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Hi,

can anyone recomend a 3-4inch bottom feeding fish catfish / or loach / algae eater for a 81USG tank.

Many thanks

Leon :%)]

SORRY, I MEANT A 81 LITRE TANK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

A bristlenose catfish would be your best choice. They usually max out at four inches, are great algae eaters, peaceful, and they look very, very interesting. These little guys are super popular, too.

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And when he gets to Heaven, to Saint Peter he will tell: "One more Marine reporting, Sir! I've served my time in Hell."

ottos if the tank has small fishes, cories, hill loaches, dwarf loaches, and skunk loaches might be ok.

I was thinking of a Redtail black shark and possibly a Ram cichlid or two. A robust cat / loach would be good, any suggestions please.

:%)

Get a BN, they do a great job with Algae control & they are peaceful.




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bristle nose for aglae
khulies for the bottom

In a tank that size I'd go with Otocinclus. You can get a smal team of them, and they are diligent algae eaters. Plus, if you stick to small bottom feeders such as Otocinclus, that gives you more latitude when choosing companions such as Corydoras. If the top and midwater fishes are similarly small, say small Characins or Danios, then Otocinclus and a small Cory species such as habrosus make a fine choice. However, be careful with respect to substrate if selecting habrosus, as this is a Cory species that has well-documented preferences in this regard. Cory_Di has had problems with habrosus over a fluorite substrate, and Derek Lambourne (who wrote an excellent textbook on Corys) reports that when he bred habrosus, fry losses on a sand substrate (accompanied by barbel loss) were considerable: when he switched to rounded gravel, future spawnings were not accompanied by losses.

You could also try pygmaeus, but they're unusual among Corys in being primarily midwater shoalers that school with a Tetra species (namely Hemigrammus brevis) in the wild.

If you're prepared to exercise extra care and diligence with respect to water quality and substrate cleanliness, and your aquarium isn't too deep, you could also run with Pandas. But I wouldn't recommend Pandas to a beginner, because they are consdierably more fussy about water and substrate cleanliness than the 'mainstream' domesticated species. Also, Jessnick has reported problems keeping Pandas in a tall, deep aquarium (24"" tall) because they struggle to reach the surface to take air. I did not initially think it might be a problem, but Jessnick's experience says otherwise, so again, if your aquarium is a tall one, I'd be wary of introducing Pandas.

It might be isntructive for someone with the requisiite facilities to construct a very long aquarium with a variation in depth from one end to another, and check experimentlaly the depth preferences of different Corys. But that's a tangent that belongs in another thread.


Last edited by Calilasseia at 17-Mar-2005 09:14

Panda Catfish fan and keeper/breeder since Christmas 2002