African Species?

[Naringlo]

Hello,
 
I'm looking in to an African Biotope (excluding cichlids, killifish and barbs).
 
Just wondering if anyone knew of any as I've been looking for a while and can't find any. 
 
Any fish, shrimp or snails would be great.
 
Thanks!

 

[nellynelly]

theres lots, depends tank size and what sort your after ie little, medium,big?

 

[greenmumma141]

feathfin catfish are pretty cool fish.
 
http/www.aquariumlife.net/profiles/african-catfish/featherfin-catfish/100062.asp


if you have a big enough tank that is

 

[Naringlo]

Ah yes, I should have specified. It's for a 35L 40cmX28cmX33cm. So yes, small fish/snails/inverts.

 

[greenmumma141]

there's the african dwarf frog.

 

[Naringlo]

Haha, that's perfect. Fairly easy to keep as well in my experience. Thanks!

 

[nellynelly]

Killifish from west africa are georgeous

 

[Naringlo]

Yeah I agree. I actually plan on keeping them. I was looking for tank mates.

 

[N0body Of The Goat]

I'm a bit of an African riverine nutcase, some might say and the only African fish I can think of that is borderline suitable would be 6-8 Microsynodontis sp. 1. These catfish are a lovely little ~2cm SL species that will be active by day and use midwater too, providing you give them a decent cover of say a nice Anubias coffeefolia plant attached to some bogwood.
 
There are very few small African species that come into the hobby, the most common would be the variants of Lampeye Killifish, but there is no way I would put them in such a small tank. A 40x28x33cm tank is tiny, it can turn into a toxic soup rapidly and it gives the fish very little room to move in. In addition, some small species do exhibit nasty conspecific aggression between males, for example Sawbwa resplendens (not from Africa) and Barbus faciolatus (which is African, but reaches ~6cm SL).
 
One word of warning regarding African shrimp, do not buy Cameroon Fan Shrimp (Atya gambonensis) for that tank... Any babies you come across in shops turn into ~15cm specimens.

 

[Naringlo]

Yeah I didn't think so, those cameroon fan shrimp look fairly big to begin with, especially when put next to common shrimp. Having so little room for an African biotope isn't really working out for my plans. May just not do a biotope and make a really nice mixture of plants and small fish. I'm hoping that the TetraTec Ex 400 will help me with not turning the tank toxic since it is a great deal larger than a small 5w internal filter.
 
Thanks for your help!

 

[greenmumma141]

i had a tank around the same size for about 6 months, there's a lot you can with it, especially with a good filter  you can make a big statement in a tank that small, and going heavily planted is cheap.  I would really think about the scape you want to do. Then you can think about the fish as you go, and you can always have some brightly colored shrimp and a small school of a smaller fish, and some pygmy cories.  You can do it

 

[Naringlo]

I plan on planting heavily. I love planted nano tanks! I think if I'm not doing an african biotope, I think I have an idea of what to do.

 

[greenmumma141]

i love the planted nanos too. I want one lol. the african biotype was a good idea though, maybe in the future with a bigger tank. i have many "future" tanks too