Animal Stories - People Talking About Catfish



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Latest Animal Stories on Catfish (725)

Chris Norris - 2011-07-08
I have a two and a half inch long fin bristle nose. When I got him, he had awesum long fins. After having him for two mounths his fins are not as nice as they were. He is in realy good conditions and he has never been nibbled on. Can you please tell me what this is?

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Charlie Roche - 2011-07-08
I included the article on Fish Disease and Treatment. It might be Fin & Tail rot which is a bacteial infection. He could have had it when you brought him home. He could have hurt himself somehow in the tank and it caused a bacterial infection. Another fish could have nipped him. It happens. Anyway, look at the article and find the symptoms and check out that disease and just look at symptoms in general. The recomended treatment is there.

Sarah - 2010-03-26
I have 2 leopard sailfin plecos in my 20 gallon tank. I always thought they were corys as thats what the woman in the petshop told me. Now I love my plecos, but I don't know if they will outgrow the tank. And I have read that there are thousands of pleco varietys and mine might not be one of those, but something similar that won't get very big. I've had them for about 2 months and they are about 3 inches.

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christine - 2010-04-19
I have a pleco I have had him for nearly nine years now and he's over a foot long but I have got a 4ft tank if that helps.
mat - 2010-04-23
If these are in fact leopard sailfins, then watch out - you can expect them to reach 6 inches in a year and up to two foot over their lifetime. You need a seriously large aquarium, something like 120 gallon, if you want them together, full grown. I have one and he is a good 3 inches, I've only had him for 2 months and he's already doubled in size. Well worth the effort though, a truly magnificent and charismatic fish.
katie - 2010-07-16
What other foods do plecos eat?
Andrea - 2010-10-22
Hi Sarah,
Because these plecos will most likely get over 2 feet long, I would suggest getting a 100-150 gallon tank minimum to put them in.

Plecos in general are a species of catfish, and though they are strictly herbivore at a young age, they become omnivores (eating both algae and fish products) after about a year or so. (Mine normally start eating fish species before that time).

That being said, though they are okay with eating Algae, they are not the greatest. They produce a lot of ammonia and nitrate as well that can lead to the death of your other fish.

If you want a good algae eater, you can try snails (that stay herbivores their whole lives) or Otocinclus (that are similar to Plecos except for they only get 2 inches long instead of 2 feet ;)) That being said, Ottos are also good algae eaters but will at some point eat fish products too to get their protein.

People think that most fish will grow to the size of the aquarium they are placed in. This is half true. If the plecos are not placed in a larger aquarium, what happens is the following: Their external structure, such as their skin, skeleton, and eyes for example stop growing, however their internal structure such as their heart, intestines etc will continue growing, until it gets to maximum size. That being said, the pleco will at some point "explode" since his organs are getting too big for his tiny body.

I hope this helped!
Jamie - 2010-12-30
Hi there. I have had a leopard pleco in my 70 gallon tank for three years. It is approximately 10 inches from nose to tail. They will eventually (assuming they live long enough) get up to around a foot and a half long. That is clearly too big for your 20 gallon tank. Your smallish tank will retard the growth of your pleco, but it will not prevent it. It is probably a good idea to sell it back to a pet store once it gets too big for your tank. Hope this helps.

Sss - 2011-11-20
Emerald green Corys are very easy to care for and very intelligent. They do well in tanks above 5 gallons, but you need to be careful about how tall the tank is. Corys can actually breathe air if their gills are wet, so they occasionally swim to the top. Because they spend so much time at the bottom that they can't really swim too far straight up, so the tank can't be taller than a little more than a foot and a half. I would recommend them for anyone who has a freshwater tank, though you should definitely get more than one. They get sicker when they are alone; take it from me.

I've got 2 cool stories about corys. 1: I once had a cory jump out of the tank during a water change. That little fish used its fins to propel itself halfway across the room, no problem with being in the air at all!

2: I once had a male beta and 2 corys in a tank together. Male betas are really aggressive and usually attack other fish by putting up their frills (like a lion mane). My catfish had absolutely NO problem with this and just swam right by. I think that made the beta confused.

Last thing: I once had two corys get sick, though their other tank-mate had no problem. They kept falling over on their sides and being unable to get up. When they swam, they were fine, but when they stopped, they just fell over. They could hardly breathe because their gills were pressed on the floor. They died in 3 days; no medicines helped. It was creepy. If anybody knows why, I'd like to know so I can fix it if it happens again.

