragon14]

Would ruby tetras maybe work?

 

[lilme]

here are some links to chap tetras that would work
Emerald Rasbora | Shrimp Fever
Galaxy Rasbora | Shrimp Fever

 

[dragon14]

Thanks! not sure if they have those, we'll look for them!

 

[dragon14]

I don't think they even have any, but would a dwarf gourami work with these guys? They're pretty and would be a nice centerpiece fish. I know nothing about gouramis though.

 

[dragon14]

They do have dwarf gouramis. They are striped.


Oh and we got the Amano shrimp today (2)! They are floating right now to get warm, then we are going to slowly acclimate them.

 

[Fishobsessed7]

The gouramis are like bettas, so you may end up with problems


Fishobsessed7

 

[Coursair]

I think we may lean towards guppies. They're not aggressive at all? And 8 catfish and 3 guppies wouldn't be too much for a 10g? Our catfish hate water changes so we stretch it out a bit usually... 10-14 days lately.

Our cycle is strong, we did it with 4ppm of ammonia testing out within 24 hours, twice

Why do you say your Cories " hate " water changes ??

Mine would swim around wildly and then start breeding behavior. A PWC is stimulating/invigorating for mine.

The Cory breeders on Planet Catfish swear by them. As does my club member who breeds.

I use slightly cooler water.




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[Fishfur]

I'd agree with that. I have Panda cories, and two of the dwarf species..Pygmaeus and Habrosus, and they all do fine with water changes. In fact, I do rather large water changes, usually at least 50% at at time. I have never noticed any untoward effect on the fish, if anything, they seem to enjoy it.

If you mean a dwarf gourami, colisa lalia is the scientific name, then I would not get one. They are often fragile & can be quite hard to keep alive for any length of time. I'd not advise them for beginners at all. They need heavy live plantings, with floating plants for plenty of shade, with very little to no current, no tank mates that swim quickly. Even if you give them everything they need, they still frequently die suddenly, lying on the tank bottom one day, gone in the next day or two for no apparent reason.

The quality of the stock from the fish farms that produce them has gone down drastically in the past ten years. They are truly lovely fish, I really like them, but have given up trying to keep them.

 

[dragon14]

We won't get a gourami then, thank you both

I say they hate water changes because they pant and get scared and I dunno, they just seem stressed

It's been almost 2 weeks and the water is still fine . Nitrates around 15-20 and ammonia nitrite 0 so that's good . We have a nice strong bio filter. We'll do about a 50% change in a few days after the new catfish and the shrimp settle in.

The shrimp love our fake bridge like rock

We'll probably get 4 more little pygmys and call our 10g complete. Not positive yet though. Platys maybe or guppies.

What about bumblebee gobys? They have some of those guys they're cute! Or harlequin rasboras?

 

[Fishfur]

The gobies are brackish water species.. and would also require a lot of live foods. The harlequins are lovely fish, I really like them, but they do best with groups.. no less than 3 and try for two female, one male. Though they are not likely to argue over females, the ways livebearers do, I think you get the most out of them if the sex ratio is maintained.

There is a purple variant of the Harlequin, which is really nice looking. If memory serves me. { I have a bunch of them, but they're in another home just now.. not here in front of me].. females have gold heads, males have orange ones.. quite bright, metallic head colours, with rich, dark purple to black bodies. Behaviour and care is the same as for the usual colour. When grown, females are larger than males too, but this isn't obvious in younger fish.

 

[dragon14]

Thank you Fishfur! No snap decisions with us! That's a bad idea!! Look around, ask questions, research! So many fish we'd love to have. Someday...

No bumblebee gobys then. Very cute though . Such cute little faces

I don't think it would be fair to get just 3 of those harlequins. But they may be an option. There were some headlight tetras too. I took a bunch of pictures with my iPod of names of fish on the tanks

We don't want any bullies and we want the catfish to be happy and we want any other fish we get, if we do, to be happy too. Also it would help if no one pugged anyone else's food lol.

