Will these fish live together??

[DAN66]

Hi all!!

I have got the chance to buy a juwel 180 tank...
In the tank I would like to keep the following fish....


2 Dwarf Gouramis (Possibly one more female)
1 flying fox
1 Asian striped catfish
1 Pleco

So as the title goes, will these fish live together??

Any help is appreciated,

Thanks
Dan

 

[Cat]

Nice. I have The Juwel Trigon 190. Not sure about your flying fox though as I know nothing about them.
The pleco might get a bit to big if its a common plec your after. the 190 is only about 3ft across isnt it?
I dont see any prob with your gouramis, plec and catfish getting on though that would be fine.
But I def advise against only getting 2 gouramis as one will bully the other if you get them get a group.
The other thing I notice is you might want to think about the asthetics, as Catfish and plecs are quite nocturnal and dwarf gouramis although very brightly coloured are quite inactive slow fish. You might want to get some other schooling fish like some livebearers, tetras or barbs for somemore activity.

 

[DAN66]

Hi,

Thanks for the advice Cat, I currently have two dwarf gouramis in a two footer (The pet shop said that they'd get on fine together, but obviously they don't know what there talkin' about, becuase the male is picking on the female really bad, so much she apperas to have decreased in size!!, I REALLY like the Dwarf Gouramis, so i think ill get one more female, so the male can choose which one to pick on so the other gets some rest!!

I know that flying fox's are cyprininds (Is that the spelling?? LOL) and i always though that they were very gently calm fish (Like Danios [One of my favourite smaller fish])

I dont know the size of the juwel 190, but i presume is considerably bigger than the 180, (Juwel 180 measurments >>>101L x 50H x 41W cm)

Thank you,

Dan

 

[Cat]

Well the '180' and '190' relates to the number of litres so mine is 50 US gallons and 47.6 US gallons, so a very similar size. Im guessing that from the dimensions you gave its the Juwel Rio 180 you have.
I have been trying to find out about these 'asian striped catfish' and not getting much joy! found striped catfish but they were from Austrialia and grow to around 14inches so you wouldnt be able to house that AND a Plec.
Do you know the correct latin name for the catfish? You need to be carefull that your not looking at fish that will get to big for your tank, even if you plan to go larger at a later date. You will be amazed at how large some catfish, like the 'red-tailed catfish' can get!
I have looked into your flying fox which will grow to about 14cm by the way, its fine in a tank your size but apparently it will chase other fishes a lot and will turn aggressive when it gets older so its better to house it with semi aggresive fish, will even attack plecos!
You seem to have chosen a rather odd assortment of fish.
An important thing to look at when stocking as well as eventual size and compatablity. Is interest across the zones.
ie Surface dwelling fish, mid zone and bottom feeders, that way you have a lot of activity.
Now your plec and catfish are prob to big to have together and are bottom dwelling. your gouramis are very small if your are only having about three, so it looks like to want two giants and a couple of small slower moving fish which In my opinion might look a bit odd.
I would suggest a group of bottom dwelling fish, like cories or clown loaches as your clean up crew, about 4-5 larger feature fish and a school of smaller fish for movement. this tends to work well.
Are there any other fish or groups of fish like cichlids for example that you like? are you looking for a peacefull community tank or more aggressive fish?

 

[DAN66]

Hi,

Here is a link for the Asian Striped Catfish;

http://www.planetcatfish.com/catelog/bagridae/mystus/20_f.php

The scientific name is 'Mystus Vittatus'

If I decided to set up a different tank, I would LOVE to go down the route of angel fish, I think they are gorgeous fish, But I dont want the hassle of buying 5 etc, letting two pair up, getting rid of the bullied one, then getting rid of the other bullied one etc..... I think its just so much hassle, Couldn't I buy two at a younger age and just keep them together???

My brother kept a small angel fish with 3 silver sharks, and the asian striped catfish, They all got on well, they just established THERE part of the tank and were happy....

Currently the fish belong to my brother, and he agreed i could have them if I buy the juwel 180 from him..
He's currently keeping the Asian stripped catfish, the pleco, the flying fox and thirteen Kribs in the the tank, but they will soon be mine!

