What Goes In With My Oddballs?

[Gankutsuou]

Most people here ask what oddballs can go in with their tank....

I'm asking what goes in with my oddballs

Got a 3 foot long 38 gallon cherry wood tank. Two more weeks and it'll be done cycling.


On hold in the 10 gallon is an Albino Senegal Bichir, as well as 2 Peacock eels.

I figure "Okay... these guys get along.... they're peaceful with fish too big to get in their mouths..."

But what fish would go nicely with them? I'm trying to figure it out!

Yellow labs? Convicts? A pair of Angels and some specialty pleco? (my best option so far that I've come up with)

I guess people usually ask what oddballs to put....

 

[spAcE mOnkEy]

No labs or convicts, they will breed. When i had a pair of convicts in my 55 gal they bred constantly and kept all the fish including a senegal bichir, on the other side of the tank. The plecos suck on the slime coat of bichirs, as well as gars. Something to do with their ganoid scales. But, NOT ALL plecos do this, i had one with my senegal and he sucked the coat off, as a result the bichir got an infection on his head. He is better now though, because that was about 2 years ago.
I think you can do angels, but only a couple or one. There is a possibility that the angels will pair up and attack everything else in the tank. You could do african butterfly fish, they are cool, and maybe nandus nandus or a spotted leaf fish( i forgot scientific name).

What are the dimentions of the tank? Im not sure if you could do nandus nandus or the leaf fish if its too short.

 

[Dwarfs]

Don't get a leaf fish, if that kind of fish interests you, get a couple of Ctenopoma acutirostre, or leopard bushfish. Leaf fish don't eat dry/nonliving food, and will become problematic at feeding time. However, the Ctenopoma will eat most food once it is adjusted to its environment.

African butterfly fish
Purple spotted gudgeons
Brown knife fish (Xenomystus nigri)
^^^^
All of those do very well with bichirs IME and should also do fine with the eels too

BTW, you should probably upgrade to a four foot tank in the future, if/when the bichir starts to get too big for the tank

 

[Gankutsuou]

I've heard many arguements on the 3 Ft VS 4ft on the bichirs.....

And Preatty much, the three foot won by expertise by what one of the board members had them in. Thanks for the advice though

The brown african knife intrests me too. They get to 10 inches.....

How would....

2x peacock eel
1x Albino Senegal
2x Angel (or 1x, depending. Maybe none)
1x African Brown knife

Would that work it?

And yes, it's 3 ft by 1 foot long by 1 1/2 foot tall. I know it's the minimum requirement....

But... trust me... If i get a chance to get a bigger tank... It's mine

(unlikely untill about 10 years, but I can try....)

edit:

Also it's said that bichirs rarely get over 10 inches, average is 8 inches, and a foot is very rare. Perhaps it's the area? I'm unsure.

Same With peacocks. Apparently they haven't seen any over 10 inches in my area. And I do agree, the max is the MAX. Average is much more common.... Dunno.

 

[spAcE mOnkEy]

Don't get a leaf fish, if that kind of fish interests you, get a couple of Ctenopoma acutirostre, or leopard bushfish. Leaf fish don't eat dry/nonliving food, and will become problematic at feeding time. However, the Ctenopoma will eat most food once it is adjusted to its environment.

I wasnt telling him to get one of the real SA leaf fish, i was trying to tell him to get the leopard bushfish. I just forgot the name, they have lots of common names(confusing!) Arent Ctenopoma also called spotted climbing perch? Whats the species name for the leopard bushfish?

 

[Gankutsuou]

no Idea, But i'm really looking for something more so Under 30 dollars (that's what leafs sell for here)

But I have the Idea that I'll probably be stuck with angels.....

Would A single angel/Pair cause any problems with the African Brown knife? The Brown Knife intrests me a lot now....

 

[§tudz]

you could try some of the synodontis species, I keep my to sengalus' with an L001, a Syno' and a clownloach.

Basically anything that is too big for the other fish to eat and that is peaceful with do fine.

I've kept them with tiger barbs, talking catfish, and yoyo loaches. with no problems. I did have two 3" pleties with them too, but one of them went missing

the other was sold, along with my talking catfish, tiger barb and yoyo loaches.

As for keeping a pair of senegalus as long as they are relatively simialr sizes you shouldn't have problems.

Mine were the same size, but the female is now 1-2" bigger than the male. she is vicous to me as well, always want to eat my fingers when I hand feed them

great fish though

 

[Gankutsuou]

I'm not that worried about the Senegal being harmed by something like that........ more worried about him harming something

I'd like to know more on how the angels would treat the eels and senegal, as well as if an African brown knife would be okay with angels, the peacock eels, and the angels. because i think my final plan would be...

2x Angel
1x African Brown Knife
2x Peacock Eel
1x Albino Senegal bichir.

As I already have the Eels and bichir, I'm wondering how the angel and knife will mix in, and if those two are compatibile with first those things, and then each other.

 

[§tudz]

birchir aren't hunters, they are opportunistic canivores.
the angels may end up being lunch for the senegalus

 

[Gankutsuou]

The bichir is startin about 5 inches


I could get anywhere from juvy angels to full sized.... So He wont be able to eat them if i got the full sized...

But how about The african brown knife. No problems there?

 

[Nevergone815]

personally i'm not an angel fan so i cant answer with that one lol. i prefer cichlids and cichlid hybrids. as for the african brown knife, i don't see a problem. the research i've done on them says nothing bad. and the set up sounds awsome btw. it makes me wonder if somehow down the line can i get some peacock eels for myself to put in my tank... hmm we'll have to see after my BGK gets settled in how it all works out.

 

[jayjay]

personally i'm not an angel fan so i cant answer with that one lol. i prefer cichlids and cichlid hybrids.

So what are angels then if their not cichlids anymore?

 

[Nevergone815]

personally i'm not an angel fan so i cant answer with that one lol. i prefer cichlids and cichlid hybrids.

So what are angels then if their not cichlids anymore?

ok yeah i worded that wrong lol. idk, like i prefer jack dempseys, oscars, convicts, severums and cichlids like that. i'm not going to say new world cichlids because angels are that too. i don't know much about africans, but i like jsut about every other cichlid but angels for some reason. and i keep forgetting they are cichlids. i know sad isn't it?

i just dont like angels and the body type and stuff. i prefer like the longer bodies, angels are taller. i dont know if i'm even wording this right. hopefully you get what i'm saying. again i don't know why but i just dont. but each to their own right? angels will work in the set up i don't know what else to suggest though.

i really don't know what i was thinking when i said that... that's it i wasn't thinking... lol

edit: spelling and typos

 

[§tudz]

I'm not a fan of angels either, they look nice when young but tend to become ragged and worn looking when older.

I think you need to find out more about the knife fish, as I know these can be very shy and skitish. Where as Senegalus are very active and dive round the tank like they have a rocket attached to them, which can spook other fish, even my CL gets a little freaked out at times by them,

 

[OohFeeshy]

I wouldn't bother with two angels, if they get nasty to each other you're stuffed, as you are if they're m/fm and breed. Mebbe swap one for a group of something biggish, like congo tetras, larger barbs, or something.