Oh Dear Oh Dear!

[ghent_3rd]

Despite being a huge catfish fan I think I have been bitten by the oddball bug!!!!

Just decided I am a huge fan of all things weird and wonderful.

I have a Rio 180 that is 40" long, 16" wide and 20" high, holding approx 180 litres before displacement. (40 uk gallon, 47 us gallon)

I am most interested in polypetrus, but also like things like eels, elephant noses and snakeheads as well. I have to be honest I have just changed my tank round yet again and it is now quite a nice-looking South American-ish community tank with 3 plecs, some other cats, like corys and hoplos plus 3 types of tetra; so I am not looking at changing straight away but I am just looking for information on possible stock for this tank and maybe a website or two that I can get some information from.

I currently use Planet Catfish for most of my needs at the minute and would love a similar site for oddballs if there is one.

Look forward to any replies and you may see me in here more often from now on!!!

Thanks again

John

 

[ringham]

Birchirs and spiney eels are my fav oddballs. They are so beautiful and active they are fantastic. Eels and smallish birchirs (senegals etc.) should be fine with cats.

 

[ghent_3rd]

I had an idea that some of these would be OK with cats but I am one of those fishkeepers that doesn't like to cross continent species. I prefer to keep everything on the fish side fairly natural so that the species would actually meet in real life, whence my current tank set-up.

MY HOMEPAGE AND TANK SET-UP
With the exception of the garra, which is my daughter's fave, all the other fish are Amazonian.

I have seen on here that people suggest "x" fish can be kept in "y" sized tank but does that mean that is all I can have in there or am I able to add other species as well as long as they won't get eaten by the bichir, eel or channa that I put into the tank

 

[beblondie]

Even the smallest polypterid species reach 10-12 inches.While generaly considered non agressive predators
They shouldn't be kept with fish small enouugh to be considered food(most tetras).-anne

 

[ghent_3rd]

I wouldn't put them in with anything like as small as a tetra, I am just saying that I like tetras and stuff like that. I would want to put them in with other oddball or african species that it wouldn't be able to eat and would like to know if this is possible?

 

[Fruitbat]

Yes....it is very possible to keep Polypterids with other types of fish as long as two conditions are met:

1) Companion fish should not be small enough to be considered food items.
2) Companion fish should not be overly aggressive. While bichirs are excellent predators, they're not particularly aggressive and can be picked on by foul-tempered tankmates.

I keep bichirs with an assortment of other West African fish. Of course...the size of the tankmates depends on the size of the bichirs. For example:

In my various grow-out tanks with smaller bichirs I generally include some 'bush fish' (Ctenopoma and/or Microctenopoma) but I've also got African Butterfly Fish (Pantodon), a West African spiny eel (genus indeterminate),some African Mud Fish (Phractolaemus), some large Congo tetras (Phenacogrammus) and even a couple of breeding pairs of 'kribensis' (Pelvicachromis) cichlids.

The only fish currently housed with my larger bichirs (10 inches and over) are a couple of large Ctenopoma acutirostre and a couple of Ctenopoma kingsleyae along with two fairly large (6" +) Synodontis catfish.

Hope this helps.

-Joe

 

[ghent_3rd]

Thanks Fruitbat, that has helped a lot. I was looking at the African Butterflies and thought that they would be ideal candidates. Just not sure how much I would be able to stock if I had 1 full grown, say 12", Senegal bichir in my 180 litre?

Any ideas??