There are over thirty families of catfish, but the one that stands out as the classical favorite for the aquarium is the Plecostomus catfish, also called the sucker mouth catfish. Most people enjoy and appreciate having one in their aquarium for many reasons, as the Plecostomus is an interesting and useful fish.
Plecostomus are often called upon to do “double duty” in the aquarium: to look nice, and be the clean-up crew removing algae and other waste from the aquarium. Indeed, Plecostomus are known as the world’s most useful algae eaters and glass cleaners for aquariums. However, they are still not a substitute for cleaning your aquarium and changing some of the water regularly.
Another reason for the popularity of the Plecostomus catfish is the fact that it is very hardy and easy to keep. In addition, Plecostomus are generally peaceful fish that get along well with many kinds of other fish, from small tetras and angelfish to large Oscars and cichlids.
Plecostomus catfish tend to be rather small and fragile when they are young, but then they will grow to quite a pleasing size and can live for many years. In fact, some Plecostomus species can live 10 years (and probably much longer) and grow to be about 2 feet long. There are also many species of Plecostomus catfish that come with intricate patterns, wild colors, and special high dorsal fins or prominent bony plates all over their body. Most Plecostomus catfish still share the common characteristic of having cute whiskers and large dark eyes with pupils that dilate and contract in response to varying light.
It is best for beginning fish hobbyists to start out with a smaller and more common species of Plecostomus catfish for the aquarium, such as the bristle-nosed Plecostomus catfish or Hypostomus. Like most other Plecostomus catfish species, this catfish is very hardy and easy to keep, but more importantly it stays manageably small at about 2 to 3 inches long.
Being tropical fish, Plecostomus catfish are most comfortable if the water is kept between 70 and 80 degrees. As for food, Plecostomus are hardy and not picky or fancy eaters, so regular floating flake food for tropical fish will do just fine. They usually do not eat worms and other live food. Besides, remember that they have probably already had a good serving of algae at any given time so they don’t need any special feedings. Some Plecostomus species such as the upside-down catfish will even swim upside down at the surface of the water to eat floating flake food, which is sure to be fun to watch. As always, do remember not to overfeed your fish.
Hagen makes an automatic fish feeder that is great if you have to go on vacation and want to feed your fish while you are gone. The NutraMatic 2X automatic fish feeder feeds twice daily. You can put flake foods or small to medium pellets in the cylinder. It feeds every 12 hours.