Mystus Gulio size?

BullTerrierChild

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Hi, a while ago I posted here trying to identify a catfish. It was able to be identified as Mystus Gulio, and I was told by people on Planet Catfish that it would be fine in my 75-gallon fish tank, as they tend to stop growing in aquaria at around 5 or 6 inches, in lieu of the 18 inches that multiple sites claim. This Gulio was in a 40-gallon tank and was reported to never really grow. Will it be safe to get it?
 
It's a schooling fish so you need more than one.

In a big tank the fish will get bigger. There is a lot of contradictory information online about their maximum size and that is a concern. If you could find a book (Field guide to catfishes of Asia) it might have more accurate sizes for the species.

Due to the potential adult size of this fish and the fact it needs to be kept in a group, I would advice against getting the fish. Even if the fish only gets to 10-12 inches long, you would need an aquarium that is at least 6 foot long x 3 foot wide (minimum) for a group of 6-10 of these fish. A 10ft tank or bigger would be better.
 
I'm not into getting big fish and intentionally stunting them. If they grow to 18 inches in nature (and I don't know this species), is it a lack of good food? Dirty water? Inadequate filtration? Something is going wrong.
If the fish doesn't grow, it may be convenient. But it points to bad fishkeeping, and I do enough of that by accident to not want to do it on purpose...
 

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