Pictus & what else ?

[bsmith]

Hey i have a 40 gallon tank and i am putting in 3 or 4 pictus cats (young), a small eel or loache and a small pleco with that. i have an angel fish as well but i was wondering what other fish i can put in with the catfish? I was thinking about a sting ray, puffers chilids or anything else that may be a "top water" fish because i know the others mainly stay at the bottom, and i want something maybe colorful and def. wont hurt anything. any help is great, thanks !

[shev]

definately not a stingray of any kind. not even tea cups. way too small of a tank. besides they arent very good top dwelling fish, and plecos like to leave "hickeys" on them. puffers should be in a species tank as they are nippers, and that an understatement. cant think of any real top dwelling friendly cichlids, kribs and rams are more bottom dwellers.. what kind of an eel? spiny or other? if a spiny I'd go with a medium sized species, not a fire or tire track. maybe a peacock. unless you could somehow get your hands on some of the less common ones. gouramis are good top dwellers, and should get along with a Spiny eel and pictus catfish. or expand apon your angel fish, and get a couple more. african butterfly are great top dwellers, but not very colorful. any small tetras will get eaten by pictus, they grow to 6 inches pretty fast, and theuir mouth grows with them. theres lots of fish that'd get along with pictus and spiny eels, and loaches. what kind of loaches did you have in mind? clowns get too big and like to be in groups. pretty much any loach is pretty sociable and should be kept in groups. I wouldnt go with skunks or red tailed ones wither. pakistani or yoyo should be alright. Botia angelicus are beautes. rainbowfish are very colorful and nice. ditto for rosy barbs. some corydoras, as long as they arent bite sized. their horns can stick in fish's throats if swallowed. but they are pretty protected if large enbough, in fact I think corydora mean armored catfish, maybe not

[bsmith]

hey i was thinking about getting a rope fish instead of an eel or loache. so what your saying is that i should have my 4 catfish, 1 pleco, 1 ropefish and how many other either african butterfly,, rainbowfish, angelfish, gourmis, rosy barbs or corydoras to go in a 40gallon tank? thanks

[shev]

ummmm, ropefish need larger tanks, they can get to 20 inches. I would also consider them "fussy" eaters. and cant compete for food as well as the other fish. although they should be compatible with those fish. except their from africa, and pictus and angels are S american, probably like different water types. ropefish are very cool fish though, I hope to own some one day. they may have the ability to breathe air, allowing thme to live in less-than-good water conditions, they still arent beginner fish. I'd try to keep it south american, a REAL community tank. except for a spiny eel, which would be asian, and rainbowfish, which I think are australian, and rosy barbs that are from india, and pakistani loaches which I'm guessing are from pakistan.... alright nevermind about the soth american thing.

[bsmith]

so instead of the rope fish what should i get?
and how many of these barbs or gourmi's am i ab le to get with all my other fish ?

[shev]

A lone angelfish looks odd. you should get at least a pair, they are pretty nice fish, unless they start to breed. instead of the ropefish you could get a spiny eel, as long as you have the means of feeding it. frozen brine shrimp and bloodworms, or ghost shrimp, probably earthworm chunks, or small earthworms, or ghost shrimp will work. and of course you could go a notch better and feed live foods like mosquito larvae, which all spiny eels love, and glass worms, blackworms, redworms. and some caves like PVC pipe for them to hide in.

instead of a common pleco I'd try and find a medium sized one if you can.

angels, pictus, spiny eels and most loaches will get along great with rosy barbs, or rainbowfish. they like to be in groups. it depends on how many angelfish you get.