Small Tank, But Love Large Cats :(

[madblue]

I've just decided to set a tank up. I used to keep the big odd balls. I love Clarius, but haven't the room for even one now

The tank I've acquired is, I think a Juwel 80, or Rio 80... It measures 600mm x 300mm x 400mm high and is the biggest I have space for.

As I say I love the large odd balls. I've had African Snakeheads, Big reed fish, a grey reed fish looking thing, but shorter and thicker (Would love to know what this is called if anyone knows), I had a tank of about 6 Clarius, all about 2' in length, a huge Frontosa (he hated my Clarius, but they weren't bothered by him. Had to move him though, he stressed himself too much over them lol), big Parrots, knife fish. The list is endless. But I'm stuck for fish ideas for my small tank. I've never been into community setups. I'm thinking maybe just one reasonably sized oddball that wont out grow the small tank, but will still be eye catching. Maybe a puffer of some sort? Or a Snakehead pair, can you get smaller ones? I really don't know.

Any suggestions would be great.

 

[indigoj]

The smaller reedfish like fish will be a senegal bichir

That tank is pretty small but what about a few dwarf puffer and plant it heavily? I think they need about 5g each so you could have 4 or 5 in there with enough planting and hiding places.

Or go for some sparkling gourami and have a look at khuli loaches (like small eels) and anchor catfish (they reach 2" max.

 

[madblue]

Well, I've been around my local shops today and couldn't find anything to suit my taste. 3 different shops and just a whole load of guppies I wonder if they've all geared down for xmas. My tank's not set up yet anyway, but I was hoping for some sort of inspiration.

I've definitely been thinking about puffers. Are the dwarf puffers also known as pygmy?? If so they're tiny! Cute as they are, not very eye catching. I quite like the idea of a single puffer, or maybe a pair of about 2" in size. Do they go well as pairs?

I like the idea of the snakeheads, read fish and the bichir. I remember I had my bichir a while and it didn't really get too big. Plus they need very little maintenance water condition wise.

 

[indigoj]

that tank is too small for any bichir or reedfish.

where do you live - people here can point you towards decent LFS (local fish shops) near you.

 

[OohFeeshy]

If you can get them, a group of Tatia perugiae would be excellent as bottom dwellers. Small, pretty, similar to quite a few 'big cats' but pocket sized.

 

[Davo86]

How about 2 pairs of ctenopoma ansorgii ?

 

[madblue]

Well, I've managed to get a bigger tank in It's a RIO 125, so just over 27 uk gallons. This time it really is the biggest I can go. So any new suggestions??

Love the look of the Tatia perugiae by the way. Never seen them though, are they hard to come by??

 

[OohFeeshy]

Er, thereoretically not, you should be able to order them from most shops. They're not fish that shops usually buy in, but they aren't super rare either.

 

[madblue]

They kinda remind me of the cuckoo cats. They're cool, but get too big and thrash about the tank too much for mine. Defo fancy a couple of them though, what's their temperament like? I remember my old cuckoos used to do somersaults for hours on end when the lights dimmed of an evening, great cats!

I've got a small Bichir in there at the mo, just cycling the tank. He'll probably outgrow the tank eventually, but my old one stayed about 6" just filled right out.... Hopefully he don't get too big, we'll see. I'm already thinking of a bigger tank, but I think the misses will kick me out! lol I'd love a group of Fontosas! Beautiful fish. But then I'd love a shovelnose and clarius and a snakehead etc etc!! lol Gotta stop searching the web for fish videos!

So any ideas what I can realistically get in the new tank to ease my obsession without overcrowding and stop me getting the boot from the misses?? I'm guessing not much now I've got the Bichir....

 

[meguro]

Had u considered marine or crustaeceans?

 

[madblue]

I did consider marine, but thought better of it. It's too much hassle for me tbh. Not sure my bichir would tollerate crustations for long.