The Oddestball Tank Ever!

[lozronz]

Hi,

I have set myself a bit of a brief that I was hoping for a hand with-

I have a space by my front door that is just crying out for a tank... and I was thinking- I really want to create a tank with the wierdest set of creatures I can find, I don't mean for people in the hobby, like rare L numbers or anything, I mean to your average person who expects Neons, Guppies, Angel fish to live in a tank.

You know? so that people walk in the door and are like "What the F&*k is in there?? To try to broaden peoples horizons as to what can go into a tank.

First of all I thought of just getting an Axolotl(sp?) but thats too easy.

I have the startings of the collection in various tanks around the place, so far I was thinking-

CRITTERS
3 Vampire Shrimp (I found these the other day I'v been looking for ages, they are awsome)
1 Golden clam
1 Tropical Mussel
3 Horse Shoe Nerites
4 Aquatic Dwarf Frogs
2 Red Bellied Newts ( I know nothing about these would have to do the research)
Any other wierd critters anyone can think of??

FISH
4 Glass Catfish
4 Java Loach
3 Khuli Loach
2 Banjo Cat
4 Hatchet Fish

I'm really struggling with the fish, I don't want anything too aggressive, I love knife fish but not for this tank, no elephant noses, no butterfly fish.

Help! I'm trying to think of the wierdest looking fish in the industry that will all get on but make for the strangest looking collection. any ideas? Or forseable problems with the list so far???

Cheers

 

[lisa_perry75]

People that expect neons would generally be surprised at
Red clawed crabs, blue crayfish, rainbow crabs, mountain shrimp, apple snails (big adult ones), and algae shrimp.

Believe me I work in a LFS!

What about musk turtles? eely things like spiney eels seem to confound them too...

Bumblebee nerites?

These people need to be shaken! Broaden their horizons? Their idea of going crazy is to go for cardinals rather than actual neons

Sorry guys, hard day at the office lol

 

[lozronz]

Definatley Bumblebe Nerites, I would be worried about crabs or lobsters with ADFs.

Is there any very community Gobies or eels with managiable water needs? I once saw (what were labelled as) Glass eels a the LFS but I believe they are all wild caught, quite endangered and I couldn't find inf on keeping them so I left them but I kind of regret it cos I havent seen them since and they looked awsome and apparently very community.

The other trouble I am finding is that quite alot of the wierder looking fish are nocturnal and I don't really want an appearingly empty tank all day.

 

[dizzied]

Dwarf Crayfish, Freshwater Blenny, Glassfish, Butterflyfish. Though I'm not sure how compatible they'd be with your current list. There's also more nerite snails that can acclimate to freshwater, though the horsehoe and bumblebee would probably top that list in terms of "odd". The zebra nerites are pretty cool-looking though.

There's two things that might cause a problem: I'm not 100% sure, but I think mussels release parasitic larvae to reproduce. Also, the fish on your list like lower PH, and some of the inverts need higher PH.

 

[lozronz]

I love the idea of a fresh water blenny , I didn't know they existed.
I'm really struggling finding anything out about them in the aquarium trade, from googling they appear to be protected but I only have one latin name to go by at the moment 'Salaria fluviatilis' is this not the one?

Any info would be greatly appreciated.

It looks like I would have to rethink the other creatures at a guess but thats cool.

Are they true Fresh water or brackish?

Another one that I saw years ago and would love to try my hand at is fresh water flounder but I havent seen them for ages and I thought I remember reading somewhere that they were actually brackish.

 

[SamUK]

need to kno the tank size before reccomending fish really.....

 

[lozronz]

Havent bought the tank yet, I have the space for up to about 5ft so somewhere between 3&5 I spose.

 

[CAC]

You could go with bichirs, but that means less of those inverts...
Peacock spiny eels....
Trachycorydtas trachycorystes? <<< Best looking fish ive seen, and they get pretty big...
Are you in the UK? If so, your going to have to think, where can i get these fish...Cos its all well talking of getting these things, but actually aquireing them over here in england, can be quite a challenge in its self

Mikey

 

[nmonks]

The idea of a tank where freshwater inverts are the focus is a great one. But, there are some issues:

Bivalves (clams and mussels) are very difficult to keep alive in aquarium unless you create one specifically for them. Do-able, but not something easily mixed with other species. I've written about the issues on another thread.

