Putting My Most Predatory Fish Together In Rio240...

[N0body Of The Goat]

Over the last few months, I've been going round in circles, trying to come up with the best way to split my fish stocking between my garage 5-footer and my backroom Rio240 once I have rehomed the Lionhead Cichlid youngsters. I had a really restless night last night and ended up getting out of bed between 0300 and 0600 (good job I'm on holiday as I've been wrecked all day), partly because I'm feeling very stressed about my fish stocking (par for the course at this time of year, my stress management is awful December-April, one of the symptoms of Seasonal Affective Disorder).

Do you think there would be unreasonable risks by combining the following in my Rio240 (120x41x51cm)...
2x 7cm SL African Butterfly Fish (P. buchholzi)... See note below
3x 7cm SL Golden Wonder Panchax (A. lineatus)
4x 7cm SL Humphead Glassfish (P. pulcinella)... Thinking I should up their numbers to 8, been offered another four at a very resonable price
1x 12cm SL Leopard Bushfish (C. acutirostre)
3x 6cm SL Leopard Bushfish (C. acutirostre)

Using the Juwel 1000 internal filter plus the Eheim 2078 (either toned down and/or spray bar pointing at ~7 o' clock so very little circular current)?

From my limited experience, it's what will happen with the Ctenopoma quartet that is my biggest concern by far. The late juvenile male was "rescued" from a bare fish shop tank in early December and was immediately accepted by the other three I've had since last summer down in the 5-footer, but its whether their hierachy will go haywire with a downsize of tank and whether a 4-footer would give them each the opportunity of "some breathing space."

I'm aware that my African Butterfly duo could suffer fin nipping by the Humpheads and may be out-competed for food by the killifish. The addition of the female ABF and bringing "Mr Butterfly" indoors has really helped them both grow in confidence, as they now associate the lid opening with food time, resulting in them both eagerly swimming to the tank front for some Hikari Cichlid Gold and a little of the Tetra Prima before it sinks. Given their progress, I'd hate to go back to the nightmare of trying to spot-feed a squittish fish!

Please share any thought, preferably before the men in white coats come knocking at the door.

 

[kizno1]

Looks good to me but i guess its one of them things that the only way to tell for sure is to try. The only problem i would see is the big C. acutirostre being the biggest in the tank and im not sure how he would do with the smaller once in a tank a fair amount smaller. would it be Possible to leave the it in the 5x2x2 and move every thing else to the 240? That way there all similar sizes, then maybe once the others have caught up with him move it inside.

 

[N0body Of The Goat]

Thanks for your opinion, kizno1.

Seperating the new big Bushfish from the youngsters is something I pondered about, as from what I've read to date suggests that adding new members to a group of these species often brings of territorial aggression, something I was wary of before buying the large male (but Neale thought adding him to the trio in the 5-footer was a reasonable risk and credit where its due, his advice was spot on and the established "babies" knew to leave their big brother alone).

A major factor behind this idea was the possibility of creating a slightly warmer setup for these fish than they have adapted to in the garage, which runs at 22C, 1-2C lower than the advised temp range for Bushfish and Golden Wonders (the two ABF live in 24-25C conditions in the 620T). Bizarrely, the temp of the Rio has been reaching as high as 26C in the past week at times because of the temp of the back room has been so warm (bad judgement of storage heater settings combined with recent "heat wave" following the big chill of December), so much so that the Rena Smart Heater 300W was signalling the high temp alert. Thinking back to last summer, this room was like a sauna some weeks when the sun was out in its full glory, which would not be too good for many of my fish (although a seasonal summer would be ok for most of them as long as I ensured loads of aeration).

If the ABF were staying in the 620T and the large Ctenopoma stayed outside, it does make me wonder if I could put my hareem of four Lionhead Cichlids in there (6-8cm SL, male is looking great at mo)...

 

[simonas]

I;d go for it with that proposed stocking for the indoor tank

what would then go in the big tank, I must have missed what was in there already?

 

[N0body Of The Goat]

I;d go for it with that proposed stocking for the indoor tank

what would then go in the big tank, I must have missed what was in there already?

That would leave the following in the 5-footer...

4x 8.5cmBarilius canarensis/sp.2 bakeri
3x 9cm Barilius dogarsinghi
12x 5cm Barilius hukaungensis
6x 8cm Puntius denisonii
5x 5-7.5cm Garra flavatra
2x 12cm Synodontis brichardi
7x Brochis multiradiatus
8x 12-15cm Misgurnus anguillicaudatus <---- I wonder now whether these guys may have to go eventually because of filteration bioload, even if I add the other 2000EF to existing one plus FX5
1x 5.5cm Chaetostoma L444
4x 5.5-8.5cm Steatocranus casuarius <---- I would be happier if these could come inside with all the GWP; Humpheads (inc. large male); Bushfish... Just in case they spawned, would be easier to spot "trouble"
3x 5-7cm Aborichthys elongatus