Reed Fish

[Witcher1979]

Hi,

About 15 years ago I had a rather large 1000 litre tank, I had 4 rope fish which lived together for around five years plus a few other fish. Sadly I had to move and sold the complete setup.

Starting back up again slowly with a small 250 litre tank. Once the tank is ready for fish I want to buy another reed fish, keeping in mind it is only 250 litres what else could I put in this tank?

Thank you for any help.

 

[fisman]

You could maybe put in a few smaller fish in the tank that won't get eaten by the reed fish. Make sure the reed fish is also fed well so it won't want to eat the smaller fish.

 

[Witcher1979]

Thank you, do you have any recommendations?

When I first got into fish keeping we had AOL 56k dialup. So information was rather lacking, I remember sitting in my chair and a reed fish was by my feet. So it was self taught they had lungs and they are very good escape artists.

I don't want to over populate this small tank and I am pretty rusty with everything.

I want to start with this 250l tank and built up over the years to another 1000l. Reed fish on hes own will leave the tank looking quite empty.

In theory with the substrate, rocks and a few plants it is probably around 230 litres.

 

[fisman]

You could probably put in barbs. They are fast swimming and strong. So if the reed fish did try to eat them it probably couldn't. You could PROBABLY put in 5-6 of them without overcrowding it.

 

[Wills]

Reed Fish are really awesome but as you know they are also huge! I'm not sure how viable a 250 ltr would be other than a grow out tank, which could be said for likely tank mates too as they will need to be of a good size themselves. But I dont think you are talking very long, maybe 6-12 months? I would probably just get a group from the start too as they are a social fish and will do better in a group.

I like to keep fish from the same sort of part of the world so I would stick to African Riverine fish so things like Congo Tetras, Afrian Brown Knives, Synodontis Catfish would make a nice tank You could look at some of the riverine cichlids like African Butterflies, Kribensis or their rarer cousins or maybe some of the Blockheads?

Is it a space thing at the moment or could you accommodate the bigger tank sooner? 500-1000 ltr?

Wills