Oscarfishlover.com

Catfish are well known for there cleaning abilities. But many pet shops give false information. They do more than clean up. The following species should not be attained unless you have an extremely large tank, large and robust fish, and a lot of time to care for them.

-Tiger ShovelNose Catfish
Size: 3+ feet.
Diet: Anything that can fit in it's mouth, particularly cichlids and other fish.
Where to obtain it: Internet, large pet shops.

-SA Red Tailed Catfish
Size: 6+ feet
Diet: Large fish

-Common and Sailfin Plecostomus
Size: 2+ feet.
Diet: Algae and plants.

-Duck-Billed Catfish
Size: 2+ feet
Diet: Smaller fish

Just a word of warning. These fish are often sold under a fourth of this size, and may look cute to the unwary fishkeeper.

I totally agree, these fish shops will sell anything that they can get their hands on and they don't care who buys them. I have seen various stingrays for sale. These sort of fish are not for beginners. I think it is totally a responsible of the fish shops to sell fish that need special care and attention and cannot just be put in any tank.

When I first got my Oscars, I also bought a Claris catfish. This is also known as a walking catfish. These fish can reach over 2 feet. They have been known to eat every fish in the pond and then walk to another site. Unfortunately, mine died, I dread to think how big you would be now. I wasn't warned how big this catfish got, they just sold it to me. It seems that aquatic businesses can get away with things that other pet shops can't. Surely this is not right?

Yeah, In fact i just got back from petco. I found two oscars, each around four inches long, in an african cichlid tank along with a 6'' shovel nose catfish for $7.99. I was suprised at that, and amazed that they would put oscars in a set-up with some yellow labs and haps. I later saw a man come in and but one of the oscars for $16. It turns out there was a pair of oscars in better condition in the tank above for a third of the price!

I know its not catfish, but what really gets me is walmart and the such selling pacus to unsuspecting people who may be just wanting to start out in the hobby. Ive seen some whoppers.
mike c.

Yeah, they say the pacus only get 12,'' I've some about 3 feet!

Years back I bought a "Blue Cat". It was cool. The store was selling what they called extra large "Blue Cats" in another aquarium. They were about 9 inches or so. Within 18 months my "Blue Cat" died of stress during a water change at 17 inches long and about 4lbs. This "Blue Cat" was a Channel Catfish. I live in Iowa along the banks of the muddy Mississippi. The State record for Channel Cat is 86lbs. The largest I could find caught in the United States was over 180 lbs.

It sounds terrible, but this fish looked good enough to eat.