Cheers,
Dan

 

[Cat]

13 Kribs!! blimey I bet they get about roudy with each other They can get very aggressive when they want to spawn!
As I thought the plec and that catfish will be to much for that tank. The catfish will get to just over 8" according to that link now your common plec depending on what strain can grow to anything between 40 - 50cm! which is nearly as big as your tank, how will he turn round? I would definatly suggest taking him in to your LFS for re-homing.
Catfish are generally sociable fish and are best kept in groups of 5 or so. They dont need to all be same type, so you could easily go for sevral smaller varietys to keep him company, bronze/albino/pepperpot they are all active interesting to watch bottom dwellers and its lovely to see them interact with each other.
Now you could have your Angel but its best to keep them in od numbers so 1 or 3. I would say with a tank your size 3 is too many if you want other fish, so you could have one as your feature fish, it will get on fine with catfish and with your dwarf gouramis which will give you some mid zone activity.
then you are really going to want some schools of fish to give you more activity and movement, nothing to small like neons cause your angel and Striped cat will eat them. Perhaps some larger ones like congo tetras, or some dwarf rainbow fish?
Do you know what the water is like in your area? what Ph it is and if its hard or soft water? as this also affects what are the best type of fish for you as different fish prefer different water conditions, some like discus are very fussy and others are quite tollerent of different water conditions. So its worth checking out first.

 

[DAN66]

Hi there,

I know that Angel fish eat smaller fish, like neons, Apparently they hunt neons???
I remember once I Looked after my brothers Asian Striped Catfish, and he ate 1 Of my Danios, and 1 of my platys :-( So I am defintealy gonna look out for smaller fish, as I felt really guilty after the catfish ate my fish. :-(

I know that the general rule is that if the large fish can fit the smaller one in his mouth, then he'll eat the smaller fish....

The water quality here is very soft, But I am unsure of the PH..

My brother once kept Discuss, which were very happy with the water quality (No stress bars) And someone said that they are a bit of a challenge to keep???

Oh yeah, Will corydories (Unsure of correct spelling LOL) live with the Asian Striped Catfish??


Thanks for the freindly help so far Cat

Cheers
Dan

 

[PumaWard]

I would wait on the discus until you have some experience under your belt. I don't find them hard, but they can *sometimes* be finicky about certain things and are too expensive to be most peoples first fish.

I would try angelfish before the discus, if you can keep them alive and happy and healthy with 0 issues, than there is no reason you can't keep discus. You should also check out the "Beginner's Discus Article" in the cichlid forum.

 

[DAN66]

Hi,

Yeah, I think I'll give Discuss a miss for now, I am getting the juwel 180 from my brother tomorow

In my two foot tank (I used that tank to gain some much needed beginer expeirience in fish keeping) I am keeping 1 Male (Obviuosly LOL) Betta Fish and three Danios, I noticed this evening that my Betta's fins looked really shredded, so I am Going to re home the Betta :-( (I Know Danios can be fin nippy, but the LFS said they would be fine with a Betta)

Would the Betta get on with the Asian Striped Catfish and an angel fish??? If they would then the Betta can go in the new Juwel 180! I know people say that Betta's should be kept on there own, but the're usually the people who say they can be kept in a tiny 'Vase' with about 4 G's of water and no heater etc.....

Cheers,

Dan

 

[Cat]

Well your catfish is by the looks of things much like angels in the fact they are community fish just so long as the fish won't fit in their mouths! Catfish aren't ones for fin nipping.
Suitable catfish companians, Try Leopard Catfish and others of a similar size and they wont get huge and are thick bodys so wont get eaten. Generally fish dont eat catfish as they are sort of 'armour plated'.
As for your betta well trial and error, should be okay, the only thing to really watch out for is because they are so used to being in a very small space when they are breed, once you get them home and introduce them to a great big tank they can get very stressed, but if yours is already in a fair size tank he will prob be ok.
So I'd go for your Angel, catfishes, a betta, your dwarf gouramis, and a school of NON NIPPING fish, your gouramis, betta and Angel would all be prone. So read up! As I said before I have some very friendly congo tetras that are great.
Whatever you do, dont put your Kribs or a flying fox in there as they will rip the fins off the others. I once had a betta with a couple of kribs, it wasn't a good idea! I woul'd keep the kribs at all if I were you, unless you have a semi aggreasive tank as they can be little buggers!