 

[Fishfur]

The rasboras, my purple ones for sure, are pretty hardy fish.. though I appreciate that you want to offer them the best conditions possible, that's really nice to hear, always.

I have about a dozen of them in a 29G.. the tank that's being baby sat by a pal. I see my fishies about twice a month, when I do water changes. My pal feeds and tops up and that's all I can ask.. he's been really good, considering he's not into fish at all. He's had them since June, and at the rate things are going, heaven knows when I'll be able to bring them back.

They do tend to hang out together, and there are cherry barbs in with them, that don't much hang together.. interesting colour combo.. the female barbs are orange.. the males, cherry red of course.. with the black fish with their metallic head colours, it's interesting. I hope I get them back before they die of old age.. I'm beginning to think I should have sold them and just started over when things get sorted out here. Oh well..

There are always decisions to be made, and taking your time saves much unhappiness later on.

 

[Fishobsessed7]

The rasboras should ideally be in large groups. I don't understand where six comes from?!? If you watch vids on YouTube of fish in the wild they are in the hundreds! Many of the members on here say that there fish shoal in large groups but not small, so that makes me wonder, which is why I think more catfish is better!


Fishobsessed7

 

[dragon14]

@Fishfur

Yeah We want happy, comfy fish When were were thinking about what kind of a critter to welcome to our home after our sweet kitty passed on, I was looking into hamsters. I love them, had them growing up for a while. I learned that most hamster cages sold are not ok for them size wise... I found some in the UK that would work. I refuse to put any creature in an inappropriate habitat if I can help it! Or I just won't get that creature!

We decided on fish... the hamster would have been cheaper, we've spent a lot on fish LOL but anyway. The fish are fun

So long story short, we want appropriate homes for any creature in our care If we can't do that for the critter, then we shouldn't have the critter. I wish a lot more people were like that...

Thank you we absolutely want to offer the best conditions possible to our fish.

That's great that your friend is helping you with that tank That's just awesome

Good luck with those fish...

Exactly, taking your time saves unhappiness later. We've certainly hit some fish care bumps (Miss Fish snacking on the pygmys, floating her in a cup since we didn't get a heater right away when we should have for our little tank and the ammonia got to 2ppm but she seems ok so far... we are not happy with ourselves for that, and the ammonia getting a little out of hand a couple times with our male betta that is now in fish heaven due to dropsy and he lost a lot of finnage too. We miss him so much) but hopefully that will be minimal if not non-existent from now on... I've learned a LOT since joining this forum and from a knowledgeable friend of mine who first started helping me when I told her we were getting a betta, and from doing research online too. If not for my friend, we would have gotten a 20g tank, not cycled it because we had no clue about that stuff yet!, fish a few days later, and had a disaster. Thank goodness that did not happen!


I don't know what is going on in your life right now, but, I hope it gets better for you soon

 

[dragon14]

The rasboras should ideally be in large groups. I don't understand where six comes from?!? If you watch vids on YouTube of fish in the wild they are in the hundreds! Many of the members on here say that there fish shoal in large groups but not small, so that makes me wonder, which is why I think more catfish is better!


Fishobsessed7

Mmmm. We are probably going to finish with some more catfish. We just wanted something a little more colorful and a little "swimmy-er", but, we also want what's best for the fish we already have and best for any other fish we may get to go with them.

The little brats (I say this affectionately) were swimming around midlevel when I came downstairs from being away from them during dinner, and, they swam away when I came down! Argh! I bet they are having a ball when we are not around... I wish they weren't skittish. Hopefully they'll mellow out in time....

 

[Fishobsessed7]

How many do you have again?


Fishobsessed7

 

[dragon14]

8! I think they have 4 or so more at the lfs. Not more than that I don't think, unless they were hiding, which they tend to do

 

[dragon14]

Got these today at Wallyword to add to our tank next time we do a water change

I think our little aquatic friends will like those little caves!