looking for a catfish for Betta

pretzelsz

from the the betta thing i saw that catfish are good betta compatable fish and i have a 2 gallon tank owuld i be able to put one in? i dont know his personallity yet since i gt him yesterday but he seems fairly docile also i have a 20 gal tank what would be a good catfish for it prefably one that desnt survive on algea since my snails eat it all and thats why my last one died(if possible i can get one like that)

kelly528

Cories are definitey your best bet. Your tank is more than big enough to accomodate a proper shoal of them and they will stay totally out of the betta's hair since they patrol the bottom while bettas take the top of the tank. There are many species to choose from and as long as you get at least 3-4 of each kind you'll be laughing. Just remember to research the final size before you stock! Very few of them get that big though and those that do are rarely available in pet stores.

The only problem I have ever heard of from people who keep cories with their betta is that bettas occasionally become algae-wafer thieves. The simple solution to this problem is to feed the cories a sinking granule that will fall down into the gravel where the betta cannot find it. Your cories will happily graze for hours on the tidbits they rustle up with their whiskers.

I suppose you could always go with a small pleco (that reaches 4 inches or under in ADULT size) but I think cories would add far more interest and movement to your tank.


EDIT: Just saw about the 2g and no, there is no catfish that would happilt live in a 2g. All of the smaller cats like to school and do terribly if they do not have buddies of the same species. Like I said before though, you can have cory-mania in your 20g and the betta will get along just famously with them.

iamntbatman

Agreed. There's pretty much no catfish that will do well in a 2g tank, but plenty that will work in a 20g.

pretzelsz

ok thats cool but i am looking to add to my 20G would i need sand? i can get sand and replace half of the tank with it. and howmany do i need? also should i get them because i have a ton of snails that eat all the algea and sometimes the 3 day feeders and used to eat the wafers for my old lonely catfish. i'm glad i joined this forum too because i didn't know about schooling fish before and now i have happy fish! :)

iamntbatman

What's your gravel like? If it's really rough and jagged (like most pet store gravel tends to be) then I'd recommend changing it to either a very smooth gravel or sand if you want something like corydoras catfish. I especially like sand, in large part because it's funny watching cories sift through it looking for food (they'll "eat" some sand and swallow the food and the sand will come out through their gills...funny stuff).

If you're going to switch, I think it would be easier just to switch all of it to sand rather than trying to have half sand, half gravel.

pretzelsz

well i just put in new smooth river rocks(pebbles) and i want to get rid of the rainbow stuff so i would definatly change it to sand(1/2) so i should get 3-4 of them? I want to get more fish and i have the wafers from my last fish. any more advice for the catfish?

iamntbatman

If you do get corydoras, they do best in groups so I think six would be a good number in your tank. Some will school with other species of corydoras and some will not, so to play it safe I would just get six of the same species. There are a lot of different species so have a look at them and choose the ones that you like best. Be forewarned that there are a few species that don't really fit the general corydoras guidelines and might not be suitable for your tank, but these are a minority.

Although they are bottom feeders, cories will eat just about anything so you should feed them a nice balanced diet. The wafers will work but they'll also eat flake food that has sunk to the bottom, sinking crumbles, shrimp pellets, and just about any frozen or live foods that are small enough for them to eat and that sink to the bottom.

pretzelsz

i read that aquarium salt kills them and i had added some freshwater salt to prevent diseases. i have not added any recently. if i added sand i think my tank would be perfect i just have to clean up a bit. what are the diffrent kinds?

iamntbatman

They are sensitive to salt, so you might want to do some water changes to remove as much salt as you can before adding them.

There are hundreds of different types of cories. This page lists most (maybe even all) of them. The list on the right of most viewed species is pretty indicative of what types are most readily available in stores.

Callichthyidae • Cat-eLog • PlanetCatfish

kelly528

Honestly they are such an easy keeper and rarely surpass 2.5 or 3 inches... If you want to make the best selection I would just go to a few pet stores and pick out a few cory species that you like. Then you can go home and research them to double check that they will be compatible and make a decision that way.