Oddballs For A 30G

[kizno1]

I have decided against the H. flavus for now, they are still at Aquajardin after I IDed them for the manager. There are two main issues that stopped me...

• My pair of ABF in the potential tank. The Shadow Catfish are ~4.5cm SL fully grown (which the shop group is, pretty much), might be absolutey fine, bit wary to risk it at £40 for the group of 8 (they need numbers).
• They come from quite acidic blackwater, pH in the 5 ballpark... Southampton tap water is gH 14 (quite hard) and pH 8.2, I started a post at planetcatfish about this, but yet to get a reply.

http/www.planetcat...?species_id=295

My 620T currently has 2 ABF; 3 Synodontis nigriventris (another 3+ wanted asap); Hypoptopoma sp.2; Phyllonemus/Laphiobagrus ~6cm Tang catfish; 3 Garra flavatra (waiting to go into Rio240 once Lionhead youngsters are rehomed one way or another this week)

Shadow Catfish are lovely little midwater catfish, its almost ironic that these caught my eye after rehoming my Gymnochanda filamentosa to EliseW, whom I struggled with ideas of suitable tankmates. I get the impression that they would not make good tankmates with your Akysis, who need flowing water and a max temp of 22C (but ideally closer to 16C), while H. flavus needs quite still water with a min temp of 22C.

K. minor seems to fit Akysis' profile better, liking areas of current, but apparently you need to be careful that specimens in the store really are K. minor and not the much larger as adults K. bicirrhis.

Fair enough they dont seem like they would suit the tank to well then. The coldest i can get the tank is 22C even at night in winter it sticks at that with no heaters. Planet catfish says its the other way round "The commonly available Glass Catfish, K. minor is often labelled as this larger and rarely (if ever) imported species. Kryptopterus bicirrhis is a larger adult fish." Having a look through pics the once in my LFS defiantly look more like K. minor.
Hmm now i have the decision between an african biotope with
3 Erpetoichthys calabaricus
1 Ctenopoma acutirostre
3 Pantodon buchholzi

Or

1 Ctenopoma acutirostre
10 Pareutropius buffei
5 Synodontis nigriventris


Or

3 Akysis vespa
3 Akysis prashadi
10 Kryptopterus minor
Maybe 1 more centre piece fish or another shoal of catfish.

This is going to be a tough choose.

 

[kizno1]

I think a small group of Mystus bimaculatus might be better options than the Hyalobagrus flavus, They seem like they will do better with the flow and temp plus i wanted some ages ago but couldnt find any but know where to get some now.