African Community Tank stocking ideas.

[Tool13x]

I am trying to put together a stock list for a 55 gallon community tank and hoping for some input. I already have an Amazon River biotope and I was hoping to do a Congo biotope for this one, or at the very least stick with African species. The tank will be planted, sunken driftwood, and probably some floating plants. Here is a list (and tentative quantity) of species I was considering:

(1) Ctenopoma acutirostre
(Leopard Bushfish)

(pair) Pelvicachromis pulcher
(Kribensis cichlid)

(4) Synodontis nigriventris
Upside-down Catfish

(1) Pantodon buchholzi
African Butterfly Fish

(1) Xenomystus nigri
African Knifefish

(?) Phenacogrammus interruptus
Congo Tetra

These are some possible species that I know I can find locally. Please let me know what you think as far as quantities, additional species that would be a good fit, or if you wouldn't recommend a species I have listed. Tap water parameters can be found in my sig. Thank you!

 

[Colin_T]

The Ctenopoma acutirostre might not get enough food with congo tetras in the tank. The congos might also cause issues to the butterfly fish (Pantodon buchholzi) with food, fin nipping or just stressing it.

There are other Pelvicachroms species like P. subocellatus (from Moanda) and P. taeniatus that are much more attractive than P. pulcher and they are much easier to sell than P. pulcher. However, if you want to breed the Pelvicachromis you should keep them in a tank without knife fish or other big fast moving fishes like the congos that will eat the babies.

 

[Tool13x]

The Ctenopoma acutirostre might not get enough food with congo tetras in the tank. The congos might also cause issues to the butterfly fish (Pantodon buchholzi) with food, fin nipping or just stressing it.

Is there a better schooling fish for this tank that would work better than the Congos? It wouldnt kill me to not have Congos in the tank (especially at $11.99 per fish locally) but Im having trouble coming up with anything else.

There are other Pelvicachroms species like P. subocellatus (from Moanda) and P. taeniatus that are much more attractive than P. pulcher and they are much easier to sell than P. pulcher. However, if you want to breed the Pelvicachromis you should keep them in a tank without knife fish or other big fast moving fishes like the congos that will eat the babies.

Ill keep an eye out for some of the other species, but it will come down to what the LFS has available. I am not planning on breeding the Kribensis at the moment, so hopefuilly the Knifefish wont be a problem.

 

[Colin_T]

The problem with the butterfly fish is they have a big mouth and are slow moving surface dwellers. Anything small enough to not cause a problem could be eaten by the butterfly fish, and anything big enough not to get eaten could stress the butterfly fish.

Diamond tetras or black phantom tetras might be ok with them because they are deep bodied fish and will look less like food, but they are South American not African.

About the only thing I could think of would be some of the bigger killifish but killis are generally short lived and not always easy to get. You can get killifish eggs through the mail but have to hatch them and grow them up. Alternatively contact the local pet shop and see if they can get them in.

Most pet shops don't carry killifish or the more unusual cichlids because they either don't know about the fish or the fish don't sell. If you contact your local pet shop, they should have a list of fish they can get in. They might be able to get the other types of dwarf cichlid in as a special order.