Oddballs Anonymous

[§tudz]

Great advice mate, thanks. Its info you cant find easily in books, its practical and useful info from experienced fishkeepers. Im going to have a seperate shopping list for my fish ! Carnivore Home Delivery at Tesco Good stuff. Mm, glad you like my tank - a bit more work is needed i reckon.

Thats a great help.

lol yeah I get funny looks when i go in about buy several cucumbers and about 10 bags of prawns

the only things I would change in the tank are: sand not gravel (I dont like gravel too much) and I'd remove the filter that comes with the tank, I think that is the exact same tank i have in my room with my siamese tigerfish and baby oscars in.
The filter isnt very good and when you take it out the tank is SO much bigger, but you'll have to buy a heater as the heater is housed in the filter, isnt it?
but that shouldnt be a problem at all, the wood layout of great as well.

 

[sthomas048]

It must be fun though isnt it, having unusual or exotic fish ? More involving and unpredicatble. In work with a plaster on your finger - "oh yes that was when my pet fish tried to eat my arm". Heh. Ive only ever kept the basic Cichlids and Tetras etc; (nice fish though) So im up for an oddball tank. Ive pretty much spent out on my tank setup, im skint, just bought a Tetratec EX700 external filter. No, im not to keen on gravel either. Some people say remove the Juwel filter, some say not. I will probably keep it in there for now, its just extra filtration and a back up if the Tetratec packs in. I have yet more wood available to place in the tank, but im trying not to fuss with the layout too much. I think in hindsight i would have planned the layout in the empty tank before adding the water.

Cheers.

 

[DarkEntity]

An updated image of the tank.

Some of the Inhabitants

Congo Tetra's

Ctenopoma Acutirostre

Senegal Bichir

L387

Dont seem to have images of the Bristlenose Male and Female...hmm

 

[Esfa]

Dont seem to have images of the Bristlenose Male and Female...hmm

Psst, look under the Ctenopoma Acutirostre

 

[sthomas048]

Wow DarkEntity, thats a very nice tank. Thanks for posting these images. Your tank is sort of like a much more professional version of mine ! Plus you have some wonderful specimens of fish inside. Id sell my tv if i had a tank like that. The first photo of the Ctenopoma is brilliant, i never noticed the detailing on the fish or the eye shape until seeing this. Do you find your Bichir lurks around your plants a lot or does he swim around most places ? I have some Java Fern/moss in my tank. I have to say i love Plecs and will probably end up with some L144s in my tank.

Ha, Esfa - well spotted !

 

[DarkEntity]

The Ctenopoma images are 2-3 weeks old at least now, and since then the Male has grown what could be best described as a horn on his nose rite between his eyes, the female has bulked up a little and they are regularly showing mating behaviour (im hunting high and low for some good lumps of water lettuce) to provide cover.

The Poly has days when she just lurks and other times (like now) when she is just swimming about the tank happily scaring the Congo Tetra's.

The Bristlenose male has dug a huge cave out from under the wood in the sand and is now hanging off the sticky outie bit you can see in the image.....(wonders where the female is)

As for the L387 he/she is just somewhere lurking till the courgette arrives...

 

[sthomas048]

To me thats what its all about. Interesting fish going about their ways every day, always fascinating to watch and observe. I think thats what draws me to fish, esp oddball fish. Ive always been drawn to nature programmes on tv (its what got me into wildlife and environmental stuff), u know when they start showing the rare bizarre creatures you have never seen before and your mouth drops open. Amazing.

Sorry - more questions for you DarkEntity, would you say in owning a pair of Ctenopoma thats its lucky if you get a mating pair ? I know with Cichlids you end up buying 4 or 5 juveniles in the hope of finding a couple.

Its sounds like you have a great mix of personalities in your tank. Well done.

 

[DarkEntity]

To me thats what its all about. Interesting fish going about their ways every day, always fascinating to watch and observe. I think thats what draws me to fish, esp oddball fish. Ive always been drawn to nature programmes on tv (its what got me into wildlife and environmental stuff), u know when they start showing the rare bizarre creatures you have never seen before and your mouth drops open. Amazing.

Sorry - more questions for you DarkEntity, would you say in owning a pair of Ctenopoma thats its lucky if you get a mating pair ? I know with Cichlids you end up buying 4 or 5 juveniles in the hope of finding a couple.

Its sounds like you have a great mix of personalities in your tank. Well done.

I picked 2 fish that looked different in body shape for my Ctenopoma's. But having had them now for some time and seeing them grow up what to look for is the eyes. On a male they are large and seem to be deeply sunk into the head, when they move the eyes you can see inside the skull (best description i can give you) The females seem to have smaller eyes and they dont sink into the skull..Its hard to describe, ill try dig out a male and female pic to show you when i get home. Once they get older the male seems to grow what could best be described as a small horn inbetween his eyes.

My Ctenopoma, Polypterus, Plecs have all grown up together, i had the Poly at 2" and the Ctenopoma werent much bigger than a Tiger Barb (average shop size) so i think that has really helped, the Poly just ignores the Ctenopoma and vice versa. Although they do seem to hide together when "the stupid human has his arm waggling in the tank"

 

[sthomas048]

That would be cool, to see some images of the differences in male to female as youve described. Its not like the Ctenopoma group of fish are not cool enough, but they even have a horn ! Im going to try and introduce the fish into my tank over a close set time period, as you rightly say it seems that its the best way for a group of fish to be introduced together and early on in their life, when possible.

It seems there are quite a few options for Senegal Bichir tankmates, after scanning the forums this afternoon the Synodontis is a popular choice in an african themed tank.

 

[DarkEntity]

yer Syno are the obvious choice, but trying to find one locally that isnt the MONSTER SYNOS' is the hard part lol

 

[sthomas048]

I have three or four local LFS in the Cardiff area, but i know i cant depend on them to order the nicer or more unusual fish. So when the time comes il be doing a little online fish ordering from the usual peeps - Trimar and Tropical Fish Finder. If i decided to get a Syno then it would probably have to be the Nigriventris (check them out here - Planet Catfish). The Zebra version is quite funky.

 

[§tudz]

if you dont mind travelling up to deeside I have a synodontis ocefiller for sale for £40 ono

replied at the same time, a zebra version... thats just the juvinle markings

Tropiocal Fish Finder tends to be very expensive, and there aint nothing better than traveling miles to find the perfect fish, although it does hurt when you get there and they've sold out

EDIT: I just looked at PCF and I've not seen those pics before they must be new, and I've never seen that colour morph.

they are great fish I used to have a shoal of them.

 

[sthomas048]

Nice offer mate, but my tank is in its early days yet. Still cycling. Thats a handsome Syno though. Studz - you been caught out on your travels then ? What a fragging nightmare ! I would be prepared to travel to buy a nice fish, to see the condition of it, its general health and appearance etc;

 

[DarkEntity]

rite, an attempt to get a shot of the male and female so you can see the differences.

Male (huge eyes and the horn between them)

Female (smaller eyes, flat between eyes)

and the pair courting...

 

[sthomas048]

Ah yeh, i can see what you mean. That macro on the first image is amazing btw.