Catfish And Cichlids Compatabilty

[nudge]

My tank is currently about a week into the fishless cycle and i am planning some of my fish stock. The tank is a Juwel Rio 350 - 121cm l x 51cm w x 66cm d.
I am planning on at least 2 pairs of rams in there and as i am hoping they may breed i wondered what catfish was safe to keep with them. Also if i am happy to not have them breeed will that give me a wider choice of catfish. Possibles I am looking at are Brislenose cat, Network cat and Hoplo cat. Also my kids really want a couple of Pim Pictus but i am worried they may be far too active for the Rams to tolerate. What do you folks think about any of these of do you have any more suggestions.

 

[Davo86]

By network catfish do you mean Corydoras ?
If so then yes the corys, bristlenose and hoplos will be fine with either species of ram.

I would also agree that pims are a bit too boistrous tankmates for rams,

tbh if you are wanting the pairs to breed, i wouldn't really be adding too many cats (other than corys) as the rams will be no match for a hungry bn or hoplo that is after the eggs

 

[mixmaster jay]

i do agree with dave and about the pims but i do have one that is absolutly fine with my royal ram but im defo not saying that one would be ok

 

[star4]

I have 2 pictus cats in with rams, I think I am lucky though because having 2 pictus they dont bother the rams.

 

[Bichir10]

to answer ur first question, i wud suggest somewhat smallish and peacefull catfish (such as corys, botia loaches, and depending on the tank size, various species of plecos...like rubberlips or bristlenoses), for rams r IMO the most timid and docile cichlids. Yes, if your rams were to breed i wud say it would definatley put some restrictions on ur stocking optons, it wud deffinatley eliminate most species of loaches and maybe the bristlenose. In regards to the pims, its a deffinate no in my opinion, like you said they r far to rambunctious and it wud not suprise me one bit if they activley hunt down the ram fry. If u decide to not breed the rams, i wud suggest a pair of Angelicus Botia Loaches, (c link below), they r IMO a very intresting and appealing catfish. Hope i helped.

http/www.loaches.com/species-index/botia-kubotai

 

[nudge]

Thanks for your answers, pretty much confirmed what i was thinking really.
Kids will be dissapointed about pictus but they (and i) want rams more.
When i said network catfish i was refering to Synodontis euptera also known as network of featherfin catfish, looks to get about same size as the other two so i guess i would have the same problem. Shame really as i was hoping for a least a couple of good medium sized cats but was hoping to try and get the rams to breed - guess i will have to decided which i want most ?!

 

[Davo86]

Synodontis Eupterus will get bigger than both pictus and hoplos, usually about 8" and are far more bulky, boistrous and territorial than the others when mature.

a group of Synodontis nigriventris would be an option