JanS

The first round was telling us about your Cichlids, now we'll move on to the Cat's and Loaches. The next round will be another type of fish. We'll try to cover them all.

Tell us about your Catfish, including Cory's, Plec's, Syno's, etc., and any loaches you have. What do you like or dislike about them? Do they breed for you? Share anything else you find of interest about them.

david lim

I have a school of sidthmunki loaches (10) in a 29 g. love the guys and they stay small too! They're great little fish.
I've found them to be shy when in low numbers (ie 3-4) but when I was able to get more they are very active and will even approach my hand when cleaning the tank.

spyder

Hey, I just picked up five of those for my 26g tank! They are very entertaining, especially when they play with the Oto's (they must think they're related). They also did a fine job of reducing my huge snail population down to something much more reasonable.

No Cat's at this time, though in the past I had a wonderful striped Raphael catfish (Platydoras costatus). That guy was a real survivor, somehow making the trip from Nashville, TN to Lansing, MI in the middle of winter. Finally had to give him up when it was time to move back to CA (also in the winter). This was a somewhat shy fish, but it was great to watch his dig and squeeze into his favorite hiding places, not to mention eating whole shrimp pellets because he was a pig! Not sure I would want another digging around in my planted tank now, however...

glenhead

We have Corys in all our tanks, except the bare-bottomed fry tank.

The 55gal, low pH community tank has three Corydoras leucomelas (Blackfin Corys) and three C. panda (Panda Corys).

The 20gal Endler's tank has three C. julii, and there are two more in the 12gal "eye candy" tank (on the kitchen table, with fancy guppies).

We went with the smaller Corys as our scavenging crew to keep the bioload down a bit, and because we like the look. The Blackfins are very shy, and will flee to the back corner of the tank if someone walks in the room. The Pandas are always all over everywhere, and the Julis don't seem to pay much attention outside the tank, either. It's pretty neat seeing the Pandas and Blackfins go into Cory Boil mode - tumbling all over each other in obvious fun.

JanS

Wow, I thought there were a lot more people with Cory's and such in their tanks here.

I've heard that Sidthmunki loaches are really cool, and the more I hear, the more tempted I am to get some one of these days.

I also have Cory's in almost all of my tanks, including Adolphoi's, Pygmy's, Aenus, Schwartzii's and Melini's (sp).
In addition to the Cory's, I have 9 adult Bristlenoses, a spotted and a striped Raphael, a Clown Plec, Kuhli loaches, Upside down cats, and some unknown Syno's that were sold to me as Eupterous, but they aren't. At any rate, they're about 4 yeas old and only measure about 2" so it worked out.

I almost can't imagine a tank without Cory's at least, since they add so much to a tank.

Piscesgirl

I have nine Sids and five clown loaches and three corys and a few Ottos (not sure if all 5 are left, only see maybe one from time to time), and a BN. All bottom dwellers in my 55. I really enjoy all of them, the Sids are the most entertaining though I'd say. The thing I like the least is how big the Clowns will get, and I'm beside myself with worry trying to figure out how to take care of them. I bought a 150 gallon rubbermaid tub, and even had the floor reinforced, but I'm too scared to fill it up still. I'm in a mobile home, and it just doesn't feel strong enough to hold that thing and, the clowns keep growing....

trenac

At this time I have a BN & common plec. These guys are not that interesting but they do there job and that is what I got them for. I've never had a problem with these guys eating my Swords as some people have.

I also have 2 Albino Corys. These guys are great little scavengers and can be quiet comical at times. I've also found the albino's to be more hardy then some of the other species of Cory's.

In the past I had 3 Yo-Yo Loaches. I like these guys because they not only eat off the bottom but also from the surface. They would also play tag with each other and other fishes. The one bad thing is that Yo-Yo's can become aggressive toward other fish/shrimp if kept alone.

MatPat

With the exception of Otos, I don't have any catfish or loaches in my tanks. One of these days I will find some Dwarf Cories but until then, I guess my tanks will remain catfishless

I kinda like the snails in my tanks so I definately don't want Loaches in there.

mlfishman

I have one small clown loach in my 37 gallon. He keeps the snail population fairly low. I Thought about adding another but they grow too large. Once my guy gets too big, I will trade him in for a smaller one @ my LFS. He is in their almost mainly for his scavenging and snail eating. Those baby snails get on my nerves.

Scout

I have 5 Clown Loaches in my 80 gal tank that are 1 1/2 - 2 inches. They are very active and fun to watch! I like feeding them shrimp pellets and listening to them click at each other as they are trying to eat them
In my 112 gal tank I have: 2 Pleco's about 3 inches, 1 Syno about 8 inches, 1 funky looking sucker fish that is bright white/yellow and its gill holes are almost on the top of the head. He is about 5 inches long and I can't find him in any books. I also have 2 clown loaches one is about 3 inches and the other is about 6 inches.