Need a catfish!! stocking HELP?

[Critterlvrok]

I have a 35g hex and I need some help trying to find a catfish I can have in this tank. I love Cory's but my husband dislikes them terribly. I agreed to check on other options but am not sure I have any. He really wants a Pictus Cat, but after researching them they need to be in groups and need a lot of swimming area. Because I have a Hex tank I have a limited footprint and I don't see anyway to keep a group of Pictus in that small of an area. Is there any other bottom feeding fish I can consider? The tank is currently only stocked with 2 Golden wonder Killies, 2 black skirted Tetra's that I moved from my other 35g hex because they had become semi aggressive to my other fish. My fav cat's are SA bumblebee's but they are so shy he is unimpressed I really have no solid plan for the stocking of this tank and if there is a possible catfish I can have, then I would be willing to keep it limited to the 4 current residents and the cats.

He knows I will not make a tank choice that is not right for the fish, so HELP???

 

[SherryD]

I have a total of 18 corycats in 3 different tanks. Love the little critters! I found the albino cores and julli cores much more active than the spotted cores I have. In fact the julli Cory I have I would swear is on crack! He/she just whips around the tank and is always very busy. Maybe your husband would be happier with a more active corycats.

 

[Critterlvrok]

I have 4 albinos in one of my tanks and they just drive him crazy!! I think it's because they are so crazy. I had a Julii and I LOVED it but I lost it in a tragic heater accident. I need him to tell me why he doesn't like them. He just says I don't know I just don't lol silly man. Maybe it's because they are just albino and not colored.

 

[toddnbecka]

I'm not a Cory fan either, prefer Synodontis and pleco's. One good option for your relatively small hex tank would be Akysis catfish. You aren't likely to find them in an lfs, but they are available online occasionally. They look similar to bumblebee cats (like a mini bullhead) but only grow to around 2.5". They're fine alone or in groups, neither particularly social or territorial, and too small to eat anything bigger than small fry.
Otherwise, a BN pleco would be helpful for algae after the tank is established. Most of the really eye-catching pleco's are nocturnal, generally about as visible as your SA bumblebees.
One other catfish that comes to mind is the whiptail. There are a handful of different species, but they're all very mellow fish that don't bother anything or seem to be noticed much by other fish.

 

[Morgie]

If you like schooling cats debauwi or glass catfish could be nice.
You could always go with a smaller synodontis like an upside down cat.
I wouldn't recommend a bumblebee catfish. I actually have one and I seriously didn't see it for six months. I thought it was dead. When I changed the substrate in that tank I found him. Perfectly healthy and super fat, but had been living inside a decoration the majority of it's life. Haven't seen it since but I assume it's doing fine.

 

[Critterlvrok]

I actually already have 2 bumbles in diff tanks and I watch them at night. They both are hysterical I feed wafers for my bottom dwellers and once the lights go off I will see them darting towards the wafers. They roll and tumble the wafers back to the cave. It's hysterical when the corys want some too!! I've even seen Tumble tackle a algae wafer and roll it all the way from the front to the back thanks everyone for the great advice!