Raphael or pictus catfish.. or both?.. 55gallon setup

T

tigerbarb88

AC Members
Mar 23, 2009
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Phoenix, AZ
Hello everyone :)

I have a 55g planted set up right now. Currently i have 9 juvenile tiger barbs, and 5 black skirt tetras in the tank. The tigers school very tightly together and so do the tetras... They really dont harass each other very much which is cool for now. The tigers really like to swim through my tall anarchis that is growing nicely in the tank :D

Sooo, I am now looking for bottom dwellers.. I have rock caves and hidey holes that I made with river rocks that I picked up a few days back.

I saw both raphael catfish and pictus catfish at my LFS and corydoras. Members on here have told me a school of corys will be ok as long as they have plenty of hidey holes to take cover in.

But im interested in pictus and raphaels and was wondering how big they get and if they can be added to my tank set up that I have right now.

Any thoughts? Recommendations? suggestions?

thanks everyone :)
 
I believe both get to about the 5-6" range. One thing to keep in mind is that pictus have HUGE mouths and will swallow whatever fish they can get a hold of. Adult barbs and tetras should be large enough but not sure how large the juvies are so that may become an issue. All the raphael's I have seen are pretty reclusive, but it depends on the setup as well as the individual fish as well. Corys are very active, although the larger the fish, the better they will fare if the tiger barbs become nippy.

I suggest you check out www.planetcatfish.com and www.scotcat.com as they are probably the best bottom-dweeler sites out there.
 
Raphaels in general are nocturnal. I'd pick the raphaels as they are much safer with your fish than pictus. I still regret mine however since it never shows up a lot and I often forget he even exists.:(
 
I agree with Lupin. I used to have a striped rapheal and would never get to see him. They like to hide in caves and only come out at night. I did invest in some moonlights just so I could see the little bugger in action. Do some research on them before getting one. They have spines and can get easily get tangeled in a net. You have to scoop them out in a container if they need to be moved. They like to claim a cave as their territory and are notorious for puffing up and refusing to come outta it. They also bark if they are outta water. I was changing some decorations outta my old tank. I pulled it out and all the sudden heard this weird noise. It scared the crap outta me and I about dropped the whole thing. Luckily, I realized what it was and put him and the decoration back in the tank.
 
Haha! Mine growled when I picked him up on the floor after I forgot he was inside a piece of driftwood I was removing out of the tank to redecorate the tank.
 
I have heard they also will click at each other if there are more than two in a tank. I have no experience on this as I didn't have enough room for two. They are pretty neat little buggers!
 
I kinda have to disagree with Lupin and luvbugz...I've had my pictus catfish for years and the only fish they ever bothered was each other, so of course I had to put them in seperate tanks. As a matter of fact I just put 6 juvenile(quite small) Cherry Barbs in the tank 3 days ago and everybody's still alive and doing well...Thank God...LOL.
 
As a matter of fact I just put 6 juvenile(quite small) Cherry Barbs in the tank 3 days ago and everybody's still alive and doing well...Thank God...LOL.
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You're probably right (especially if you've had them peacefully for years with other fish) - the Juve Cherries probably are safe but I don't think 3 days is long enough to determine that one species won't eat another.

In looking up species compatability online doing googles for my own tank- I've found a lot of cases where people say species X were fine with species Y for many months until they finally figured out they could eat species Y and then picked them off one by one.

Sometimes it takes tank mates months before they figure out they can eat each other!

(not trying to worry you)
 
thanks for the heads up...

Wycco said:
You're probably right (especially if you've had them peacefully for years with other fish) - the Juve Cherries probably are safe but I don't think 3 days is long enough to determine that one species won't eat another.

In looking up species compatability online doing googles for my own tank- I've found a lot of cases where people say species X were fine with species Y for many months until they finally figured out they could eat species Y and then picked them off one by one.

Sometimes it takes tank mates months before they figure out they can eat each other!

(not trying to worry you)
Click to expand...

Too late :cry:...NOW, I'm worried ...lol and I will keep a closer eye on those tanks from now on...lol..
 
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