Regional tanks… what can go in with Congo tetras

[Magnum Man]

not yet, but thanks for the suggestion... I'll look

 

[Magnum Man]

I'm mildly familiar with the Elephant noses... I was not aware they were African though... they might make a good bigger midwater fish in that tank... I did see dolphin fish listed on one sellers site, & saw them listed with the Elephants on my 1st search...

not many of this species available right now... may be seasonal??? but the local store we used to have got Elephant noses in pretty regularly

 

[Magnum Man]

So I looked over the species, and actually found one of these available ( no bets if they be there, when I'm ready )
butt... anyone kept these before??? a Single sounds like an interesting mid water fish for a tank working towards African...

Peter's Elephant nose fish

Gnathonemus petersii

 

[Colin_T]

They tend to be more bottom dwellers and do best in groups. They are nocturnal and hide during the day. They rarely take dry food and need frozen or live. They will probably starve in a tank with Congo Tetras unless you make sure the food gets down to them.

 

[Magnum Man]

This was from the sellers info on the fish...

"In the aquarium, they can be a somewhat finicky eater at first, but will usually accept frozen bloodworms, mysis, and other similar foods. Ideally, these fish should be kept singly as more than one Elephant Nose in the same tank are likely to fight. They should also be kept with peaceful tankmates to avoid bullying or the fish being outcompeted for food."

 

[Colin_T]

We always had tanks full of them in the shop. I had a nice picture of one of the tanks. It had about 50 of them in and they were all huddled together under some driftwood.

I suppose if you have 2 or 3 they might fight but we always had them in large groups and they got along fine.

If you could find out how they live in the wild, that would answer the question about how many you should keep.

 

[Magnum Man]

got a small group of these coming, to go in with my Congo tetras... hoping they get along...

Alestopetersius brichardi (Hemigrammopetersius brichardi) — Seriously Fish

www.seriouslyfish.com

Alestopetersius Brichardi Red / Blue​

 

[Magnum Man]

considering one of these African puffers... these are expensive, & I'm sure they would eat both my pond snails ( that would be great ) and my Armano shrimp..., most of my Armano's were purchased as fully mature, so they will likely only last a couple years more anyway, & there is so much cover I doubt a puffer would wipe out the population very fast, especially with an over abundance of pond snails available for easy pickins... I'd wait until otherwise the tank is fully stocked before adding it... sounds like they get to only 3 to 4 inches at max size, & the ones listed for sale now are at 2 to 3 inches long... the reading I've done on them lists Congo Tetras as perfect tank mate for this fish... only not sure about the Dwarf Pertricolas I'd like to add, once I have a better place for my albino cory's ( next tank set up will be cory friendly... thoughts???

Tetraodon schoutedeni​

 

[Colin_T]

Puffers will wipe out shrimp and snail populations in days to weeks. They won't eat one a day, they will chow down on anything that moves or resembles food, and they can eat a lot.

 

[WhistlingBadger]

Interesting thread! I have long thought about a West African or Congo drainage regional tank. It's fun to read about all these fish I've never kept. Magnum, are you planning this to be a river tank, with lots of flow?

 

[Magnum Man]

Kinda…. There is a Tidal 75 on the narrow end of a 45 gallon, being as deep as it is ( 24 inches,) the opposite bottom is fairly calm, there is enough flow to push my floaters into a not too compacted island on the opposite side from the filter… if I decide to do a puffer, they need a little calmer, so he’ll either hang at the lower opposite side of the filter, or I’ll have to adjust the flow on the Tidal ( they have a flow adjustment )

 

[Magnum Man]

Well … Mrs said no puffers, she likes the shrimp too much, and actually what I’m finding for African tetra variety I think the tank will be visually full with African tetras

 

[Magnum Man]

This morning I noticed the 1st hinting of blue on one of the bichardi’s thinking those are going to be a pretty fish… they started out pretty rough, but have been eating good lately and settling in nicely, with their interuptus tank mates… I think tomorrow that big group of African Tetras I ordered arrives… I did a big water change last night, just to make sure the newbies get a chance to settle in, for a few days, before I interrupt them with tank work

 

[GaryE]

We caught large numbers of elephant noses of various species in Gabon. They seemed to hang out alone (one per net) but in dense populations. When we were sharing our fishing spots with local people, we traded them for the fish we wanted. They make good soup, I was told.

They were in quick moving water but usually under overhanging stream vegetation. It's become a thing for old clothes from the west to be donated to poor countries, and it seemed a lot of that clothing became disposable to locals, and ended up in streams close to bridges, where we could access the water. Elephant noses seemed to like shirts and pants as habitats. Clothing snagged on rocks in fast water usually had one elephant nose that could be shaken out.

There's an aquascaping idea!

I got hold of some Microctenopoma congicum and ansorgii for one of my African stream tanks. I'm enjoying that. My Chromidotilapia nana dwarf cichlids went into a breeding tank, where they now have fry, and the gouramis got their spot in a 75. They're busy little options.

 

[Magnum Man]

BTW... with the greater variety of African Tetras available, I've decided to just do a tank of them... no centerpiece fish... as pretty as some of these coming... they won't need a "centerpiece"