number of fish

[wingedjumper517]

Right now, I have a pictus catfish and black tipped catfish that are always together. Is that a good number, or do they need to be in a larger group, and if so, about how many?

Also, I have two rainbow loaches with three tiger barbs. These two groups sometimes are caught swimming together, but most of the time, the loaches are hiding together. Now, should I get another loach to make it a triple, as I heard that they do best in groups of three or more?

[shev]

what size tank? pictus like to school, so do tiger barbs. if anything I would get more tiger barbs.

are they rainbow sharks, or red tailed loaches? red tailed loaches grow to nine inches and like to fight with eachother.

[wingedjumper517]

Thanks for your help. I have a 75 gal tank. I have other fish in there as well, so I prolly only have room to add about 5 more fish. Oh, and sorry, I have one rainbow shark and 2 clown loaches. Got a little mixed up there. I'm planning to keep the shark solo, since I guess they tend to be aggressive toward their own kind. Oh, and the blacked tipped catfish, as the pet store had him labeled, is really the black shark catfish.

Would adding two more tiger barbs be a good plan? I don't want to get too many catfish, since they do grow quite large, and the two different kinds of catfish (pictus & black shark) seem to swim together a lot.

[shev]

i think you have room to spare. you could get more tiger barbs, and another clown loach, they really like to group together, or more pictus.

but, black sharks get big, about 2 feet big, and can get pretty territorial. I'm not sure how well he will do with rainbow sharks and tiger barbs.

[Lexus]

ok now i am getting confused, what kind of shark catfish do you have?

http://www.liveaquaria.com/product/p...p;TopCatId=954
does it look like this?

[wingedjumper517]

Lexus, that picture looks a lot like my catfish, but the petstore did not have him as a Columbian, nor did he cost that much. He was only for like $4.00 or so. Actually, it says they are a.k.a. the black fin shark, so yeah, maybe it is the same. Petsmart had him as a black-tipped shark

[Lexus]

They have many names, silver tipped shark, shark catfish, columbian, black tipped shark, ect...
They are fine by themselves I had 2 and 3 at one point, a little more active with a buddy

[shev]

oh, those guys, i thought it was one o these http://aqualandpetsplus.com/Shark,%20Black.htm

[wingedjumper517]

Sorry. I'm confused too. lol. But no, not a black shark. It's really a catfish, but the pet store called it a shark.