Exodons

[loubega]

didnt know where to post this...preds/oddballs? but as they are a tetra i though i would post in the charachins section


been looking at a few possible ideas for my 125l tank. I want to branch out and try something different from a community set up, already have another community set up so was looking at a possible oddball tank.

Dont really have space or money so buy a bigger tank so am going to relocate the harlequins, pristella tetra and cuvicep i have in there currently either a few into my other community tank or back to the LFS for credit.

The tank is very well planted would say close to 60% and i dose with ferts and Co2. Am looking to create an amazon-esque biotope and am really interested by exodons, or the buck-toothed tetra. Have heard they are very aggressive so would keep them in a species tank....

after a few searchs it seems they can be kept in 29g, mine is about 28g....but was wondering how many could be kept in this size? as would only want to keep a shoal...so 6-7 upwards, any less and i fear they would turn on each other.

Any advice on how many can be kept in this size tank would be great, if it is not reccomened then i think i may go for dwarf puffers or maybe a dwarf snakehead...

thanks for help

 

[loubega]

mods ....move this please if its not in right place? predatory section maybe?

 

[three-fingers]

I'd say up to eight would be fine in there easily, they look fantastic in planted set ups and are just fun fish to watch/feed in general.

Only thing I don't like about them is that they can randomly injure one of the shoal quite easily (like tetras they nip at each other harmlessly a lot, but they seem to get carried away if they make a decent wound).

So with exodons I would always have a small ~5gal hospital tank and some melafix at hand just in case one gets injured .

 

[loubega]

I'd say up to eight would be fine in there easily, they look fantastic in planted set ups and are just fun fish to watch/feed in general.

Only thing I don't like about them is that they can randomly injure one of the shoal quite easily (like tetras they nip at each other harmlessly a lot, but they seem to get carried away if they make a decent wound).

So with exodons I would always have a small ~5gal hospital tank and some melafix at hand just in case one gets injured .

great news! found a lfs that sells them locally! will they be ok with an adult BN? and SAE?

means i can rehome the harles and pristella easily

 

[bitteraspects]

what is SAE?

i have a common pleco in both of my exodon tanks, and its fine. but generally you would only want exodons in the tank.

how much filtration will you be running? and what type?
also, how often do you plan to do WC?

these are major factors in how many you can have in your tank. you can absolutely have more then 8. in fact, i dont suggest keeping them in groups of less then 10. exodons do well in "crowded" or "overstocked" tank setups because of their behavior, so you could potentially have quite a few in the 30g tank youre suggesting. however, the more there are, the more waste their will be, so filtration and WC is imperative.

now. with that said. unfortunately the info you recieved below is not entirely accurate. while, with most fis, a hospital tank is a good idea, with exodons, it doesnt work. let me explain...
exodons are very similar to piranha in many ways, one of which is that they grow territorial over their tank. after adding your initial group, anything added to the tank afterwards will be considered an outsider (i havnt figured out if they think its a threat or food, either way, its not good). removing a single exodon to a hospital tank, will only mean putting that same fish back into the shoal to get attacked again. so if you decide later on that you want to add more to your tank, i would not suggest introducing a single fish. theres a good chance it wont survive the night. if youre going to add more, do it in a group of at least 5.

these guys are one of my favorite fish. congrats on the great choice. cant wait to see them.

 

[bitteraspects]

 

[england]

very nice tank
sae = siamese algae eater

 

[bitteraspects]

very nice tank
sae = siamese algae eater

lol. thanks. thats the small exodon tank.


OP:

SAE is a definite they wont last long at all. ive used armored cats and large common plecos with my exodons, but i wouldnt suggest using anything else. in fact, if you dont have one, id suggest not using a pleco or cat either.

how could you say no to this face...

lol

 

[three-fingers]

exodons are very similar to piranha in many ways, one of which is that they grow territorial over their tank. after adding your initial group, anything added to the tank afterwards will be considered an outsider (i havnt figured out if they think its a threat or food, either way, its not good). removing a single exodon to a hospital tank, will only mean putting that same fish back into the shoal to get attacked again.

That's only good advice if you don't mind a fish slowing dying from fatal injuries, while anything added into an exodon tank is at risk of being immediately attacked it's not at all impossible to add one back to the tank (done it at the lfs at least 3 times), just tricky IMO it's much better trying than leaving the fish in there.

 

[loubega]

they sound brilliant!,

i have a fluvial 3 internal filter, but have another fluvial 3 spare that is used incase one breaks down etc....

have 3 tanks so do waterchanges about once every 10 days.....the tank is heavily planted and is an amazon biotope at the moment so suit these little guys perfectly! check my sig for details!

so i could leave my adult BN with them? will; have to rehome the rest?

will look into getting 10 then to create a nice little shoal...i currently feed my tanks: flake, tetra pro colour, live blood worm, dried daphina, bloodworm and brine shrimp? is this ok to feed exodons?

 

[bitteraspects]

exodons are very similar to piranha in many ways, one of which is that they grow territorial over their tank. after adding your initial group, anything added to the tank afterwards will be considered an outsider (i havnt figured out if they think its a threat or food, either way, its not good). removing a single exodon to a hospital tank, will only mean putting that same fish back into the shoal to get attacked again.

That's only good advice if you don't mind a fish slowing dying from fatal injuries, while anything added into an exodon tank is at risk of being immediately attacked it's not at all impossible to add one back to the tank (done it at the lfs at least 3 times), just tricky IMO it's much better trying than leaving the fish in there.

as cruel as it may sound to you, its nature taking course. when you put a group of predators together, you will potentially have losses. thats just the way it goes. with exodons, you can have losses due to aggression and jumpers. it happens.
im guessing you dont actually own any.
larger groups are better to spread aggression, but even with a group of 250, you will still have a few losses. trust me

 

[three-fingers]

My view is that at these population densities, it's clearly not 'nature taking it's course', and unless you were to have a tank large enough to actually simulate a small section of river or pond it couldn't be.
IMO it's up to the owner to account for the fact that some of the will be injured by helping the fish, it's not hard at all to do, it just requires a small clean tank and some mild anti bacterials.
As you said, you don't want the population numbers to dwindle over time anyway...

 

[bitteraspects]

Its apparent you don't have much experience with this fish. Do you actually own any? I'm guessing not by your responses. and its not a good idea to advise in an area youre not familiar with, for the sake of giving out the wrong information, (or in your case, lack there of). much in the same way its not wise to take advise from someone without experience. this is a species that has very specific habits and needs, and if not cared for properly, can be dangerous. i have attempted to give advice based on first had experience as i do actually keep these, and quite a few i might add, so needless to say i know a thing or two about them. however im not going to argue facts with someone with no experience at the risk of the OP getting the wrong information. so If you (loubega), have questions regarding these fish and needs proper information regarding their care, feel free to send me a private message, and i will be happy to help, however i will no longer be responding to questions in this thread.

 

[three-fingers]

Nope, don't personally own them, but then that's very easy to deduct from the fact that the only experiance I've mentioned having with them is from working at the LFS.

If you want to discuss any of the particular points of advice I have given and explain why it's bad, I'd prefer that to just citing that I don't own any and suggesting my advice isn't "proper".

That way more people, including myself, can possibly learn things.

 

[loubega]

right........think we may have got a bit off track now.....

i have now provisionally sold my harlequins and pristella tetra, so leave me with one SAE and curviceps cichild to remove before i can get my shoal of exodons......

im thinking between 8 and 10? this will be with my one med-large BN...is this ok?

will have 2 fluvial 3 filters running.......

any idea on feeding? i have listed what i feed my current stock aldready...is this ok?