Catfish and Goldfish

Question
We've just set up a new, fresh water 80L aquarium with filter and aerators and put 2 juvenile salmontail catfish in it. I'm starting to read that catfish grow upto 30cm in size and an 80L tank might not suit them. Is this true? Can I also house common goldfish and nymphs with the catfish? Also, is it ok to have snails in the tank considering catfish are carnivorous?Thanks so much

Answer
Hi Sue
I've never seen those catfish for sale here in the US anywhere I've lived lol.  They do look similar to a pictus catfish that's commonly sold here. They are neat though!  Unfortunately, most catfish do grow quite large, and I wish fish stores would stop selling fish like that for aquariums, they're just not suitable for most tanks.

Anyway, I found a site, and it says they get quite large, this site says they get minimum 60 cm, so yes your tank won't hold them very well.  Copy/paste to your browser:

http://www.aqua-fish.net/show.php?what=fish&cur_lang=2&id=217

Can you build/dig a pond?  They seem like they're really hardy fish, can deal with a wide temperature range, and ph range.  But for the size that they get, almost 2 feet minimum, you're going to need about a 1900 L tank lol, quite large.  That with the goldfish would be good.  For the goldfish, you could safely put 2 goldfish in that size tank, but that would be it.  I wouldn't mix them with the catfish in that size tank.  

As for the snails, I know a lot of catfish will eat smaller fish that can fit in their mouths, but I've never heard of them going after snails.  Usually it's loaches that love to eat the smaller snails.  And for the nymphs, I don't know what those are lol, probably just different terminology from what we call them :)  

Hope that helps, and good luck with your fish.  If you have more questions, please ask!!

Christy