Fish From The Amazon River/south America

[heymickey94]

Ok. So I'm having an 11 foot tank made (so space is not a problem) and I am going to stock it with all fish from the Amazon River/South America. I know that I will have stingrays, but I'm thinking about cardinal tetras, angels, discus. DOes anyone have any other suggestions? I am looking for colorful, active fish. And I want a variety some small, some large. Thanks in advance.

 

[andywg]

I am fairly sure all those suggestions will end up as ray food. you need to think quite large fish (12" and above) to be safe from rays.

Also, while length is not an issue, you really need at least 30" (preferably 36") front to back to keep rays.

 

[finchfarm]

I have an Amazonian biotope fishtank myself. First thing I will say is I would not put Angelfish and Cardinal nor Neons in the same tank. In the wild, the Cardinal and other slender-bodied tetras are an Angels natural food. If you got Cardinals and put them with Angels there's a good shot all of the Cardinals would get eaten.

The other comment I'll make is from my experience most Amazonian fish are not colorful....there are exceptions, but most tend to be silver or brown.

As far as other fish from the Amazon, just of the top of my head I think: Pacu, Silver Dollars, Pirannah, almost all tetra species (save for Congo Tetra), almost all Knifefish species, most Plecos, all Corydoras species, all Hatchetfish species, many armored catfishes and other oddities (stingrays, freshwater flounders, ect), come to mind. Of course, many of these may not be suitable for your tank, so I'd do some research.

Currently in my Amazonian tank I have three Silver Dollars, two Angel Fish, one Sailfin Pleco, one Marble Hatchetfish, one Little-Scale Knifefish, and one Black Skirt Tetra.

If you're looking to find more species from the Amazon, or ideas on how to set up the tank to resemble the fishes' natural habitat I'd take a look at www.mongabay.com
Just click where it says "Fish" in the right upper corner and click where it says "Aquarium Biotops". It will give a list of biotopes, how to arrange a tank in that biotope and the families of fish found in that region. If you click on the fish family it will give you a list of the species of fish in that family along with information as to what they eat, how big they get, where they're from, ect.

 

[heymickey94]

I have had tetras with my rays for years with know problems because I keep my rays very well feed. Thanks for all the help. The tank is only 24 inches in width, but I always thought that the minimum tank size to keep small rays in was 6x2x2 (which I would never dream of keeping even scobina rays in). I have all small rays (not scobina though)Thanks. I know I can't have plecs in my tank because they will suck on the rays disk. I've always heard of people keeping discus with stingrays, I didn't know that the discus would get eaten. Silver dollars and pacus sound good, would I be able to keep those with stingrays, i also like knife fish.

 

[CFC]

Heres a link to an old thread about SA biotopes http/www.fishforums.net/index.php?showto...iotope&st=0

 

[andywg]

The 6x2x2 is a minimum but you want the tank to be wider, not longer, when getting a bigger tank.

I am unsure on the discus, but seem to recall some of the ray keepers on here saying it is unwise.

 

[heymickey94]

Thanks. I can't get a tank any wider than 2 feet because it will take up to much room. If the tank is 11 feet long its not cutting into the room as much.

 

[CFC]

If you cant go to at least 30" wide then dont keep rays is the basics of it, with the exception of P.scobina and P14s neither of which has a disc that exceeds 12 inches but are very difficult to come by all other rays will grow to have a disc of at least 18 inches across.

 

[chishnfips]

very intersting thread you posted cfc, you got me thinking about my other tank now, I like the black water idea, saying as its already black water in there hmmmmm