What predatory fish in a small tank?

[Patryk Borkowski]

Hi guys, new to MFK here. I'll be honest, I've had a 30 gallon 'community' tank for a few years now that hasn't been properly cared for (the fish still survived, it wasn't terrible)- but I've found it's due to the fact I'm not exactly 'interested' in my tank setup. I was thinking of giving the fish away to my local fish store, and completely recreating the tank. I'm open to any ideas of fish (predatory fish interest me the most) that would be compatible in a 30 gallon tank. I've thought about tiger oscars, yet I'm almost certain the tank would be too small for even one. Exodon tetras have interesting behaviors, yet they don't look too visually pleasing.

TLDR: 30 Gallon tank, what predatory fish would be compatible? (open to ideas)

 

[Yuki Rihwa]

I would recommend a shoal of exodons but you seem don't like them so it's off the list, if you can upgrade your tank to 40B or bigger then you have more options:

*Ctenopoma acutirostre
*Erythrinus erythrinus

I can't remember what else to fit in your 30G beside those 2 species and community species most my fish required minimum 125G to keep singly!

 

[UnstoppableJayD]

If I was limited to a 30 gallon tank I would do a planted tank with a group of south american leaf fish and african butterfly fish... both stay small enough that you could have a couple of each as well as both being predators with very different feeding techniques.

 

[Patryk Borkowski]

If I was limited to a 30 gallon tank I would do a planted tank with a group of south american leaf fish and african butterfly fish... both stay small enough that you could have a couple of each as well as both being predators with very different feeding techniques.

I haven't thought of the idea of a planted tank. I'm looking into butterfly fish as well as how to create a decent 'dense' planted tank. Thanks for the idea!

 

[tlindsey]

I have three African butterfly fish in a 30 gal. With 2 gold tetra's , 1 male triple red apistogramma , 4 cory cats, 3 stiphodon gobie's, and 3 silver hatchet fish. I did this a year ago on a try out basis, and it worked I think because they are fed every day and they occupy the top area only, sometimes with the silver hatchets. Only have a couple of fake floating stems for the trio, btw they sometimes bicker with each other not overly aggressive though.

 

[duanes]

By predator, do you really mean piscivore (fish eater) or general predator (insects, larvae, etc)
I find killifish to be interesting and colorful small predators, the gularis I have now max out at about 4", which is about as large a fish as I would do in a 30gal.
I have a bog pond in the front yard that tends to invite mosquitoes, so every day I net out a bunch of mosquito larvae and feed to the killis. Its very amusing predatory action, and saving myself a little evening irritation.

By the way you are correct, a 30 gal is not suitable for an Oscar.

 

[Patryk Borkowski]

By predator, do you really mean piscivore (fish eater) or general predator (insects, larvae, etc)
I find killifish to be interesting and colorful small predators, the gularis I have now max out at about 4", which is about as large a fish as I would do in a 30gal.
I have a bog pond in the front yard that tends to invite mosquitoes, so every day I net out a bunch of mosquito larvae and feed to the killis. Its very amusing predatory action, and saving myself a little evening irritation.

By the way you are correct, a 30 gal is not suitable for an Oscar.

Killifish do look nice, although i did mean Piscivore. I wasn't sure on what the term was called. Killifish do look nice, however. Also, isn't a planted tank the user mentioned above you extremely high maintenance?

 

[Yuki Rihwa]

^^^^Planted tank very simple to keep if you stick with low/medium light plants setup, it does sound complicated as first (its always first time for everything ) but soon will be easy and don't mess with high tech planted tank for first timer

 

[tlindsey]

I like unstoppablejayd Idea if you wanted just small predators.

 

[duanes]

My planted tanks are very low tech, low maintenance, because I use low light requiring plants like Anubias and Java fern.