Someone Please Enlighten Me

[the_evil_duboisi]

First, this is something I will never be able to pull off, so don't worry. Just curious.

I was just wondering if this could be done, in a tank that would be about 150 gallons+.

Could the giraffe catfish, Auchenoglanis occidentalis and/or the tetra Distichodus sexfasciatus be kept in a suitbly large(150 gallon+) tank with Mbuna? I heard that although they are large, they are peaseful with small gape sizes.

 

[CFC]

Unfortunately both fish will exceed 2 feet and would far outgrow a 5x2x2' 150g tank, to keep either species you are looking at needing a tank of 8 feet long and 30 inches wide for their long term well being. In an appropriate sized tank they could be kept with the more peacefull Malawi species, though bare in mind that Distichodus are extreemly aggressive fish when adult and large specimins can bite other fish clean in half should the mood take them. The girrafe cat would most likely eat any small fry but almost by accident rather than actively hunting them down.

 

[dthoffsett]

Ok, I'll take these one at a time:

Auchenoglanis occidentalis, the problems I see with this are:
1. Large enough tank, at 24+ inches, a single adult will need at minimum an 8-ft tank.
2. Decor, since it is a large fish the less decor the better. IMO this species would be crowded with the rock-work necessary to mbuna.
3. Predation, when this species is fully grown, it will be able to eat fish under 6 inches. Therefore, any fry/juvenile/smaller species would be at risk. Not only that, but from what I've read, they particularly enjoy fry and may cause some aggression problems from the mbuna.
4. Health, while they are hardy catfish, they, like all "scaleless" fish are susceptible to skin infections, I would be concerned with abrasions on any rocks, as well as the inevitable pecking from the mbuna. Again, from what I've read, this species is extremely sensitive to medication, so that could be a problem.
5. Diet, while they are omnivorous, they do need quite a bit of protein to keep at a healthy size. This could be a problem with the more delicate herbivorous mbuna species.
Conclusion: While Auchenoglanis occidentalis is an excellent species (I'd love to have one), they would be better suited in a large (read huge) hap community as opposed to mbuna. Besides, I think it would be strange to see an 18 inch catfish with 5-7 inch fish, just my opinion though.

Now, on to Distichodus sexfasciatus:
1. Large enough tank, again, as with a.occidentalis, a large enough tank will be a problem for most. While seen up to 30 inches in the wild, information on captive sizes seems to be somewhat conflicting. Some site say up to 18", others are saying they reach the full 30" and a single specimen should be kept in a minimum of 500 gallons.

2. Aggression, while fairly peaceful and school as juveniles, from all sites I've found, once they reach adulthood they should be kept singly and range from extremely aggressive to insanely aggressive.

3. Diet, again feeding could be tricky as they do requite "meaty" protein in their diet.

Conclusion: Unless you have a truly huge tank, or are willing to take the chance that your specimen will remain under the 18" mark, I'd give these a pass. If kept with mbuna, you'd want to keep it with the most aggressive species, and even then, the mbuna will most likely end up on the short end of the stick.

Hope that sated your curiosity. -Dawn

 

[the_evil_duboisi]

Thanks!