Predatory Fish

[mackay55]

Hi I'm looking for a predatory fish for my new tank (juwel rio 300) I would like just one large fish or a pair of fish.i would like a fish that its bloodworms and other live food. Any sergestions on what fish to get will be great thx

 

[dbanner]

You have a lot of options in a rio 300, I take it its the new rio 300 so will be 350litres and not the older 300 litre?

It depends what kind of fish you were after as there are lots that come under the "predatory" title.

You got Central and South American cichlids.. Some off which are crazy aggressive and will not take too kindly do tank mates like the Flowerhorn.I have one in rio 400 and can't add anything with him, although he's currently in a 150 litre temp until I rehome the dovii (I took it away from my cousin as he was going to flush it down the tiolet). Or a red devil? A pair of jack dempseys? Or green terrors?

Or you could get smaller types of catfish possibly, rainbow snakeheads (dwarf snakeheads)? You could buy a group of around 6 and then wait for 2 to pair up and then rehome the other 4. Then there are birchirs?... This is just to name a few. It's really down to what type of fish you want.

When you said you want it to take "bloodworm and other live food"... What did you mean by "other live food"? If you meant feeder fish then I would not recommend it to any fish. Feeder fish have next to no nutritional value to predatory fish and may carry diseases that can be passed on.

The predatory fish that iv had like cichlids, Lima shovelnose, bichirs, dwarf snakeheads and piranhas have all been fed on mainly a good pellet and then things like frozen or live bloodworm, brine shrimp, krill a couple of times a week then frozen market prawns mate once or twice a week and occasionally frozen fish (smelt... my lima and bichirs loved them) I also gave my piranhas a frozen pinky mouse like once a week. All my fish have been well with no diseases on what iv fed

 

[josh_g]

What about one of the smaller species of Wolf Fish

 

[dbanner]

You may well get away with a hoplias malabaricus (wolf fish) They get large, around 2 feet but they don't really move a lot so you don't need huge tanks for them. I was looking at getting one for my Rio 400 before I got my flowerhorn but decided against it after I was told they don't really do much. They are impressive at feeding time though

 

[thereverendturtle]

I think you should get dbanner's dovii.

 

[dbanner]

I think you should get dbanner's dovii.

Haha I think not my friend. I'm growing very attached to this dovii

 

[mackay55]

By live foods I meant like live bloodworms and other insects I like the flowerhorn and the jack Dempsey and I also like the Oscar fish do you think the length is to small (juwel rio 350l 4ft) any more sergestions like theses fish will be great full

 

[dbanner]

By live foods I meant like live bloodworms and other insects I like the flowerhorn and the jack Dempsey and I also like the Oscar fish do you think the length is to small (juwel rio 350l 4ft) any more sergestions like theses fish will be great full

Ah right, my dovii and flowerhorn love live bloodworm (as well as frozen)

A juwel 300 would be fine for a jack Dempsey, flowerhorn or Oscar.. Obviously not all 3 together but you could have any of them alone. Or you could have a pair of jack dempseys or a pair of green terrors

Basically you could have any single cichlid that would get to around 10-12 inches max in a tank of that size. Or even 2 but no more than that.

You could also get any one of these cichlids and then maybe a bichir to patrol the bottom of the tank. Just make sure you have sand substrate as bichirs can and most likely will try and eat gravel which will get stuck in their throats

 

[Skal]

I think you would like an Oscar cichlid they are awesome! You can feed them entirely bloodworms, goldfish and other fish, beef, shrimp,or if you are busy you can feed them pellets too. However, they can get large depends on the size of your tank, but a 30 gallon could easily hold one comfortably for it's whole life. Just as an example I have heard of oscars reaching 22 inches in length. Some other things that make oscars great are they are extremely smart fast, and are very healthy beautiful fish.

Hope This helps

 

[T-RightFish71196]

You mentioned a wolf fish.... there is a smaller variant known as the red wolf fish. It is more visually appealing than the common wolf fish and is better suited to a tank of your size as it only grows to 8-10 inches.