Not all nerites are freshwater, and some need brackish. Identifying them is an absolute pain. I'd assume all need hard and alkaline water at the least, given the group is basically marine in origin. So while fine with livebearers, where adding salt or raising hardness is no big deal, with characins and loaches, this isn't so easy.

Frogs seem to be okay with fish, but making sure they get enough food is said to be tricky. I'd have though red-bellied news would eat (or at least outcompete) African dwarf frogs, but have no evidence either way.

Personally, I think inverts are best alone. Then you can have a 10-20 gallon tank on a windowsill where you can let the algae grow. Then you can keep ostracods, planarians, and those sorts of little beasts that would otherwise be eaten.

Cheers,

Neale

PS. Re: freshwater blennies. There are two in the hobby. One is from Vietnam, Omobranchus zebra, and really is a brackish water species. The other is a coldwater European species, Salaria fluviatilis, that lives in mountain streams. Neither is really viable in a standard freshwater tropical tank.

 

[dizzied]

One more I thought of - the blind cave tetra.

I think the one golden clam should be okay. The thing I would worry about would be the vampire shrimp outcompeting the clam for food.

I don't think any nerites are freshwater actually. Most of the "freshwater nerites" are probably brackish, although they seem to do better in freshwater than something like a fiddler crab would.

As for the blenny, the one I was looking at was actually petroskirtes heyligeri, which might actually be brackish. There seems to be a lot more non-saltwater blennies than the three mentioned, but they probably aren't all too common in the aquarium trade.

I'd love to see how this tank turns out. You could probably freak houseguests out with it.

 

[kubora666]

how about you go brackisch and you get mudskippers XD
and archer fish etc, they are very interesting and odd

 

[nmonks]

One more I thought of - the blind cave tetra.

Good call. I've seen very cool "cave" tanks with black sand and slate, with cave tetras and various small catfish. Illumination using a pale red "gro lux" light. Looks very nice. A fun alternative to the usual tank.

As for the blenny, the one I was looking at was actually petroskirtes heyligeri, which might actually be brackish. There seems to be a lot more non-saltwater blennies than the three mentioned, but they probably aren't all too common in the aquarium trade.

Never seen this species traded (apparently called Phenablennius heyligeri by Fishbase), though I note that Franks Aquarium has sold them (though not at the moment). In the UK, the freshwater blennies are the two I mentioned earlier. Blennies can be great aquarium fish -- I've kept the coldwater marine species known as the shanny, Lipophrys pholis. Tough as old boots, and even comes out on land.

To be honest though, without researching a blenny and positively identifying it first, I'd assume any species offered for sale is brackish water. Phenablennius heyligeri itself would seem to be brackish (or at least migratory in and out of freshwater) rather than a true freshwater fish.

 

[FroggFrogg]

I very briefly owned a blenny. It was a rescue attempt but the poor thing was past saving
However i kept it in freshwater for the 2 days i had it. Interesting fish if you can find them...

 

[joloco]

neon gobi....

although they just seem to sit there - not really sure how interesting they would be

 

[lozronz]

Thanks for all the advice,
There are certainly some options I would not have thought of, from the posts and googling so far I have kind of come to the the concusion that, Clams v.s Vampire shrimp- Sounds like vampire shrimp are the way forwards plus I already have them.

Blennies look like really interesting fish but hard to get hold of, hard to keep stuff with and very shy, I wouldn't want to set up a tank especially for a fish that I would never see.

The frogs I am happy to put in, I have four (2 ADF's 2 ACF's) in various tanks so far and I have only had a problem with one looking skinny so far so I put him in my little emergency tank and fed him by himself for a fortnight now he seems to be able to look after himself.

Glass Fish and Cave fish might be an interesting addition to the tank.

I like the Idea of a cave tank, is there any claylike subsances that I could mould into my own shapes and kind of build up around the sides and back with a few false stalagmites throughout? That would be awsome.
a few dim red LED's in the back of little caves, some carpeted Java moss or Riccia. It sounds a bit Goth but thats cool. I already have a tank with welsh slate but I went for red substrate http/www.fishforums.net/index.php?showtopic=163651

I'm getting carried away but I need a pretty full on project at the moment, I gave up the sauce and fags three weeks ago!!

What about some kind of gentle giant specimen fish that would initially draw the eye?? any suggestions??