Catfish for population control

[punkrockfish]

I am looking for a catfish to add to my lake tang cichlid set up. all the fish are relatively small, and there is a breeding pair in there that pump out fry at an alarming rate. I want the catfish, as cruel as it may sound, as a way to thin out the fry. are there any african predatory catfish that come to mind that won't get too big for my tank (100g paludarium, so only about half filled with water)?

 

[YahooFishKeeper]

im not sure on if youd want one since it doesnt reall fit your theme... but i hear pictus cats snarf on small fish a lot. plus i think theyre pretty.

 

[Hamburgler]

Pictus may work, they seem to adapt well to harder water too. But they are VERY active and may just irritate the others. What is the footprint of the tank? Thats the only thing that matters here since cats stay on the bottom. There are various syno cats that originate from the lakes, but most of the common ones get sizable.

 

[punkrockfish]

i was looking into syno cats, but wasn't sure if they are predatory or not. i got the tank for free as a surprise, so i don't know the exact measurements (about 18inch wide, and 5ft long). all the fish stay near the bottom already, but there is a lot of unused space in the rocks because the julies only seem to want half of what i set up for them. not sure what the lfs have around here either, not always the best selections.

 

[brian1973]

there is a very similar thread on planetcatfish.com or possibly post your question there and see what comes up. hey are looking for a cat for lake malawia cichlids but might be a starting point anyway.

PlanetCatfish • View topic - Lima shovelnose with Malawian c*****ds?

 

[Hamburgler]

Syno eupterus are preds...the biggest ones i see are 8"-10". I have one in with my mbuna, he quarrels with the other cats in the tank and will stand his ground to some of the mbuna. Goes nuts for brine shrimp.

Featherfin Squeaker (Catfish) - Synodontis eupterus

 

[punkrockfish]

thanks for the help, i'm hitting up the lfs tomorrow to check with them

 

[CAPSLOCK]

My Syno eupterus don't go after any small fish (they're in with little tetras and kuhli loaches). The bigger one is about 6" now and could definitely take a tetra if he wanted, but I haven't lost any or seen him show any interest in them. I don't think they'd bother to hunt things down, they're more interested in hiding and scavenging.