best cat fish

[timleete]

for a 4 foot by about 16' by about 16' with a 1200 liter per hour filter(not canaster or under gravle the other normal ones i foget there names) 200 watt heater set at around 26 with fish such as tiger barbs,

what kind off cat fish would you get for this set up

[joz]

You could get some young sailfin plecos.

Depends maybe on the budget also..

[Johny]

i wouldnt reccomend sailfins...they make way too much mess and grow too big for your tank...go for small cats like syno's

[wombat1100]

There are so many to choose from, as Joz said, depends on the budget, it also depends on what you are trying to get look wise, pictus cats are very active, i have large plecos, 35cm + but they just mope! also bristle nose are great and easy to breed if thats what u are after, all will love a 4 foot tank, then it depends on what tank mates are in there and water conditions also!

[firedragon92]

i ewould go for some bristle nose or plecos and some corydoras cats they are great at keeping the tank clean

[timleete]

yea cory cats are cool i was thinking 2 of them and 1 bristle nose

i am planing to have 6 or 7 tiger barbs
about 9 xray tetra
and about 5 widow tetras

anyone see any problems with that or got any advice
it would all be greatly apreciated

[firedragon92]

for i tank that size i would get maybe 2 or 3 bristlenose

and if you plan on getting plants some siamese algae eaters or siamese flying foxes to eat the algae off your plants, but becarful when buying them and make sure you don't get a gara species like the chinese algae eaters becuase they are real pest.

look here http://www.aquariacentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=132241 so you know the difference and be careful when buying the garra species are often sold under the SAE and SFF name

[timleete]

yea sounds good i like the look of bristle noses cat fish
about how much would they cost each??

[firedragon92]

for some real small ones from your LFS it would cost you around $9 and for some mediums about 12 then 15 so on and so on. they grown quite fast so i would go for the smaller ones

[timleete]

yea
i wanna buy small fish means they have longer to live

[joz]

Don't always assume thats the case.
They can be more fragile at their tender young ages.

[GoGuppy]

yea
i wanna buy small fish means they have longer to live

I agree. I bought a good size cory about six weeks ago, and asked the LFS at the time how old it was. They said they couldn't say, as it was from a client trade-in or so. they also said that in case like that, it is almost impossible to guess the age, as to a certain degree, fish will grow to the size of the tank, and diet also plays a role in growth rate.

In any case I bought the fish and he/she was fine, active and mixing with the two smaller corys I already had, until a couple of days ago it started hiding and yesterday when I came home in the evening she had gone to fish heaven...

[cichlidboy]

it really depends on what kind of catfish you want.
but with such a slender tank, most medium sized plecs would suit.
there aren't many cats other than cories who aren't plecs unless you want to spend a whole heap just on one cat.

TJ

[wombat1100]

With small fish you also have the added risk of more fragile fish, the younger they are the less tolerant to change they are, sometimes its just better to buy fish that have grown a bit more than really young fish

[firedragon92]

yeah thats what i do cause i love to watch em grow

and remember you can always try to bargin so if your buying a few BN"s then try knock a couple of bucks off

[cichlidboy]

you could go for pictus cats!
they're so awesome.
it really depends, there are hundreds of species that stay small and aren't all that aggressive.

[Chrissy]

Cory's are great, they are so much fun to watch...I have 3 small peppered cory's and an albino BN female.

[morgasms]

yea sounds good i like the look of bristle noses cat fish
about how much would they cost each??

if you were closer i could offer you some free, but i just google mapped etc good luck mate

As for size..even tiny fry bristlenose are really hardy in alot of ways except impact, fish that will fit in the mouth of any other fish is food for that fish. As bristlenose age so does there barbs, this is there real defence but also theyre basicaly armour plated so older fish can sometimes be swallowed and then spat out hahaha without too much damage other times just the impact kills the fish will be spat but the body broken...on the other hand apparently a barbed head can get caught in a larger fishes throat/gullet/gut whatever and kill it too.

Despite what people may think BRISTLENOSE cat fish fry /juvies die mostly of starvation, as theyre growing so fast they need excessive amounts of food and well spread out around the tank .. theyre seriously aggressive territorial fish that fight to starve each other out from not long after birth ..even adult fish can be "starved" by aggressive or larger fish, if breeding best to first have one and to either leave the fry/juvie tank empty or constantly move any habitats/structures/rocks logs etc about so to unbalance any territories formed.