Catfish recommendations

[toothgrinder]

Recently picked up a 55gallon tank setup very cheap. I already have several community tanks and would like to house one predator in this setup. I adore red tailed cats but I would need a pond for those as they get huge. Currently I’m looking at a harlequin lancer cat or a vulture cat, though the latter may be a bit big as well.

Open to other things besides catfish if anyone has any suggestions!

[FrozenFins]

Bichers are cool! But they are not too active and hide lots. But still very cool "predator fish".

[ChefConfit]

The science buildings at my high school had several tanks. But one of the coolest was an electric Catfish. I'm not sure which species it was but there are several that are under 12 inches fully grown. Really cool to watch them electrocute their prey to immobilize it. 

[H.K.Luterman]

A Featherfin catfish would be perfect for a 55, though it takes a few months for them to grow and come out of their shell. They will snack on little fish if they happen to come across them sleeping but aren't predators in the same way the wider mouthed catfish are. They can be very territorial though. My Featherfin, Pooka, is my favorite fish.
 

 

Senegal bichirs are a good size for 55s, and are predatory towards anything "snack sized." They can get lazy as they grow bigger, but still are one of the more active bichirs. Here's my biggest, Dragon.

 

 

[toothgrinder]

3 hours ago, James Black said:

Bichers are cool! But they are not too active and hide lots. But still very cool "predator fish".

A little thin for what I’m going for but they are neat!

3 hours ago, ChefConfit said:

The science buildings at my high school had several tanks. But one of the coolest was an electric Catfish. I'm not sure which species it was but there are several that are under 12 inches fully grown. Really cool to watch them electrocute their prey to immobilize it. 

Up to 350 volts they can produce is what I’m reading, I would be nervous to gravel vac haha!

2 hours ago, H.K.Luterman said:

A Featherfin catfish would be perfect for a 55, though it takes a few months for them to grow and come out of their shell. They will snack on little fish if they happen to come across them sleeping but aren't predators in the same way the wider mouthed catfish are. They can be very territorial though. My Featherfin, Pooka, is my favorite fish.
 

 

Senegal bichirs are a good size for 55s, and are predatory towards anything "snack sized." They can get lazy as they grow bigger, but still are one of the more active bichirs. Here's my biggest, Dragon.

 

 

That feather fin is very cool. Love the upside down swimming. I see he’s gentle enough to have small tank mates and plants too that is cool!

[FrozenFins]

just note that a electric catfish is ilegal in some states

[H.K.Luterman]

5 minutes ago, toothgrinder said:

That feather fin is very cool. Love the upside down swimming. I see he’s gentle enough to have small tank mates and plants too that is cool!

Her main diet is Soilent Green by Repashy so if she gets any veggie cravings, that takes care of it. XD
She does snack on the baby livebearers, but there's so many rocks in there with lots of hidey spaces, some do make it.

[ChefConfit]

3 hours ago, toothgrinder said:

Up to 350 volts they can produce is what I’m reading, I would be nervous to gravel vac haha!

That's from fully grown adults of the larger species. I think one of them gets to something like 4 feet! The one my school had was maybe 6-8 inches and felt like a shock from a 9 volt.