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Slyfish2 - 2012-07-27
It's called swim bladder disease. Try this stuff called Fungus Clear. It says it'll help, and it worked OK for me.

Emily - 2011-02-14
I have a Pleco, but I have no Idea what kind it is. It is tan with black spots, but doesn't look like a leopard pleco.

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Tyler Pelleran - 2011-03-24
It would be highly likely to be a simple common plecostomus.
george - 2012-08-09
Yes is a leopard Pleco/ ihave one too and his name is Simon

jaysee - 2012-01-23
The fish in the pics are not emerald corys, they are bronze corys. The difference is in the dorsal fin. Emerald corys have some 13 dorsal rays - the fin extends back to the adipose fin. Bronze corys have like 7 rays, and there is a clear gap between the dorsal and adipose fin....like in the pics.

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Charlie Roche - 2012-01-24
I will look into it and I appreciate the info.
David Brough - 2012-01-26
Thanks for the info, the picture has been changed.

bob - 2004-04-23
I HAD TWO CORYS, THE WERE BEAUTIFUL... I EVEN ENTERD THEM INTO SOME COMPETITIONS..THEN I WENT AWAY ON HOLIDAYS AND WHEN I CAME BACK THERE WERE 5 PIRAHNAS IN MY TANK... MY BROTHER PUT HIS FISH IN MY TANK AND THEY KILLED MY CORYS... HE THOUGHT IT WAS FUNNY

chrissy st jules - 2011-10-21
Hi there. I was just wondering if someone could tell me what kind of plecos I have. I bought two grey ones with a couple black spots on them and I also have a black one with no spots. thanks

jason - 2011-03-10
I give mine feeder fish with my hoplo catfish and a oscar but also have a common pleco but my syndontis grew an inch. My hoplo catfish is hoplosternum littorale which is 9 inches and my oscar is 9 inches and the syndontis ocellifer is 8 inches and the pleco is 9 inches. All of them but the pleco eat feeder fish which include minnows and gold fish my fish are awesome my hoplo catfish and the oscar beg me for food a freakin catfish begs me for food like the oscar.

Alex - 2009-09-26
I have one striped catfish in my 29g tank and I love him to death too. He is so ugly! So big paunch! I love it! This paunch. I can see my catfish only one time when he take food.
Another catfish Spotted Pimelodus. He had grown to 4 inches during 3 months... and stopped :-( it seems to me it's max size. He has huge paunch too! I like it!

michelle - 2008-10-01
Someone help!!! I have the strangest external parasite problem in my tank. I have Gouramis, one Cory and one Albino cat. The Cory, and ONLY the Cory is affected. It gets these little white dots (no, it's not ich, I've kept fish for 30 years and know what ich looks like), they stick out from the body and get longer like white spikes or threads - not very long, but definitely growing away from the body. I read books, browsed web sites, went to pet stores and asked many experienced people and no one knows. The parasites don't bother the other fish at all. I scooped the Cory out and quarantined it for three weeks. The moment I put it into the quarantine tank, the white organisms were gone - must have fallen off in my main tank? Isolated Cory for three weeks, no sign of parasites and none in my main tank, so put Cory back. A week or so later, white thread parasite worms are back on Cory again. They aren't visible swimming around in the water or on other fish. This time I treated the main tank with chelated copper, general remedy for external parasites. Very shortly after I put it in the water the Cory reacted and the white parasites came off it's body on a clear membrane that separated off Cory's body. Copper treatment is supposed to be good for one month. Parasites recurred a few weeks later. So I just treated again (Sept 28). This has been going on since early July!!! I wish I could identify what I'm dealing with so I can get RID of it once and for all. Has anyone had this experience? I lost one golden gourami, but with no sign of the parasite. The others are okay so far, but get stressed as treated water kills the good bacteria in the mulm layer and water quality is affected by treatment. Albino cat is fine, as if nothing is going on.

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person - 2010-10-06
I had that happen to mine and it's from hard water. We switched to buying water from our grocery store and it went away.
Lucas - 2012-09-25
Pretty good! nice Pretty good! nice to see that all the fish are much active now and very fast lol. I saw soeonme suggesting you to get bala sharks..this is a BAD idea because they get over a foot long and will see smaller fish as food. I would suggest Black Skirt Tetras (they are schooling fish and i had them before and they are amazing, mine get very dark at night and they are cool fish) or you can go with some Gouramis. Dalmatian Mollies also pretty cool fish.

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