Hoplias Malabaricus - Too Big For 35g Tank?

[simonas]

I suspect I know the answer to this. I've seen a couple local to me on aquarist ads. i've always been intrigued by space monkeys and kewskills pics of these. I understand they need to be kept on their own and I've seen them refered to as motionless almost. would a 35g tank be big enough to keep one in. 36 long and about 17 wide plus quite a tall tank?

If not I may be able to shuffle would a 48 inch suffice

last question and I suppose there is no definative answer other than trial and error, a cobra pike 8 inches long and growing and the wolffish bad idea?

 

[nmonks]

No chance. Hoplias malabaricus gets to almost 50 cm in length and weighs around 3 kilos. Oddly enough, though being notoriously hardy in the wild, they are somewhat delicate in captivity. So a big tank with good filtration is the order of the day.

They're far too aggressive to mix with anything. I know people try, especially with youngsters, but in the long term this usually doesn't seem to work out well.

If you want a "small" monster, then I'd heartily recommend something like Channa asiatica or some other small, relatively docile snakehead. They're easy to keep (provided they don't jump out) and at least some species are good community fish. My experience with Channa asiatica is that it is a complete pussy cat when kept with fish of comparable size, like plecs and spiny eels.

Cheers, Neale

 

[simonas]

No chance. Hoplias malabaricus gets to almost 50 cm in length and weighs around 3 kilos. Oddly enough, though being notoriously hardy in the wild, they are somewhat delicate in captivity. So a big tank with good filtration is the order of the day.

They're far too aggressive to mix with anything. I know people try, especially with youngsters, but in the long term this usually doesn't seem to work out well.

If you want a "small" monster, then I'd heartily recommend something like Channa asiatica or some other small, relatively docile snakehead. They're easy to keep (provided they don't jump out) and at least some species are good community fish. My experience with Channa asiatica is that it is a complete pussy cat when kept with fish of comparable size, like plecs and spiny eels.

Cheers, Neale

cheers Neale I suspected so to be honest.

I've got channa Orientalis at the moment and just ordered some Pulchra so I'm getting into my Channas and hope to breed them if I can