Ideas For A 4 Foot?

[TigerOscar11]

I have personally decided to part with my oscars.
 
I have a 4 foot tank.
 
I want to have a planted tank with a ship or helo in the middle, but are unable to with oscars.
 
I want some ideas as to what could go in the tank as a replacement.
What i want to get needs to be compatible with a synodontis and a bgk
 
Please help me out guys, i love the look of the rainbow fish, and being that i live in AUS, they are easy to get.
Anything around the medium size fish like no more that 6 inches.
 
Thanks Guys

 

[sawickib]

How many gallons is the tank?
 
What species of syno do you like?

 

[noobgamers]

ok what is the gallon and waht is the bgk btw synos are a bit like angels theyre fine with most things as long as you kepp enough fish for them to divide theyre aggresion out on

 

[ShinySideUp]

Idea for a four foot? Get a six foot!
 
Yes I know, not helpful.
 
But then it does give you a lot more option.

 

[Gruntle]

I'd definitely say rainbows but I don't know how well they get along with Ghost Knives and Synos.

 

[TigerOscar11]

80US gallons
75UK
 
Im looking at gettin a 6 ft tank in the near future.
 
im unsure of what type of syno but after lookinf at some pics, he is just a basic syno, not cool patterns just brown
 
would i be better as to just start the whole tank again and try and rehome the terror, bgk and syno?

 

[sawickib]

Im going to say whatever tank it is its to small for a BGK, or adult syno decorus, i have a BGK in a 75 gallon, but im saving up for a bigger tank, 150 gallon+ for him.

You would have more opinions yes, and ignore my post just now, did it at the same time as you.

If you have a picture of the syno we can help you identify it, and see if it is allowed to be housed with more synos.

 

[N0body Of The Goat]

Tank dimensions?
 
The syno needs identifying, there are plenty that need more than a 120x40cm footprint, plus some species are far more community friendly than others. For example, my ~22cm SL S. notatus is a gentle giant while my ~18cm SL S. budgetti is a bit of a rogue. It does not help that there are a lot of hybrids around, making typical behaviour more unpredictable.
 
Many riverine species are rheophilic, in which case all other fish in the tank need to be comfortable with a strong current, for example my ~180x45x40cm "Congo rapids" tank has ~8000lph provided by 3 filters and a single powerhead, stocking...
1x African Butterfly (not rheophilic at all, but filter/powerhead placement in this long tank has created plenty of surface with gentle flow)
3x Leopard Bushfish
1x Distichodus cf. fasciolatus
3x Distichodus altus
1x Xenomystus nigri
1x Synodontis notatus
1x Synodontis budgetti
1x Auchenoglanis spp.
3x Synodontis brichardi
4x Euchilichthys spp.
1x Chrysichthys ornatus
 
If your syno is one that can live in a 120cm tank for life, a group of ~10 Congo Tetras would be a reasonably safe bet.
 
Some synos would treat smaller rainbows as live lunch, while others might be intimidated by the "vulture pack" eating habits of larger rainbows like M. lacustris / M. bosemani / G. incisus.
 
Black Ghost Knife Fish grow into ~50cm adults rapidly (~2 years), when given decent husbandry. They have no place in a 120cm (a baby would need an upgrade within a year) and given their inflexible bodies, they almost need that dimension as a minimum width and height, with at least 300cm tank length. On the flip side, African Brown Knives could live in a decent volume 4-footer for life, they do well to reach 20cm in the hobby (mine is ~14cm).

 

[TigerOscar11]

I am looking at upgradin to a six foot in the near future anyways and i am considering on letting my mumm have the syno (who hides everytime i try and get a photo) and possibly the bgk as i have changed my mind after some research and would like to go with lake malawi cichlids..... I know i am being a pain in the tookis with my mind changing, but i am 99% sure i have my heat set on a malawi tank, i already have the substrate, rocks, plants (i know they dont normally have any, but i would like a few) and what fish i want (electric yellows, blues, red rubins etc)
 
I have a local breeder that is selling a bunch really cheap too.
 
would there be much point in setting up a journal on here so people can follow when i decide to set it up, i dont think i would have to worry about re-establishing the tank, as i will be using filters from an already established setup. (same tank actually)
 
Also, when i get my 6ft, what is a fast way to establish a tank? I want to use two filter products called Matrix and Purigen by Seachem. ( i know about 5 people that use it and they say its the best they have used, and water is crystal clear)
Can i just pour some of the water out of my already established filters into the new ones? mabye even rinse my established filters into the new tank so it goes through the filtration system?
 
I personally have no idea if the above will work, these are just things off the top of my head...
 
Thank you all for your comments i appreciate the input, and when i get the chance i will upload a photo of y syno for ID (all i know is e is really placid)

 

[ShinySideUp]

Re: A new six foot tank:
 
Just rinsing your old media in the new tank water wouldn't achieve much. Ifyou are discontinuing your old tank then you should put all your old media in the new tank along with a lot of it's water (althoug the latter is not essential). So long as you don't increase your fish stock straight away you will be able to move all your fish over immediately without any cycling. Since your new filter will be bigger you will have a mix of old and new media and over time the bacteria will move through all the media; you can start to increase your stock immediately but slowly at first. If you are not closing down your old tank then you can move half the media but only half the fish (the front halves -- joking, I'm just joking).
 
I don't know about Matrix but I have used Purigen in the past and indeed it works very well, at first. I found that it's clear water qualities didn't last much over two weeks and stopped using it as it is stupidly expensive.

 

[TigerOscar11]

I heard the same thing about purigen, but apparently with matrix, they can both last upto 6-8 months before needing to be replaced.
Not sure if true, but what i heard.
Are there inexpensive ways for clear water without chemicals?
 
I also managed to get some photos of my syno, they are not very good as he is apparently camera shy, but i have 3 that should give a good indication of what sort he is.
 

 
And i have to put this one in, because while i was trying to take the photo, my angel decided to photobomb and pull a face
 

 

[sawickib]

U have wat looks like a featherfin, or i think erurputus syno dont remeber the spelling though haha, i think its best to leave him as the only syno in the tank.

 

[TigerOscar11]

I wasnt looking at getting any other synos anyways haha.
Had him since he was tiny, and he has never been aggressive towards any other fish