Caring for A Catfish Friend for My Betta

[daleekee]

I have read that little catfish make great companions for bettas. I have my betta in a heated and filtered ten gallon tank. I like the idea of adding a catfish to the tank, but I really don't know that much about caring for catfish. Information on caring for bettas appears to be a lot more readily available!

My big question has to do with feeding. My betta rarely lets any food drop to the bottom, so I'm assuming I'd have to buy some sort of sinking food. Any recommendations? I'd only have one catfish, so I wouldn't want to overfeed.

Also, one of the reasons I opted for a betta in the first place is that I'm often away from my home on the weekends. I read that bettas can go for a couple days without being fed. However, I don't know if the same is true for catfish! Does anyone know?

[sawcat]

it's best to treat the cats like the other fish and not like a vacumn, that's a big thing I've seen recommended a bunch of places when I researched mine.

Look for small ones, corydoras or otos. I have two panda cories and 2 otos in my ten gallon, with 2 mollies. But if you get one species, you could get 3-5, but it's best to get most at once or if you decide to get like 3 now, get atleast 2 later as I've heard they can gang up on new comers. The small catfish are schooling fish, so they're more comfortable in a group. my cories and one of the otos usually run around together in the tank.

I give mine sinking algae wafers, sinking shrimp pellets and sera viformo tablets for catfish and bottom feeders. I also put in veggies for the otos, like frozen spinach cubes. And I don't give them some every day. Usually every other day. And they are nocturnal, so they might not be very active during the day. I feed mine right before I go to bed so they're more apt to notice the food.

[skarloeysmom]

I have 2 otos and they seem to really love the Hakari sinking wafers. It takes them a couple of days to polish one off so I only feed them about 3 or 4 days. They must have been eating stuff in the tank too because I had them for several months before I started giving them wafers and they seemed to be doing fine. It's hard to tell if they're eating because they are usually only active at night. Seeing the wafers being eaten made me feel better about them getting enough to eat. I've heard corys are good with Bettas but I think they grow a bit bigger than otos.

[daleekee]

Well, it's encouraging to hear that the wafers last a few days. That will allow me to keep catfish even though I'm away from home most weekends. However, do you find that the wafers pollute the tank more quickly than other types of food? It seems like having food just sitting in the tank for days sounds problematic. What do you think? Also, I don't know much about catfish. I will have to do some research on the types you've mentioned. Are the typical albino or gray catfish found in most petstores suitable?

[daleekee]

Okay, so I just read that the catfish I see in most pet stores are corydoras. Thanks for all the help!

[sawcat]

It doesn't exactly sit in the tank persay. If you give them algae wafers and shrimp pellets, there is less waste, because you can always snap the wafers in half if you only get two or three, and the pellets are small. But just like bettas, they need a varied diet, so not just one type. Mine love the algae wafers, the shrimp pellets and sinking tablets.

Cories and otos get to be about the same size, about 2 inches long max. You see other type of catfish in the pet stores... plecos for one are very common but you do not want one because they get really big.

One thing, otos are very sensitive to water conditions, so they need to be in a filtered and cycled tank.

If it's listed as a corydora, it's a good one. Here's a few species: www.liveaquaria.com/product/scateg.cfm?pCatId=1161 The albino and panda cories seem the most common to me. And the full name for otos is Otocinclus . Those are the only two I know of that will work in a 10 gallon Otocinclus and Corydora.

[daleekee]

So I've read that corys are nocturnal, but mine seem pretty active throughout the day as well. I feed them in the morning, and I see them go crazy over the wafers. Should I be feeding them at night, though?

[daleekee]

I have three very small peppered cory cats in my tank now, and I'm experiencing some confusion over how much and how often I should feed them. I've purchased some Hikari sinking wafers, which they seem to like just fine. I've been snapping them in half and placing one half of a wafer in the tank each morning. It certainly takes them more than an hour to finish off the half wafer, but it appears to be gone within a few hours. Should I be feeding them like this everyday or skipping a day? It almost seems like I'm overfeeding.

[sawcat]

keep an eye on your water quality. One thing I've found hard on researching corys is to find consistent information. The betta info on the web is fairly consistent, but I found it hard to find info on feeding the cories. The guy at the one fish store said 1 tablet of the one food I feed them 2-3 times a week, but then yours are bigger than mine (I got pandas). I found that when I started feeding mine at night they were more apt to be active and would smell it quicker than when I did it in the morning. But if they're getting more of it than the betta is, it seems to be working for you. You might look for some sinking shrimp pellets too, if those are just the algae wafers. Mine love those.


eta: saw in other post you feed the betta frozen brine shrimp, you might see if he'll share these with the cories too, instead of getting the shrimp pellets.

[daleekee]

I think the frozen brine shrimp might work well for both. My betta isn't into sharing food, but he may not be quick enough to inhale all the shrimp before at least a few settle on the gravel. I don't want to underestimate him, though. I picked up some shrimp pellets to augment the Hikari sinking wafers for my corys as well. You're right about inconsistent information. The guy at the petstore also told me feeding them a single sinking wafer once every other day would be fine. The instructions on the package of shrimp pellets says to feed them what they can eat in 30 minutes 2-3 times daily! I'm guessing that a single sinking wafer is roughly equivalent to 1.5 or 2 shrimp pellets, so that's quite a disparity! I have absolutely no idea what is the right amount. I have three extremely small peppered corys. Based on your success rate with feeding, what would you recommend? One shrimp pellet or half a wafer per day? More?

[sawcat]

If i'm using the shrimp pellets for everyone in a feeding, I put in about 10 total, and in 3 different spots since the molly mom is a pig and nips the others away. That's for 6 fish total. Maybe try 2 at first, and if the betta seems interested you could add one or two for him elsewhere so he doesn't steal it all.

[daleekee]

My betta is definitely hogging the shrimp pellets! I had no idea he'd be so interested in them! Have you ever witnessed your betta eating sinking wafers as well? I'd really prefer to feed my catfish something the betta wasn't going to devour all himself. I'm afraid my betta is getting far too much to eat.

[sawcat]

the other night I added a large algae wafer for my snail and gave my betta some pellets and fd daphina, and I suspect that he munched a bit on the algae wafer because he was a bit constipated the next morning, and he was poking around in that spot too.

you can try distracting him while you feed the cories. I have to do this for because momma mollie is a royal pig who's made herself fat off of the anacharis in the tank. So I have basically stopped feeding her, until the one fry I have left went in. She kept eating the food for the cories and otos. so I will give her flakes or 2 shrimp pellets at the front of the tank, and drop the cories food in at the back where they like to hide. Between the diversion and Calico Jack (the male molly fry) pestering momma, the cories and otos get a decent run at the food before she realizes it's there.