Dither/tank Mate Ideas For Keith And Frank

[mattlee]

as a few of you will already know i am moving my stock around hopefully tomorrow to a more suitable mix of fish.

in my 5x2x2 i will have -

1 x oscar (keith)
1 x TSN X RTC (frank)
1 x megalodoras catfish
1 x banded headstander
1 x BGK

i have been thinking of what i can put in with these that wont get eaten by frank or killed by keith!

as the cats and bgk will more than probably hide away most of the time it will be a decent sized tank with an oscar and a banded headstander on view hence the reason to add a small group to fill it up a bit.

the problems i have are that keith will attack and kill anything over the 5 inch mark, he has already killed a 9 inch GT and battered another oscar..... the other issue i have is that frank my tsn x rtc has eaten one of my 4.5 inch barbs so i cant have anything too small..... this is the reason for the change around.

something deep bodied springs to mind but all i can think of are silver dollars and tinfoil barbs

any other suggestions would be gratefull.

 

[GShorty1981]

Silver Dollars, they are fast, big (and grow very fast) and have great personality

 

[fishyfeet]

DANIOS

 

[mattlee]

Silver Dollars, they are fast, big (and grow very fast) and have great personality

this was my first thought along with tinfoil barbs but wondered if there was anything else i couldnt think of....

DANIOS

i dont think they would last long tbh

 

[holidayinn]

Not really much else if O has attained full size...possibly full size filament barbs?

 

[GShorty1981]

I would't add Tinfoil barbs, they are poop machines, they are boistrous eaters that need to eat as much as the Oscar and much faster than the oscar they also get just as big as an O taking up loads of the bioload.

standard Silver Dollars are great, they don't get that big, they are so dumb its great to watch them, they to are fast eaters but don't eat as much as an O, they are like fishy Homer Simpsons, when i used to have a small group i used to watch them for hours, there stupidty is so entertaining, and Oscar couldnt eat one because they are so big and they are 10x faster than an O.

Also the way the light reflects off of them looks great, plus they are cheap.

Barbs and Danios are all torpedo shaped so they are a risk.

 

[minnnt]

I would also say Silver Dollars... But, imo, they're fugly! I don't think you would be very happy with them after being used to looking at your pretty Barbs. Obviously you may feel different though... And, everytime i see them in the LFS they're always aggressive with each other.

Also, the Tin Foils get HUUUUUGE so would probably be at risk from a battering from Keith?

 

[GShorty1981]

they deffo not ugly imo.

 

[mattlee]

yeah im not tinfoil barbs biggest fan it was just something i could think of.

silver dollars i dont mind but trying to find a group at a big enough size to cope might be a mission.... my only concern is that when Frank gets a bit bigger he might eat them

i dont know if a couple of decent sized severums would work i do have a soft spot for these.......

 

[minnnt]

Wharf have got adults in...

Also found somewhere that stocks Flowerhorns

 

[Wills]

What about Spotty Silver Dollars? Nice looking and one of the smaller species of Dollar but nice and round so Frank might not go for them as food.

An odd option could be to get some convicts or the like breeding and throw in the young - sell in larger "survivors" to shops etc. The hope with this being that he focuses on the young cons as easy food and leaves the actual dithers alone? Bit harsh but at the end of the day Frank is a cross of 2 predators/detritavors.

Wills

 

[Davo86]

Hujeta Gars could work if you can find them big enough

or a group of big clown loach

 

[mattlee]

Wharf have got adults in...

Also found somewhere that stocks Flowerhorns

what type do they have?

i actually went back to look at the flowerhorn near me but it had been sold and they had replaced it with a smaller tatty not very colourfull one at the same price! although i think a FH might send Keith to an early grave when it gets bigger.....

 

[minnnt]

I was going to suggest the spotted ones, but didn't think they would get big enough?

 

[mattlee]

What about Spotty Silver Dollars? Nice looking and one of the smaller species of Dollar but nice and round so Frank might not go for them as food.

An odd option could be to get some convicts or the like breeding and throw in the young - sell in larger "survivors" to shops etc. The hope with this being that he focuses on the young cons as easy food and leaves the actual dithers alone? Bit harsh but at the end of the day Frank is a cross of 2 predators/detritavors.

Wills

thats actually not a bad idea wills.

my only worry would be when Frank gets a bit bigger and doesnt bother with the fry etc as food as they arent worth the chase. the parents would become lunch