Oddballs In A 100 Litre Tank

[paulypaul182]

Hey all. I have my tank which is cycled. It is 30 x 12 x 18" with a fair few plants and lots of stones. I have a bed of sand which has fine gravel underneath. My Ph is 7.5 and Im running it at 26 degrees centigrade. At the moment, there are a couple of plecs in there which are approx. 6 inches long at the moment. Im not sure what they are though. I may get rid of these as Im thinking these are going to be monsters.

I want a different feel to the tank. I dont really like fancy fish, I like the weird and wonderful.

I would like to know what stock of fish would people recommend. I really would love some sand dwelling fish as well as mid to top dwelling fish. I love the look of having cherry shrimp and maybe even having freshwater mussels. I like the look of puffers but Im unsure about their maintenance and feeding.

I must admit, my budget is fairly low at the minute so that would affect the money that I have for feeding. Also, I havent any room at all for a second tank to breed live food in.

So Im looking for weird fish.
On a low budget.
And are fairly easy to keep.

Any suggestions?

 

[Davo86]

your main problem is that shrimp will be on the menu of the majority of oddballs available.
Puffers would need to be kept alone and most would require a brackish setup.

If your looking for a fis that will make use of the sand how about a Spiny Eel (Macrognathus circumcinctus)

other "weird and wonderful" species could be
African Butterfly fish (Pantodon buchholzi)
Spotted Climbing Perch (Ctenopoma acutirostre)

 

[paulypaul182]

Im not very keen on the spiny eel and the perch looks like it would be too big for my tank. Some are saying a 200 litre tank is the minimum size. I had a butterfly fish years ago and would consider more. They are so hard to get here though, im always asking the LFS's if they have them and they say its almost impossible to get.
I was considering one of the freshwater puffers like the dwarf puffer.

I really would like a community of oddballs rather than one species or one fish.

 

[jennybugs]

I'd advise avoiding puffers for a community set up myself. Some you might be ok with some of them but it's never guaranteed, especially with dwarf puffers

 

[paulypaul182]

I'd advise avoiding puffers for a community set up myself. Some you might be ok with some of them but it's never guaranteed, especially with dwarf puffers

Looks like my tank is too small for what I want. I am think about just having dwarf puffers but Im not sure yet. I heard that they are very hard to look after

 

[Loony Fish]

GET A SENEGAL BICHIR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[jennybugs]

I'd advise avoiding puffers for a community set up myself. Some you might be ok with some of them but it's never guaranteed, especially with dwarf puffers

Looks like my tank is too small for what I want. I am think about just having dwarf puffers but Im not sure yet. I heard that they are very hard to look after

No, I wouldn't say hard to look after. If you know what to do they make a very enjoyable fish to keep! They need different things to many regular tropicals - 50% water changes for a start on a weekly basis and overfiltered tanks - and I wouldn't say they're an ideal starter fish for someone new to the hobby, but other than that I love mine. I have 5 in a tank with two filters and loads of planting/interest for them. I change it around every now and then to stop them getting bored, but my 3 girls and 2 boys are fat and healthy