Catfish Help

[Fuzzy99]

I have a 36 gallon tank and I need a catfish to pick up left over food. Which catfish are great and which are terrible? What catfish will fit in my tank?

 

[frapadoodle]

What substrate do you have?
And just leftover food will not be enough to properly sustain any catfish.

 

[Fuzzy99]

I have black sand and I will also purchase algae pellets/brine shrimp tablets

 

[techen]

With sand id buy a shoal of corys. They'll eat left over fish flakes easily.

 

[Baccus]

We will need a lot more information with regards to your tank and its inhabitants.
 
Even though the tank is a 36gallon tank this does not tell us if it has a long broad base or a small square base/ footprint. The footprint size of a tank goes a long way to determining what fish will be suited.
Is the tank tropical? Subtropical? or cold water?
Is your water hard or soft?
Do you have sand or rough gravel or smooth gravel.? Sharp gravel can hurt catfish and allow infections to take hold.
Is your tank planted with real plants? Some catfish uproot plants just by their rummaging habits.
What other fish are in the tank? Predatory or aggressive fish or a peaceful community?
What type of left over food are you expecting the catfish to eat? eg raw meat that may have been fed to predatory fish or just flakes?
And lastly a catfish is not just a vacume cleaner for all the waste in a tank, they do need their own food and because they can be very long lived fish deserve the proper care.
If you can answer these questions I am sure we can find a suitable catfish for your tank.

 

[Fuzzy99]

The tank is tropical, water is slighty hard, smooth gravel, the tank has real plants, they will eat leftover fish flakes and bottom feeder wafers,

I have 3 angels, a school of tetras, and a rainbow shark. (Rainbow shark is too big, and needs a 55 gallon, so he will be moved)

 

[Baccus]

A school of at least 6 peppered corys should be ok, I have kept corys on smooth gravel before, but they really do shine with sand to snuffle through. If the water is quite warm for the tetras and angels then strebia coryodoras might be a better catfish for your tank.
Also is it UK or USA gallons?

 

[Fuzzy99]

USA gallons. What does the pepperedand the sterbia corys look like?

 

[aether.ed]

to be honest if theres left over food you are feeding too much. A hungry fish should leave food!