Anyone know of a large Fish...

[StingrayKid]

Does anyone know of a large fish that can live happily in a 55 gallon with two Ropefish and a Senegal Birchir? (Polypterus senegalus senegalus) I'm really stumped here, and when I asked a LFS guy he didn't know of any.(Imagine that ) Oh, and I want sand for this tank and theres a nearby dried up pond. Do you think sand from there would be safe? Thanks!

 

[MasterDrummer]

I would,'t use the sand from the pond its probally really dirty, but you can try washing it to see if it would work before buying some

 

[fufanu360]

an oscar might be okay if ur lucky, or aaaa ummmm severum would do good

 

[endparenthesis]

You can get 50 pounds of play sand for around $5.

 

[StingrayKid]

Play sand sounds good, isn't it really dirty though? And an Oscar will be too big for a 55, wouldn't it? I think I might go for Servums...

 

[StingrayKid]

Actually, would a Blood Parrot be okay in there?

 

[fishdudein]

A friend of mine had a Senegal bichir. Not sure if I would go for this combo, but he had 2 yellow labidochromis (Malawi cichlids), a green severum, and an archer. Yellow labs are African cichlids, severum is New World cichlid, archers are brackish (correct me if I'm wrong on that one)---what an odd assortment, I know, but with plenty of rocks, caves, and driftwood all got along "fairly" well for many years.

edit...I would absolutely stay away from sand from a pond. Many "critters" have eggs that lay dormant in the sand, hatch out during next heavy rainfall (or upon being added to your aquarium). Don't risk it. Play sand is cheap but dirty, need to do a lot of rinsing in small batches. Pool filter sand would be better, many of the impurities and clouding agents are removed. Costs a little more than play sand, choice is yours.

 

[StingrayKid]

What's pool filter sand?

 

[fishdudein]

Pool filter sand is sand that goes inside a canister-type filter for a swimming pool. Since it is made for keeping pools clean it is necessarily cleaner (no sense filtering your pool water through dirty sand). Most places that stock pool supplies will carry it. This is something I am preparing to get into myself, so I can't give you a price range yet, but from what I have heard it is more expensive than play sand. At $4 to $5 a bag, play sand is pretty cheap, so even if it is more expensive than play sand, that may not necessarily make it an expensive alternative.

 

[FrankSlapperinni]

Actually, would a Blood Parrot be okay in there?

It would probably be Okay, but you do realize that Blood Parrot's are not only severely deformed from hybridizing, but also dyed, correct? If not, you may want to read the article at the top of the page, and stay away from them. Your choice though.

Play sand sounds good, isn't it really dirty though

At a hardware store you can buy something called Maison sand. It is exactly the same as play sand, but it is cleaned before being bagged, and has no dust and dirt in it.