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Thoughts and experiences with bumblebee catfish?


Gannon
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Still looking at and thinking about unique catfishes for a 29 gallon tank which is a bit of a challenge. One I came across was bumblee catfish from south america. Anyone have any thoughts and experience on these? I've seen some conflicting info online about them being better off alone and some people saying they need groups. 

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If you are talking about Microglanis iheringi they are better in groups. I have not owned them but they are one of my someday fish. I only know 1 person who kept them and they had a rather decent sized group in a larger tank. 
There is another cat I can’t for the life of me remember the name of that is often called a bumblebee but those get much larger. 

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On 1/30/2023 at 11:29 AM, Guppysnail said:

If you are talking about Microglanis iheringi they are better in groups. I have not owned them but they are one of my someday fish. I only know 1 person who kept them and they had a rather decent sized group in a larger tank. 
There is another cat I can’t for the life of me remember the name of that is often called a bumblebee but those get much larger. 

good to know thank you! probably not the best choice for a 29g either. No worries ill keep looking and cory catfish are always a great choice. Maybe there is a more behaviorally unqiue species of cory i would like. I've seen people say interesting things about bandits and such. 

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On 1/30/2023 at 2:01 PM, Gannon said:

good to know thank you! probably not the best choice for a 29g either. No worries ill keep looking and cory catfish are always a great choice. Maybe there is a more behaviorally unqiue species of cory i would like. I've seen people say interesting things about bandits and such. 

I love my bandit Cory.  They have all the playfulness of panda Cory but also swim sort of schooling style midwater like Pygmy Cory. 
for a 29 I HIGHLY recommend Aspidora spilotus. Cory cat cousins. They are extremely active and so fun. Easy to breed. I love mine dearly. They are insanely active and use every inch to to bottom of my 20 high. 

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On 1/30/2023 at 1:17 PM, Guppysnail said:

I love my bandit Cory.  They have all the playfulness of panda Cory but also swim sort of schooling style midwater like Pygmy Cory. 
for a 29 I HIGHLY recommend Aspidora spilotus. Cory cat cousins. They are extremely active and so fun. Easy to breed. I love mine dearly. They are insanely active and use every inch to to bottom of my 20 high. 

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Those are super unique! Only trouble will be finding them and paying for them haha. I will be keeping my eye out for these guys now. 

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On 1/30/2023 at 8:35 AM, Gannon said:

Still looking at and thinking about unique catfishes for a 29 gallon tank which is a bit of a challenge. One I came across was bumblee catfish from south america. Anyone have any thoughts and experience on these? I've seen some conflicting info online about them being better off alone and some people saying they need groups. 

First question I would ask... what is your substrate? 

They get impacted easily.  You'll almost never see them, but when you do it's pretty awesome.  I would lean towards pushing you into a few clown plecos and some wood in lieu of the BB.

They are one of my favorites, but really do need a setup for themselves with low light, even blackwater.

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On 1/30/2023 at 2:46 PM, nabokovfan87 said:

First question I would ask... what is your substrate? 

They get impacted easily.  You'll almost never see them, but when you do it's pretty awesome.  I would lean towards pushing you into a few clown plecos and some wood in lieu of the BB.

They are one of my favorites, but really do need a setup for themselves with low light, even blackwater.

Its a larger grain sand and gravel mix. Also I already have an L333 pleco thats going in there once it finishes processing an ammonia dose from 1.5 weeks ago. I certainly want an active bottom dweller to contrast the very shy pleco. I wanted lucipinnis for that but they get a tad too big and even though I could put them in my 125 at that point... I'd kinda rather get fish that can enjoy that tank for life but maybe thats a silly perspective. Also I'll have to move in a year and a half and its already gonna be a nightmare getting fish out of the 125. Let alone move the whole thing so probably shouldnt add complications. 

Corydoras is probably the way to go as usual haha. 

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On 1/30/2023 at 11:50 PM, Gannon said:

Corydoras is probably the way to go as usual haha.

To me, and some of my friends' experience, we have noticed that some corydoras are much shyer than others.

So if you really want active ones, I would highly suggest to read of specific breed experiences. 

Like pandas, pygmys, juliis, or albinos(probably due to bad sight?) are generally more active and playful compared to some like sterbais.

I went with sterbais because of their look and temperature likings, but never knew they are on the shy side really. Thought more or less all corys were acting the same before keeping them.

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On 1/30/2023 at 3:00 PM, Lennie said:

To me, and some of my friends' experience, we have noticed that some corydoras are much shyer than others.

So if you really want active ones, I would highly suggest to read of specific breed experiences. 

Like pandas, pygmys, juliis, or albinos(probably due to bad sight?) are generally more active and playful compared to some like sterbais.

I went with sterbais because of their look and temperature likings, but never knew they are on the shy side really. Thought more or less all corys were acting the same before keeping them.

interesting that you say that. My sterbais are very active. In the last month they've started playing in the bubbler in my tank most of the day. They're very active. 

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