oddball in the tank

[FrankSlapperinni]

Is there any type of bichir or puffer fish that would go in a agressive cichlid tank with out eating them? here are the fish going into the tank (its 75 gallons [283 liters]).

5 Pseudotropheus acei

4 labidos hongi

6 Cynotilapia axelrodi

5 cobalt blue zebras

5 pseudotropheus demasoni

I was thinking maybe a marbled bichir beacaude they are on the smallish size for a bichir.

 

[david27]

Hi Frank
Bichirs are great but not being up on african cichlid names I don't know how big these particular species are. Bichir's are happy to tackle quite large prey. My saddled bichir attacked my female convict which was about 2.5" long and my ornate was in with african cichlids and ate quite a few when he was about 6" long.
How about a tyre track eel they are very nice, and though not as colourful as fire eels far easier to keep.
If you click on the link in my sig I've got some quite good pics of bichirs if your interested.

Hope this helps

David

 

[FrankSlapperinni]

thanks for your help your probably right, the cichlids I planed on are a little on the smaller side (the demosoni is only 2 and 1/2 inchs [6.35 centimeters]). I'll look up tire track eels, but I was wondering, would it be possable to keep a few ropefish in with them, or would they be sucked up like a noodle (the ropefish or the cichlids)?

 

[CFC]

Rope/reed fish are just as predatory as bichirs and when over 6" will happilly make a meal of 2 to 3 inch cichlids, your best bet if you are looking for a "eel" shaped fish is one of the spiney eels like david said, if you can find/afford one there are some lovely looking tanganyikan eels ( a search on afromastacembelus should throw up some pics) but eels can be predatory too once over 12" and again smaller fish may disapeer overnight. If you can it would be wise to up the size of the smallest fish to 4" so they dont look so appetising.

 

[FrankSlapperinni]

Thank CFC, maybe I'll just stay away from eels. but what about puffer fish? or any other oddball someone would like to recomend? Puffer pack was recomending either red eye puffers or Target puffers, anyone have any experience with these fish?

 

[keeperofgsp]

hmm he suggested 2 small aggressive puffers....you gotta keep in mind when adding aggressive puffers into a tank do you like your cichlid? i keep a target b4 he was in a 30 gallon tank by himself....heard too many horror stories about them to get him a tank mate

 

[Pufferpack]

Hi Frank.

I don't remember recomending puffers with aggressive cichlids, if I did I apologise, I must have been drunk that day (I have had Dwarf puffers kill a mbuna cichlid 3 times their size because he picked on one of them) . I don't think the puffers (any puffers) would put up with the aggressiveness of most cichlids. You might get away with a combination like South American Puffers and Kribensis or shell dwellers, but even then you would be taking a chance.

 

[Pufferpack]

Sorry after rechecking some of my old posts I found it.

Are there any types of fresh water puffers that would be aggresive enough to be kept with any african cichlids?

...depends on whether you like your cichlids or not . Sorry, you may have trouble no matter what puffer you try, depending on whether the cichlids learn to leave the puffer alone, for smaller africans like Kribs or shell dwellers you could get Colomesus asellus they would make a nice combo and are relatively peaceful (for puffers). For any of the more rambunctious cichlids you could try Tetraodon leiurus - Target Puffers (6 inch max), Tetraodon lorteti - Red-eye Puffers (4 1/2 inch). If you have a 90 gal or larger tank you could attempt Tetraodon lineatus - Fahaka Puffers, they are more than aggressive enough to rock with the bigger South American cichlids, but have a tendency to decimate the tank when you're not looking (or when you are looking, they don't care )
As with any attempts to mix puffers with other species, it is best if you have a backup plan in case the fish need to be relocated in a hurry.

After re-reading it I guess I could have been a little clearer : most puffers have the potential to snap and decimate the other occupants of their tank, and the more aggressive their tankmates the greater the chances are of this happening.

My apologies if I've misled anyone.