# Catfish



## Angie (Dec 4, 2005)

Has anyone ever done a catfish only tank?
I am redoing my 29 gallon very very low tech with crypts only. You know the drop in your tank and watch grow kind easy for me to get and I love them. lol
Anyway was thinking of a large school of cory cats, maybe a small school of up upside down cats and a singe angel fish for the center piece. 
Can this work or would it be to boring? 
Would the school of cory cats need to be all the same? Or could I mix and match?
Any suggestions? Pictures of a set up like this?


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## Tex Gal (Nov 1, 2007)

It's my experience that crypts don't get bushy. They shoot up another plant from the root system. You will get stands of crypts. The neat thing about crypts is that there are so many kinds, colors, and sizes. Maybe you could mix your crypts with different javas, and anubias. They are also easy plants and very hard to kill. That would give you a leaf shape variety.

I have mixed the smaller cories. They all hand out together. I think they looks so cute. I do think that it may look funny with all the fish at the bottom, but everyone likes different things. 

You spoke of upside down cory cats. My local petsmart has them a lot. Don't know if you have one of those close to you. You can even find out who orders the fish for that store and ask them to get some in for you.


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## Angie (Dec 4, 2005)

Unfortunately Javas never do well for me and the Anubias get all covered with algae.
Thank you for your input.


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## cs_gardener (Apr 28, 2006)

I think it could work since there are so many varieties of crypts you can use. Tall crypts like balansae and spiralis for the back or back corners, medium crypts like pontederifolia, cordata var. blassii, and of course the wendtiis, and maybe a short one like parva if you have the patience for it to grow (it's so excruciatingly slow but it will grow under the wendtiis). Add in a bit of driftwood or rocks for some interest. 

I have a tank with crypts, ferns and anubias and it's the only tank I can regularly see my corys in. They seem to feel more secure in that tank since the entire bottom of the tank is shaded by the canopy of leaves. It's cool to see them darting around the stems in the catacombs formed by the plants and driftwood. It's like their own personal world even though the resident gourami sometimes venture down there.


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## ranchwest (Jul 17, 2005)

Just so nobody gets confused, upside down cats are not corys, they are synodontids.


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## JanS (Apr 14, 2004)

That sounds like a nice tank! 
The Cory's will co-mingle, but if given a choice, they do hang out with their own kind more.

You could probably mix them and have a half a dozen of one type and a half a dozen of another and still have an animated tank.

As for the Angel and Syno's (as stated above, the upside down cats aren't Cory's), they could work, even though a 29 is a bit small for even one Angel. If you were to chose something smaller for a centerpiece fish (maybe a school of smaller fish), you may have a better chance at the Cory's spawning and the fry surviving, which makes it even more fun.


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## Angie (Dec 4, 2005)

Ya I am rethinking the angels. I think one alone would not be to happy. 
So thinking maybe a few tetras of some sort. Maybe those harlequin's they are so cute and I have never had any of those.


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## cs_gardener (Apr 28, 2006)

I think an angel would work if you really wanted one. They seem to prefer to be either single specimens or in a large group in a huge tank. I have a veil angel in a 29 and she is quite content and showing great color. She does have a smaller body size than a standard angel and I keep the plantings under control so she has plenty of room to swim. She was part of a spawning pair for a while and it was much more stressfull for both her and me as the male was quite aggressive. He has a tank to himself now and we are all much happier. 

Although if you do want a school of smaller fish, tetras or rasboras would be a good choice. (Aren't harlequin's rasboras?) They are very cool little fish and would provide a good deal of interest in a decent-sized school.


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## hoplo (May 14, 2007)

My synos grew into 6" monsters and proceeded to constantly rip each other's fins and chew up the anubias.Finally had to give them to the shop.

Get a school of panda or sterbai. The sight of them schooling brings a smile every time.


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## yum (Feb 11, 2008)

i've been hunting for pygmy cories for a while now but i think they will make for an interesting group since they are so small you can have a bunch in your tank. and they are also supposed to be quite active swimmers so they will be in all parts of the water column.


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## Adragontattoo (Jun 3, 2007)

I currently have a Synodontis Ocellifer and another unknown synodontis (its brown, and swims right side up. Do you have any idea how hard it is to ID a brown syno???).

They avoid each other because the Ocellifer will attack ANYTHING that is synodontis related.

The ocellifer leaves all my other fish alone including the endlers fry that swim into his cave and investigate.


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