The Puffer Forum

So I've been deciding fish to put in my new setup and have been looking into getting a South American Bumblebee Catfish. Anyone kept them or have any advice about keeping them?

Big mouth, eats little fish.

Pufferpunk wrote:Big mouth, eats little fish.

Would small tetras be safe if they are fast or are medium fish kept better as tank mates. Also on a related matter how are Zebra Plecos. I've heard they are expensive, but how much does on usually run for cause I might pay up to $15.

Aren't we talking about a 10g? It's not like you can keep a ton of fish in there anyway. A school of tetras & some cories would be about it. Zebra plecos usually run around $80 & I've never been able to keep one alive. They need lots of meaty foods. Even with live blackworms fed every day, I've had no success wit them.

Pufferpunk wrote:Aren't we talking about a 10g? It's not like you can keep a ton of fish in there anyway. A school of tetras & some cories would be about it. Zebra plecos usually run around $80 & I've never been able to keep one alive. They need lots of meaty foods. Even with live blackworms fed every day, I've had no success wit them.

Ok new Idea, 1 dwarf gourami, 1 SABC, 2 cory cats, 1 variatus platy, 3 cardinal tetras. Would less fish be better, if so which fish should I omit from this combo?

Is that good or overkill?

Cardinals do better in schools. 3 does not make a school. Plus, they are very impressive in big numbers! Dwarf gouramis have some kind of disease that doesn't make them a long-lived fish. So many of them die within a month or three and the fish stores keep selling them despite knowledge of the widespread dwarf gourami disease. If you do buy, I strongly suggest buying from a local breeder who can demonstrate to you that the stock is healthy over generations.
http://www.wetwebmedia.com/FWsubwebindex/dwfgdis.htm

Excerpts from the conversation:

.... DGD is apparently caused by a virus, so antibiotics do not help. DGD is practically ubiquitous in shipments of Dwarf Gouramis from Southeast Asia. One scientific study found almost 1 in 4 Dwarf Gouramis were infected with it. It is also EXTREMELY contagious, and as soon as one fish dies, the disease WILL spread, so that the entire batch of fish will be infected. For this reason, I personally recommend people NEVER buy Dwarf Gouramis from anywhere other than a local breeder. Truly, it just isn't worth it. If you want to keep a small gourami, skip Dwarf Gouramis (and their hybrids and variants, such as neon, robin, and sunset gouramis). Instead go for Colisa labiosus and Colisa fasciata (Thick-lipped Gourami and Banded Gourami respectively). These fish are similar but not affected by the disease. Your female gourami is, more than likely, infected and so doomed unless you separate the fish immediately and are extremely lucky. But the other fishes (including the pearl gouramis) should be fine. There's no sign that DGD spreads to fishes other than Dwarf Gouramis. Sorry to be the bearer of bad news....


......

Dwarf gouramis -- Colisa lalia -- are indeed extremely prone to bacterial and viral diseases collectively known as "Dwarf Gourami Disease" (DGD). These are a problem because of how the fish are farmed. The odds on a standard, store-bought dwarf gourami getting DGD is better than 50% unless the fish is kept in soft, acidic water at slightly higher than average temperature (~5 degrees GH, pH 6.0-6.5, 25-28 degrees C). Even under these optimal conditions, there's no guarantees your fish won't come down with DGD. It's really as simple as this. Now, as for treatment -- there isn't any. None. Zilch. Nada. When a dwarf gourami is infected, particularly with the viral form, well, that's it. The best you can do is destroy the fish painlessly. There's no recovery, and antibiotics (naturally, this being a viral disease) have no effect whatsoever. Nor does adding salt to the tank, prayer, or sacrificing a watermelon at the altar of Asklepios. Commercially-bred dwarf gouramis are, in my opinion, a total waste of time and money. Far, FAR better to buy one of the similar but infinitely more robust species like Colisa labiosus or Colisa fasciata. These have the same basic colour but are about a third to a half as big as the Dwarf gourami....

so more cardinals and no Dwarf Gourami is a good option then?

Yep!

Alright! I'm already excited.

I would get 6 cardinals & 3 dwarf species cories.

Pufferpunk wrote:I would get 6 cardinals & 3 dwarf species cories.

No SABC?

Nom, nom, nom... cardinals, YUM!

Darn... oh well dwarf corydoras are cool also.

I hate to always be the nay-sayer, but IME & IMHO, Cardinals will never do well in small tanks. Neons are much hardier there and smaller, so they fit better. Cardinals are too big for small tanks. It pushes them toward being annual fish in captivity and the they should live over 6 years, but only is larger tanks and with totally innocuous tankmates.

Carnivorous catfish tend to feed while the day-active schoolers are asleep.

RTR knows best! I think he might be leaning towards DPs, anyway.