Upside down catfish tankmates

6 posts

Discuss all topics related to freshwater and planted tanks.


friend_of_fish
 
Posts: 78
Joined: Sun Aug 07, 2016 10:25 am

Upside down catfish tankmates

by friend_of_fish

I want a top dwelling fish and these guys seem perfect - they're so cool looking! Only my problem is I'm not positive they would be okay with the other fish.

I'm guessing anything small would be eaten? How small is too small? Catfish usually have big mouths - are these guys any different?


xxluckxx
 
Posts: 53
Joined: Sun Jan 22, 2017 10:25 am

Re: Upside down catfish tankmates

by xxluckxx

They stay small so I think as long as you don't put tiny fish in it should be fine. In terms of tiny I'm thinking along the lines of guppies, neons, tiny rasboras, etc. And obviously any fry they can catch will be eaten.


friend_of_fish
 
Posts: 78
Joined: Sun Aug 07, 2016 10:25 am

Re: Upside down catfish tankmates

by friend_of_fish

Ok cool! I'm also interested in african butterfly fish, do you think they could share the top region of the tank with the catfish?


tetrafan
 
Posts: 95
Joined: Fri Aug 05, 2016 7:03 pm

Re: Upside down catfish tankmates

by tetrafan

Well you should probably have at least 3 of the catfish since they're schooling fish and do much better in groups. Unless you have a big tank you probably don't have the space for the catfish and african butterfly so best stick to one or the other IMO!


kate_kuhli
 
Posts: 268
Joined: Fri Jul 29, 2016 2:04 am
Location: Florida

Re: Upside down catfish tankmates

by kate_kuhli

There's actually a lot of fish from the Synodontis (sp?) family called upside down catfish. Which species were you thinking of?

S. nigriventris only gets to 3 or 4 inches and like Tetrafan said they are schooling fish and will feel much more secure if you have a group of them. I'd personally get 5-6 which is the minimum number for any schooling fish.

There are other species which get larger and aren't schooling. However, these will eat small fish. For a community tank with small fish it's best if you get S. nigriventris.


friend_of_fish
 
Posts: 78
Joined: Sun Aug 07, 2016 10:25 am

Re: Upside down catfish tankmates

by friend_of_fish

Okay it does sound like it would be best to stay with the idea of getting the cats and to do a group of them. I think I should be able to have 5 in this tank.

I didn't realize they were schooling fish, I think I'd been reading about the larger species that aren't? I guess they're sort of like cory catfish now that I think about them being schooling fish, except where cories are bottom dwelling these are top dwelling!

Upside down catfish tankmates

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