Tropical Fish Forum
Tropical Fish Keeping => General Fishkeeping Chat => Topic started by: brian c on November 16, 2014, 01:56:28 AM
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i have a chance to get an oil catfish tomorrow at petco for 15 bucks for my 20 gallon.the only other fish in there would be 10 red eye tetras.would the oil catfish cause any problems with them?
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oil cat fish in forty plus years of fishkeeping i have
never heard of an oil cat fish ????? please do enlighten
me
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http://www.planetcatfish.com/common/species.php?species_id=367
read this and you will know.ps it only grows 3 inches=.
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a bonny little fish but its not the
sort of cat fish i would keep i can
see why they call it oil catfish due
to the pattern i will imagine it will
be hard to find in the LFS and will
only be found in specialist fish sellers
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There is more info here (http://www.seriouslyfish.com/species/centromochlus-perugiae/)
Aquarium Size
18″ x 12″ x 12″ (45cm x 30cm x 30cm) – 40 litres.
Water Conditions
Temperature: 75-86°C (24-30°C)
pH: Has been caught in water with wildly varying pH over a range of 4.9-8.0 in nature. In aquaria it's probably best to aim for somewhere around neutral, although clearly this is a very adaptable species.
Hardness: 1-25°H
Diet
Insectivorous in the wild, but in aquaria it relishes live and frozen foods such as bloodworm, earthworms etc., as well as sinking dried foods. Add food after lights out to ensure it receives its share, but take care not to overfeed, as the fish are very greedy.
Maintenance
The fish like to squeeze themselves into spaces little bigger than themselves during the day, so provide plenty of hiding places among tangles of bogwood or lengths of plastic piping. A sand substrate is best, and the fish prefer a good amount of water flow, although this isn’t absolutely essential. The fish emerge in the evening to feed in open water, and the addition of a red lightbulb will allow you to observe this, as the fish can’t see red wavelengths.
Behaviour and Compatibility
Safe with all but the smallest of fry, therefore suitable for most community aquaria. Ideally keep it in a South American biotope aquarium, with tetras, dwarf cichlids and other peaceful catfish such as Corydoras sp. and smaller Loricariids. .
A very cute little catfish, that unfortunately is rarely kept in ideal conditions.
I've put that bit in red as it is important!
Red eye tetras need the same water conditions so it should be OK with them from that point of view. But Seriously Fish does reckon that red eye tetras need a tank at least 30 x 15 x 12 inches and your 20 gall tank is probably smaller than that.
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well heck,i love that lil' catfish and i will buy a heater and get some food just for him.i already have a bunch of drift wood.
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well guess what yall?it was NOT an oil catfish it was a cuckoo catfish.i was pretty bummed but hey i got a baby albino bristle nose pleco instead
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At least you didn't find out it was a cuckoo catfish after you'd bought it :o
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yeah the only reason i found out was because of my words.i asked where the oil catfish is and he didn't know what i was talking about.so i found him and i showed him to her.but in my defense they looked a lot alike and i was going on pure memory.