South American Community Catfish For A 190 Litre Tank.

[Cú Mhara]

The measurements of the tank are 36 x 18 x 18. I had originally planned to get dwarf cichlids and angels but one of the trips to my LFS resulted in my discovery of the amazing Hoplo. I'm now thinking I'd like some Corys, a Bristelnose or two, Hoplos (how many would be a good number in this set-up?), and possibly some other interesting South American catfish. The rest of the inhabitants are most likely going to be tetras (probably something wide-bodied like Diamonds, Columbians or Black Phantoms) and Pencilfish. I may ended up sticking some Angels in, though, if they're compatible with the rest of what I've chosen.

I'm pretty new to catfish, is there anything that could easily fit in that I've overlooked? How about fish that would make good tankmates for my selected catfish? Any plants I should try to get hold of or avoid?

As ever, any and all help will be greatly appreciated.

 

[N0body Of The Goat]

A few brief pointers about the fish you named for this 36x18x18 in terms of long term suitability...

• Holpos are great interactive catfish (mine wriggle through my hands); they are very social like many of Callichthyidae family so 6 would be a good number but only get one male (males can fight to the death when they mature); very pig-like eaters so tankmates should not be hesistant at feeding time. A group of six would fully stock the tank floor, mine rapidly reached 10cm within ~4 months and are steadily growing towards 12cm as we speak. Great for harder water, tolerant of a wide range of water chemistry and temp (18-28C, although I've read that hobby specimens are likely to originate from the more tropical areas, they can be found in a huge area ranging from Central down into South America.
• Corydoras covers one or two species! Be sure to choose ones that match the conditions and size of tankmates; Peppered and 3-lined are good for heaterless tanks that drop no less than 16C; a lot like slightly cooler temps around 22C; a few like C. sterbai are warm water lovers in the 24-28C ballpark. Extremely social, try to get 10+ of one type, they are found in groups in the thousands in the wild which looks amazing and enables them to behave more naturally.
• Bristlenose become very chunky typically 10-15cm, the first time you see a mature adult you might be shocked, I certainly was... You could probably fit ~50 shop size babies into the shape of one! Vegetarians that love chomping away on sweet potato; courgette/zuccini; brocolli etc. which results in masses and masses of poop, they will put a proportionally massive strain on the filter's bacterial colony. Lots of colour morphs, I love the missold "L144" lemon coloured black eyed variant. Very adaptable in terms of water chemistry, very happy in a flowing tank but equally many do well in more static aquariums such as in Malawi setups.
• Pencilfish can be great ditherfish, but their small size means they can easily be intimidated by large tankmates. Beckford Pencilfish are a good first choice, they are far more forgiving than some of the exotic forms, my six were born in reverse osmosis water and now are doing great in hard alkaline water. Get plenty of females per male, something like 2/3:1, males get rather fiesty with each other, especially in cramped tanks (mine act like different fish now they are in a 48x12x15 compared to my squat 620T). Off the top of my head, most if not all need true tropical conditions in the mid-20s.
• Choose your tetras carefully, some are nippy (eg. Columbians; Serpae; Buenos Aires; Black Phantoms) which can be overcome sometimes with 10+ groups rather than sticking to 6s and in your tank I would stick to one group if choosing Pencilfish for the top and Corydoras for the bottom. Many need soft water, but a few suitable hard water species include X-Ray; Lemon; Flase Penguin; Red Eye.
• Not a suitable tank for Angelfish long term, not deep enough, even if it was an initial 6 of them would use up a lot of the stocking capacity (they need to choose a mate naturally from a group, two "random" ones housed together is likely to end in a bully situation).

 

[Cú Mhara]

Thanks for the very detailed reply. I'd just like to clarify a few things:

- When I said Corys I had Sterbai in mind. I think they look amazing and I'm aware they'd do better in the warmer water I'm likely to be running.
- The only Pencils I'd get would be Beckfordi. They're the only ones I can get, but aside from that, I believe they're also more suitable for what I have planned.
- All my research indicates that 18 inches of height is (just) enough for Angels. Are you sure I've been misled? It doesn't really matter, anyway; I'm not too bothered about getting them.
- 6 Hoplos, 10 Corys, 1 Bristlenose Pleco wouldn't be too much of a squeeze, then?
- Any other catfish I could consider?
- Plants! I am planning to get plenty of ferns, vallis, anubias, frogbit and others that do well in medium to low light. I'm just wondering if there's anything I should look out for in terms of the Hoplos (or other cats).

Thanks very much for all of your help!

 

[N0body Of The Goat]

I feel Hoplos will be far too big and aggressive at feeding time for Beckford Pencilfish, they are little brutes that will eat from all levels of the tank. My four are in my 5x2x2 and I think is only because of this tank's size that my far more skittish feeding Leopard Bushfish and African Butterfly Fish get enough food, I'm not confident this combo woruld work in my Rio240 and these are fish at least as big as my Hoplos. I would not dream of mixing them with my six Beckford Pencilfish without lots of observation and being ready to move one or the other to another tank at the blink of an eye.

If you want Beckford Pencilfish, I would stock something like...
8-10 Pencilfish (up the top)
10 Lemon Tetra or False Penguin Tetra (for the middle)
10 Corydoras sterbai (for the bottom)

In a slightly more "rough and tumble" tank, I would stock something like...
12 Red Eye Tetra (middle)
2 BN (roaming, wherever the food is!)
6 Hoplo (mostly bottom, but will chase food anywhere)

The thing with Angelfish is that 18" (45cm) of actual water is regarded as the minimum, that is excluding sand/gravel on the tank floor. Plus bare in mind they eat Neon Tetras in the wild and I'm sure Beckford Pencilfish would be on the menu, they really are not fussy oportunistic predators!

If you have a thing for catfish, you could do a lot worse than look at African riverine catfish. Species that could work in your 3-foot tank are...
Synodontis nigriventris (more nocturnal, social catfish, huge range of water chemistry that they are happy in, true forms (rather than sometime missold Synodontis euptera and nigrita) are good community fish), can be encouraged to use platforms attached higher up the tank wall as roosts)
Microsynodontis spp. (sp.1 is common and will swim midwater against current when in 10+ numbers)
Pareutropius buffei (midwater schooling catfish, needs a 12+ group, tankmates must not be aggressive eaters and a good upper water ditherfish like Beckford Pencilfish will give them confidence)
Mochokiella paynei (not so common, bit pricey, but lovely bottom dweller)

 

[Cú Mhara]

Wow! That's a lot of very helpful information. The Pencils aren't vital to my set-up - I much prefer the Hoplos. How are Hoplos with Keyhole Cichlids, by the way? My tank is actually 20" tall, 18" after the substrate is factored in. I think I'll leave the Pencils and the Corys, anyway.

 

[N0body Of The Goat]

I've never kept Keyholes, but there are supposed to be on the peaceful shy end of the cichlid spectrum like Laetacara, where small peaceful dithers like Beckford Pencilfish are ideal tankmates.

If you wanted a South American cichlid in there, perhaps an Apistogramma spp. or a Rainbow Cichlid might be better choices with Hoplos, possibly Bolivian Rams. Another one to throw out as a possibility if there will be now small streamlined fish is perhaps a Firemouth pair... But these suggestions need more input, my hands on experience with cichlids is limited to Steatocranus (casuarius and tinanti).