Does anyone know anything about E. debauwi? I saw some yesterday for the first time. There were 4 of them in a tank at the crummy little pet store in town where I usually only buy feeder guppies. They were so cute and so miserable looking that I almost took them home, but I don't know their requirements and they were $10 each! Apparently they shoal because the 4 were swimming packed closely together.
Would they mix ok with all my Amazon fish? I keep both 55g Amazon tanks at around 80*F and pH of 6.0-6.5. If they would fit in around here, I'd probably give the little fellows a far better home than what they have now or would have with most of the people I see in there. :roll:
OK, did some quick research. Generally, I like to check Badmans tropical fish - which usually agrees with most sites, and mongobay, which is usually wrong. When they agree, I figure it's a good chance that the info is good.
So, these are peaceful, easy to care for schooling fish. They like floating plants, subdued lighting, lots of swimming room, a little current, and some thickets to hide in. They prefer soft to medium soft, slightly acidic water, in standard tropical temps. I'd say they'd do just fine in a Amazon tank.
The length of a 55 would give them plenty of swimming room - they'd like that.
Awesome, thank you. I did some research once I got home and had the time. I'm almost tempted to turn this new 55 into a planted African tank with debauwis and congo tetras... maybe something else, not sure what. I spend more time picking out fish than I do cars :roll:
Well, you could go with the catfish, Congo Tetras, a pair or trio of African Butterfly Fish, one to 3 Leopard Ctenopomae, and possibly a Bichir or some Kribs. Throw in a male and 2 female Sword Tails, and everyone will be fed too.
It turns out that the catfish can't go in the new 55g because my boyfriend has his heart set on Apistogramma cacatuoides and emperor tetras... so they are going to get their own tank because I'm afraid the apistos would bully them. I'm finally caving in and giving my johannis to my best friend who's been drooling over them for years. So as soon as that happens, the 25g tank will be re-vamped with lots of live plants and soft/ low pH water.
My question here is do you think it would work if I put a sponge on my powerhead and then placed it at the bottom of the tank to create a current for the catfish to swim in? I read that they liked having flowing water, but I was also thinking about maybe putting an ABF in there too and I know that they DO NOT like current. The tank already has a very large Bio-Wheel filter rated for a 50g tank, so I'm not looking to use the sponge/powerhead combo as primary filtration.
Ok, I bit the bullet today and bought those 4 catfish. I couldn't stand to see them in the corner of that bare tank anymore. I did a little more research and it turns out that they are Pareutropius buffei. They're currently sharing quarters with feeder guppies in a moderately planted 10g until I can get the 25g redone for them. So far, so good.
I have a slight concern now though. I mentioned them to the guy at my primary LFS and he said that the only "Debauwi Catfish" he ever heard of get HUGE, but everything I've been reading says that they get approximately 3". I think that this is because there is a lot of confusion created by this one common named being used for multiple similar-looking species... I guess I'm going to take my chances and see what happens :dunno:
I redid the 25g today with driftwood and live plants and lowered the pH. Decided not to use the powerhead because it was blowing stuff all over the place. Kept the same filter and gravel (just added some Fluorite to it for the plants), so I'll let it run for a little while with some feeder guppies in it before transferring the cats and a few cherry shrimp.
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