Compatible Fish?

[pinkspider]

I was chatting with a couple of fish keeping friends the other day about the notion of "Community Setups" and what combinations of fish work well.

I piped up about my (fairly young..3 months maybe?) 100l setup which has the following:
2 x Ghost Knife Fish
2 x Congo Tetra
2 x Female Bettas
2 x Golden Wonder Panchax
2 x Clown Loach
10 x Neon Tetra
4 x Zebra Danios
4 x (coldwater) Gobies
1 x Red Tail Black Shark
2 x Pygmy Corys
1 x female Zebra Killifish

Their first remarks were "..and you haven't had a fish apocalypse yet?!" followed by "...it will never last."

These comments suprised me, to be honest, as all of the fish are very placid around one another and there is no animosity between any of them.

Now, I must point out that these fish will no always remain in this current setup - the obvious thing being that most of these fish grow really rather large! They will be moved into our 6ft setup (and larger) over time, but for the time being they are all more than happy.

So, really - I want to know, what do you think about this Motley Crue of fish? Would you put them together? Would you invisage any aggression/dominance problems? Do you think I'm as mad as my friends think I am?

I have always caused a bit of controvesy/friction between fish keeping friends and the local fish community, as my setups are always far from normal..an example being I keep a 3" Golden Gourami with Oscars, Snakeheads and Pacus. I also have a large community tank with 3 Male Fighters in..all 3 of which get on fine with each other and all have their own "areas" of the upper vallis canopy of the tank.

Anyway, apologies for the long rammbling post..I just want to see if other people think my setup above is a recipe for mayhem or not?

 

[BethK]

in a 100ltr? It will not work, mainly because the tank is too small to accomodate that amount. Clown loaches crown rather large and need a good 500ltrs or more.

I wouldn't even attempt them in a 100ltr all together, as small, the bioload on the filter is OTT!!!

 

[pinkspider]

in a 100ltr? It will not work, mainly because the tank is too small to accomodate that amount. Clown loaches crown rather large and need a good 500ltrs or more.

I wouldn't even attempt them in a 100ltr all together, as small, the bioload on the filter is OTT!!!

As I stated:

Now, I must point out that these fish will no always remain in this current setup - the obvious thing being that most of these fish grow really rather large! They will be moved into our 6ft setup (and larger) over time, but for the time being they are all more than happy.

All of the fish are currently well within the safe limits for the size:capacity ratio and my water conditions are optimal, along with a Fluval 400+ filter which is working admirably.

I would never put stress on my fish and if I saw any signs of an unhappy fish I would rectify the problem.

As it stands, one of the Knife Fish is growing rather rapidly and will be moving out within the next 2 weeks - and as I originally stated, most of the fish (the Clowns, the other Knife, the Congos etc) will follow in due course.

 

[BethK]

as i also said, that many fish in a 100ltr, is still putting a strain on the bioload

 

[ian]

I think you're going to find most/if not all of the members on here are going to say that the tank is a disaster waiting to happen.

 

[pinkspider]

as i also said, that many fish in a 100ltr, is still putting a strain on the bioload

I take that point and do agree for the most part.

My water has tested perfectly since the day I added fish, and the fish themselves are healthy and happy. If ain't broke, I'm not going to fix it.

Along with the larger Knife Fish moving out soon, the Neons and Danios will be changing tanks, as I'm not a fan of them..they were fish that were "dumped" on me, to say the least.

As I said in my first post, I'm looking for opinions on my stocking choices and as I also said, I'm sure some will not like my approach...I think in my very first post on here I mentioned some of my other tanks and how they're stocked and how I've never had problems.

Anyho, size issues aside, I'd still be very interested to know what people think about the compatibility of the fish themselves.

 

[pinkspider]

I think you're going to find most/if not all of the members on here are going to say that the tank is a disaster waiting to happen.

And I fully appreciate that, but it still intrigued me enough to ask

Oh, and although it probably won't make much difference to opinion - I have re-checked the measurements, and the tank is actually 185l. I got my conversion wrong.

 

[pinkspider]

Ignore this post..double posted

EDIT: Might as well stick a photo of the the Clowns up (and two of the Gobies sticking their heads out from under their stone:

 

[Davo86]

2 x Ghost Knife Fish - this alone is a big issue, once they mature one will be killed, either through aggression from the dominant specimen or through the weaker one being stressed due to the electrical field, again from the dominant fish, Will also predate on the likes of neons and anything else they can catch as they grow.
2 x Congo Tetra
2 x Female Bettas - may have some aggression between them as sorority is too small
2 x Golden Wonder Panchax - again predatory and as they grow will actively hunt smaller fish
2 x Clown Loach - Not a big enough group IMO/IME
10 x Neon Tetra
4 x Zebra Danios
4 x (coldwater) Gobies - higher temperature raise metabolic rate of fish which can drastically shorten their lifespan
1 x Red Tail Black Shark - aggression may become a problem much sooner than expected due to small and crowded setup (even if it is just temporarily)
2 x Pygmy Corys
1 x female Zebra Killifish

 

[pinkspider]

2 x Ghost Knife Fish - this alone is a big issue, once they mature one will be killed, either through aggression from the dominant specimen or through the weaker one being stressed due to the electrical field, again from the dominant fish, Will also predate on the likes of neons and anything else they can catch as they grow.
2 x Congo Tetra
2 x Female Bettas - may have some aggression between them as sorority is too small
2 x Golden Wonder Panchax - again predatory and as they grow will actively hunt smaller fish
2 x Clown Loach - Not a big enough group IMO/IME
10 x Neon Tetra
4 x Zebra Danios
4 x (coldwater) Gobies - higher temperature raise metabolic rate of fish which can drastically shorten their lifespan
1 x Red Tail Black Shark - aggression may become a problem much sooner than expected due to small and crowded setup (even if it is just temporarily)
2 x Pygmy Corys
1 x female Zebra Killifish

Thank you That's really interesting input.

My 2 Knifes will be split up soon. As mentioned above, the larger of the two is moving out very shortly as I don't want to cause any dominance issues between the two, and obviously because of the tank size.

The 2 female Fighters are having another 3 added to the group when they move to the 6ft tank. I agree with the potential for aggression if they were only to remain as a group of 2.

The Clowns, like the Fighters, will be joining some larger friends soon, and will become a group of 7 - but they are currently too small (for my liking, as I've have problems in the past) to be with the others:

The Gobies were sold to me as compatible for my tank temp (24 Celcius) - if you're of the opinion that this is too high for them I will happily move them to my tepid or coldwater setups.

The RTBS is currently around 1" in size, but will move to my 6ft within a number of weeks.

Again, thank you for the very helpful input - I REALLY appreciate it