Perhaps one of those and 2 senegal bichirs? Both are predatory and very interesting!

Just an idea.........

 

[dbanner]

I think you would like an Oscar cichlid they are awesome! You can feed them entirely bloodworms, goldfish and other fish, beef, shrimp,or if you are busy you can feed them pellets too. However, they can get large depends on the size of your tank, but a 30 gallon could easily hold one comfortably for it's whole life. Just as an example I have heard of oscars reaching 22 inches in length. Some other things that make oscars great are they are extremely smart fast, and are very healthy beautiful fish.

Hope This helps

You CAN feed Oscars Goldfish or other fish but its not advised. Saying that its not advised to feed ANY fish live foods such as other fish. This is for a few reasons... 1 being that live food has little or no nutritional value to your Oscar (or any other fish) so a good quality cichlid pellet fed daily supplemented with bloodworm as a treat say once a week is far better. Reason number 2 is that "feeder fish" could be carrying a disease and if you feed that fish to your Oscar (or other fish) then that disease can get passed to them.

Also your size reference of oscars is waaaay out. Typically an Oscar will only get to 14-16 inches in a home aquarium... Not 22 inches. Male dovii's only get around 22 inches and they are the biggest and meanest cichlids out there... Trust me, iv owned 2.

Having said that, even if they do only reach 14-16 inches that's still far too big for any 30gal tank. The minimum tank size for a single Oscar is 55gallons but personally I wouldn't put 1 in anything less than a 75gal. Again I'm speaking from experience as iv owned 4 oscars (not all at once) of various size. A 30gal will only be ok for a cichlid (or similar) that gets to a maximum size of say 6-8inches. Oscars also need huge filtration as they are very messy fish and produce a lot of waste. Ideally they need a flow of around 8-10x the tanks water volume.

 

[dbanner]

You mentioned a wolf fish.... there is a smaller variant known as the red wolf fish. It is more visually appealing than the common wolf fish and is better suited to a tank of your size as it only grows to 8-10 inches.

Perhaps one of those and 2 senegal bichirs? Both are predatory and very interesting!

Just an idea.........

Your idea of the red wolf fish is good but although they are indeed smaller the OP could have either 1 in a 350 litre due to the lack of activity/moving around from a wolf fish.

I wouldn't advise putting any other fish with a wolf fish though and you was to do so then it would be at the owners risk. I especially wouldn't but any bottom dwellers like bichirs with a wolf as the wolf also spends most of its time on the bottom as well so it might see bichirs as a threat and attack them.

 

[T-RightFish71196]

Oh right, of course. my mistake, thinking about it bichirs may not be such a good idea; however i personally don't think the rio 300 is big enough for a common wolf fish. It may be an inactive fish but it is still half the length of that tank, IMO for enormous fish, you need enormous tanks.... saying that though, your the experts and know what your talking about, thats just my opinion.

Also have you considered keeping gars instead

 

[josh_g]

What about a few freshwater pipe fish they are awesome. Not really predatory but something a little different

 

[dbanner]

Oh right, of course. my mistake, thinking about it bichirs may not be such a good idea; however i personally don't think the rio 300 is big enough for a common wolf fish. It may be an inactive fish but it is still half the length of that tank, IMO for enormous fish, you need enormous tanks.... saying that though, your the experts and know what your talking about, thats just my opinion.

Also have you considered keeping gars instead

Gars would be a worse option. Even the smallest type of gar would need a tank of around 6ft as they are very fast and active swimmers. I can see what your getting at with the size of a wolf fish and the tank but really once these fish get to around 12inches they just don't move lol well, they do at feeding time but that's about it yes a bigger tank is considered "better" but then you could say that for every fish.

Like I said I was going to get a common wolf for my rio 400 but the lack of activity really but me off. Lets just say iv seen my rocks move more than a wolf would