Bumblebee Catfish.......companions

[FishyFriends]

Just joined this forum and been having a good read, and thought I would post this question:

We have a 6-7" (possibly male) Asian Bumblebee Catfish..... We have had him for 5 1/2 years...... We have moved him to a 2'x12"x18" tank from a 4' tank which has now been converted to cichlid heaven, but we are also wondering whether he is happy being alone or whether he needs a tank companion, up until about 1 week ago he was living with a 3-4" Male Silver Dollar who became stressed out and died...... We are trying to figure out what sort of companion would be best for a grown bumblebee catfish with mild grumpiness...... Being such a large fish we think that introducing anything small would be a quick meal, but not looking at anything too large as it is only a 2' tank.......

[macmich]

i have bumble bee in my community tank with a lot of diffrent species and does not bother any
cheersmacca

[Woodsy]

Pantodon buchholzi :D

[FishyFriends]

What a fasinating fish, I will look into it......

[FishyFriends]

I asked at FS in melbourne today and they said 2 1/2 -3" american cichlid coz they will stand there ground......

I was thinking maybe another cat of some sort like whiptail

Most suggested nothing as they are an aggresive fish.....

I thought he was in a communial without carniage for years, so should be able to live with something

[Woodsy]

If you want Americans to go with him (and you can actually locate them these days), you could try Heros (Cichlasoma) severus, or South Americans in the genus Geophagus.

[cichlidboy]

As far as carnivourous or large predatory carfish are concerned.
I think most fish that won't be able to fit in it's mouth would be fine.
I had an eight inch salmon tail living with an oscar and some pretty small 2" barramundi later on.
they did perfectly fine.
as for your 2' tank.
i'd probably go for south american cichlids, or just another cat to go with it.
something like a large bristlenose would do.
or larger pictus cats around the 4" mark.