How To Care For Aquarium Catfish

Catfish are a popular fish to keep in your fish tank because they are generally placid and can live comfortably with other species of fish in a community tank. They also have a distinctive appearance of having barbels around the mouth that look like whiskers and hence give them their colloquial name Catfish. This article will briefly describe the common types of catfish that can be kept in an aquarium, some of their habits and how to care for them.

The two species of catfish that are popular for aquariums are the Corydoras sp. (also known as corys, cory catfish or cory cats) and the Synodontis sp.

Corys are indigenous to the tributaries of the Amazon river system. These waters are typically clean and clear and have a constant and gentle current. Corys tend to stick at the bottom in the current searching for food on the river bed or small animal life. Corys are quite small and live in small groups in the wild. In aquariums they are often on their own.

They are fairly hardy in terms of water quality. They can tolerate slightly acidic or alkaline water but are ideally suited to neutral water. They like a fine gravel substrate as most of their time is spent foraging for food. It is important to keep the water and gravel clean because Corys will pick up bacterial infections, such as ich or fin rot, from dirty substrate. To this extent, Corys are good for cleaning up waste material off the bottom of the tank but they also eat a wide variety of food including pellets and flake food and also blood worms. They are also well adapted to cold water and can live in water ranging from 18-25 degrees Celsius.

Synodontis sp. are generally larger fish than the Corys with some notable exceptions being the upside down catfish or synodontis nigriventris. They hail from the river systems and lakes of Africa where water is quite hard. Again they are bottom dwellers that prefer fine gravel substrate that they can scour for food. Having said that they will eat most types of other food from live food to flake and pellets.

Synodontis are quite shy to some extent and prefer dark surroundings. The lighting should be low and the habitat should include plenty of rocks and wood that can create caves and other place to hide from time to time.

They also make good inhabitants of a community tank but can be territorial at times.

Catfish are great additions to any fish tank. They can provide a contrast to the more classically elegant cichlids with their odd looks and unusual behavior. They also serve a useful purpose in eating much of the wasted food that drifts to the bottom of the aquarium. Mainly they are peaceful and will live with other species of fish and they are quite hardy to water conditions.

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