hoplo cats....

[birdman]

i bought 2 hoplo cats from my lfs the other week and since i put them in i havnt seen em hardly at all....
they are so boring.

has anyone else got any of these cats?
whats a more active cat or cleaner fish that growns to no bigger than about 6 inches and can hold its own in a massive tank?

thanks...

 

[CFC]

Hoplo's are one of the most active catfish there is, i have two and they are always out and about sifting through the sand looking for food day and night. They are also one of the toughest medium sized catfish, mine cope with living in my 200g tank with 2 shovelnose catfish a australian arowana 2 payara and a pike cichlid amongst others, not what you would call peaceful community fishes really.

Im presuming that if yours are hiding they must be very small at the moment, give them a few months to put some size on and they will come out where they can be seen.

Other catfish that stay under 6" and can be seen most of the time are pimelodus pictus, they are best kept in a group of at least 3 and will constantly cruise the tank looking for food but they will eat smaller tankmates so if you have any fish under 3" they are not suitable.

 

[birdman]

thanks cfc that was really helpfull stuff u gave me there....
ive got mine living with two fully grown blue gouramis that are mega aggressive towards each other (male and female) so that might be why they are scared.

i am also worried they are not eating...i bought some shrim pellets that sink to the bottom straight away but i havnt seen then eat anything yet...its been 2 weeks nearly..... how long till they put on size? at the moment they are both no more than 2 inches long....probably smaller....

im worred they not eating...or do they just scavenge at night....?

thanks alot....

matt.

 

[CFC]

Hoplo's dont seem to be great fans of pellets and preffer bloodworms (what fish doesnt ), try feeding a cube of frozen bloodworm and that should get them feeding. In my experience hoplo's are very rapid growers, mine doubled in size in just a few months and were around 6" within a year and a half. Once they are around 3 or 4" they will not be frightened of the gouramis, my two completely ignor all the other fish in the tank even when the arowana is throwing one of its strops and is rushing around the tank biting all the other fish.

 

[birdman]

a whole cube? isnt that heaps?

when ever i put even a quater a cube of brine shrimp in it just goes all murkey and only about 1/2 gets eaten by the gouramis....it all just floats around the tank....
isnt that bad?

 

[CFC]

Well i spose it depends on the size of the cubes, the ones my lfs sell are very small, on the occasions i have to buy the smaller packs i have to use a minimum of 2 cubes per tank (i usually buy the bulk "flat" packs of bloodworm which works out much cheaper). Feed a small ammount and if its all gone in less than 5 minutes feed a bit more, hoplo's are normally very gready little catfish and will eat a block of bloodworm the size of your thumbnail each easily.

 

[birdman]

awesome....thanks heaps for ur help cfc, i appreciate it.

 

[petitericeball]

i was wondering do most fish like the shrimp pellets?? my corys sometimes like nibble on it then run away
when it gets to the bottom is it suppose to look like coral/sponge?? then it like gets all grainy my fish arent eating much of it should i siphon it out or should i leave it in there for the fish to eat?? will the fish get use to it over time or did i waste my money?

 

[Perky]

Some active catfish would be:
Pictus
Bristlenose
Glass catfish
Corys
Otto
Pyjama Catfish
This is a list of a few active catfish. Go to www.planetcatfish.com and all will be on there and a lot more catfish will be there too.