Sucker for Oddball Fishies.

[Calusa]

I miss my elephant nose... so I'm probably going to buy another real soon... maybe even 2. In order to do this, I had to split my tank... and I'm throwing the 2 Danios, 6 Paradisefish, 3 long fin neon rosy barbs, bala shark (he may go with the elephant noses... but, I was wondering if anyone has had aggression problems with them?), tiger barb and pleco in one half, and in the other half, I'd like to keep some other type of fishy with the elephant noses.

I like BLACK mollies, but they're brackish, and I'm not tackeling that... unless it can be done without brackish water. I'd like something that can breed fairly prolifically.. I intend on having lots of plant coverage, so that'll help... I also want somthing I won't mind if it gets snacked on. The guppy is another of my options.

I also kinda like Glo-light tetras... but if they're going to be eaten faster than they can reproduce, scratch that. (not sure if the elephant noses will eat other fish or not.. mine never ate anything.)

other fish I'm really interested in, and would like tohave in this tank are...

Kuhlie Loaches
Peruvian (the big, 6" ones, or maybe the regular tiny ones) Flounders (but the plants would then become a problem, I'd probably have to go with the 2" ones)


and I'd like a type of crustacean... but I'm not sure which, if any I could go with, they obviously couldn't be allowed to attack my elephant noses.
Ideas are:
Red Claw Crab
Golden Crab
Crayfish

Also, it would be fine for them to go with the paradise fish, if it wouldn't shred them (would crabs/crayfish and paradise fish be okay?)


Other fish I think are cool but probably wouldn't get because they'd require space alone which I lack, but would like info on anyway:

Freshwater Barracuda
Freshwater Gar (needlefish?)


Thanks!!

 

[CFC]

How big is the tank?Elephantnose's need quite a lot of room as they can get to 10".You could place the Bala in with the elephantnose but you should have more than one,balas are shoal fish which dont like being kept alone.You could keep needle fish with them as well as long as they are the Xenentodon cancila species,these only get to 12"where as their cousins Potamorrhapis guianensis gets to about 17"and is a lot more aggressive,but a word of warning needle fishes are true piscavores and will refuse to eat anything other than live fish so if feeding guppies and other small fish to them upsets you dont keep them (they will also eat small amphibians but theres no need to go that far).Needle fish are also intolerent of other surface dwellers and can inflict nasty wounds with their very sharp teeth on fish that invade their space.But other than that they are very interesting and a nice change from normal fish.Crabs crayfish and barracudas STAY AWAY FROM THEM unless you are going to set up completely seperate tanks for them (see earlier posts for both subjects).

 

[Elisabeth]

Also, you shouldn't keep two Elephantnose together as the stronger one will bully the weaker one. You should either keep only one or at least 4.

 

[Vimy]

Black mollies are not brackish fish. Are you sure you have the right species? They'll be easy to breed. In most cases they breed before the owner even knows about it. lol.

 

[FrankSlapperinni]

Black Mollies are Brackish water fish. some are even kept in true saltwater tanks.

when I read about keeping 2 elephant noses, I though that would be wrong, not because of them bullying, but because of the electrical currants they give off. I've read on numerous accounts that if 2 of either elephant noses or BGK are kept together, they become dissorientated and confused.

 

[Alien Anna]

Black mollies are not brackish fish. Are you sure you have the right species? They'll be easy to breed. In most cases they breed before the owner even knows about it. lol.

Yes, they are not strictly brackish fish but they do prefer a little salt. I know people who have bred them in fresh water, and I had to acclimatise mine to brackish, but I've also heard of people keeping them in marine.

 

[Ron]

I've never kept a single black molly in an ounce of salt. Mine were always freshwater. They did great, they would have up to 40 babies at a time. They survived hundreds of thing, all teh spikes you can imagine. They are very very tough! I've seen them kept in, freshwater, brackish, and salt water. They are sooo strong, they can live anywhere!!!!
Ron