Striped Raphael catfish Friend or Foe!

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KyloRen

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Aug 5, 2015
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Today I saw one of my friends Raphael catfish and couldn't keep my eyes off of it. Which got me thinking, would one of these do well in a community tank? I heard a saying before "If it has whiskers its a predator" but my friend reassured me that they are very nice fish or at least his was. Of course I believe him but I just want to make sure.
Stocking 55gallon tank-
6 Murray river rainbowfish
1 Turqouise rainbowfish
1 Electric blue Acara
5 Tetras (Do not know which Tetras)
2 Yoyo Loach
Current filtration-Marineland Emperor 400, Marineland Penguin 350b and soon to be once replaced a cascade 1000 canister filter. You can never have too much filtration :lol:

P.S - My tank has a small Ich problem so I won't be adding any fish for a while I'm just making this post to see what you guys have to say about them before I start reading about their dietary needs and such.
 
They would do fine. Raphael catfish are peaceful but just very shy, they frequently "disappear" for months.

I should add that yoyo loaches need groups of 5 so I would fix that after ich first (y)
 
They would do fine. Raphael catfish are peaceful but just very shy, they frequently "disappear" for months.

I should add that yoyo loaches need groups of 5 so I would fix that after ich first (y)

Awesome :D! How about their counterpart? The spotted. Do they behave the same way? 5 yoyo's ;O the dream but I think another 3 would crowd my tank I read that they can get to 7 inches and with the Raphael I feel like the loaches won't get enough to eat :( or vice versa. I also read that yoyo's are aggressive towards other yoyo's I could be wrong though. I don't want to cause a frenzy in my tank D;
 
They will eat fish that fit in their mouth but aren't aggressive. They like to hide so give them safe places. Watch out for fake decor that has interior hollows , they can trap fish.


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I'd seen some at a shop here. If I weren't already at or above stocking level, I'd have gotten one. They're small cats, and do as small catfish do, hang out in hidey places and eat whatever fits in their mouths.
 
If you already have the yoyos I would make them happy by increasing group size before getting a raphael. I think the loaches would likely outcompete the raphael for food as they are pretty boisterous and raphaels are very shy.
As far as I know spotted and striped raphael are roughly the same.
 
I have one in my 55 gallon and mine is fine with my other fish. It usually hides all the time though. And I can hand feed it
 
Did kylo get a Raph? Would like to see a pic.. I have one in my 30 gallon community tank. Awesome fish.

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I had a spotted one for 20 years and he always charged out as soon as the food hit the water. I purchased another small one and didn't seen him for months. I removed a piece of driftwood from my tank and didn't realize he was wedged in there until it was too late.

I've had a couple of striped one for the last 2 years. In the beginning, they would always come out at feeding time. Now they stay wedged in the driftwood and I'm only aware of them when I drop the water level too low during water changes and they have to move.

IMO, they are a waste of bioload.
 
IMO, they are a waste of bioload.
I'll second that. We had three over the past ten years, and almost never see them out just swimming around. One died for no apparent reason last year. Another died earlier this year after being left inside a piece of decor out of the tank during cleaning. Won't be sorry to see the last one go when/however.
 
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