Thanks for all of the feedback in discussing whether or not I should do the African biotope!
Because of the large amount of feedback that I have received from all of you, this is my plan. I've found that a lot of the fish in which I had an interest are actually African. These are the fish that I'm planning to go with. Let me outline my plan below...
First, the tank.
The tank is a 510 gallon DIY plywood tank. I might start the fish off in my 150 as I suspect that the 510 would be too large for a bunch of baby fish, but the ultimate goal is the 510. The 510 has a 4x8 footprint and is 30 inches tall. On the right side will be a giant root ball which spans the entire right side of the tank. On the left will be a much smaller root ball that is still attached to its tree. The substrate will be white sand- probably pool filter sand. I will have many sticks and things on the bottom of the tank. The ultimate goal is a realistic blackwater look (so rift lake fish are out of the question). There will be some low profile 3D backgrounds from Designs by Nature on the tank. There will also be appropriate, high quality fake plants near the surface to round out the illusion. Right now the tank is in storage from my recent move. I should have all of my crap in a week or two and I'll post pics of the root balls then.
For filtration, I have a Wlim Bioglass 16 that will serve as my primary water polisher and as additional bio. I have a 150 gallon stock tank that I am going to use as either a sump or a fluidized bed filter. I will cross that bridge when I come to it, but one thing is for sure: I should have enough filtration between those two things to allow for a MAJOR bio load.
Now, on to the part that everyone cares about: the fish.
The King of the tank will be my Hydrocynus brevis, Billy Badass.
The rest of the stock will be African as well. My stocklist rounds out as follows :
View attachment 984756
View attachment 986220
View attachment 985230
(All polys courtesy of Mike Sema of Jurassic Aquatics. They're who I'm getting the fish from anyway.)
The fish listed above are my for-sure list of fish: BATF, Afrowana, edit: Indo-Pac tarpon, P. polenni x2, leopard Ctenopoma x6, African butterfly x 3, fire eel, buettikoferi, ornate, Palmas palmas, Palmas polli, edit: Giraffe cat. I also intend to have a few Congo tetras as dithers. I'm open to suggestions for smallish, expendable dithers.
Below are fish that I'm considering, but haven't decided on for sure. I would like input on these fish from people who may have worked with them.
Papyrocranus afer
Are these guys really as bad as they're made out to be? Would they work well with the above? Is it true that they actually behave like an arowana? I really love the look of these guys, but if they're the demons they're made out to be, I'm going to steer clear and just get a brown knife.
Tiger Scat x3
Aside from the obvious problem of being a SERIOUS pita to acquire, how aggressive are these? Does anyone ACTUALLY have any firsthand experience? I've read reports that they're nippy and go after eyes. I don't want to risk that with Billy.
FISH I WOULD LIKE YOUR HELP WITH: MORMYRIDS, catfish and dithers. I would like to have one largish catfish for this tank. Preferably something that isn't blah colored. Failing that, please suggest some interesting Synos; nothing that looks like a swimming turd please. I like unusual oddball fish. The idea of a large catfish and some synos isn't mutually exclusive. I'm willing to do both.
For dithers, thus far I'm planning to have a school of Congo tetras. I'm not stuck on this as an exclusive plan. Cheap, small, readily available African cichlids would make great filler fish I think, but I'm not a cichlid guy so I don't know what would work. For dithers, I'd like to keep them at about 4" or so as adults.
Finally, no African oddball tank is complete without a mormyrid. I desperately want to have a mormyrid in this tank, but it seems to me that there are three options: Cornish jacks, Aba Abas and elephant nose fish. Two get WAY bigger than I want and the elephant nose seems as though it wouldn't be able to compete with the planned stock. I'm going to continue to research this on my own, but if someone who has some familiarity with this subject can steer me in the right direction, I would greatly appreciate it.
Because of the large amount of feedback that I have received from all of you, this is my plan. I've found that a lot of the fish in which I had an interest are actually African. These are the fish that I'm planning to go with. Let me outline my plan below...
First, the tank.
The tank is a 510 gallon DIY plywood tank. I might start the fish off in my 150 as I suspect that the 510 would be too large for a bunch of baby fish, but the ultimate goal is the 510. The 510 has a 4x8 footprint and is 30 inches tall. On the right side will be a giant root ball which spans the entire right side of the tank. On the left will be a much smaller root ball that is still attached to its tree. The substrate will be white sand- probably pool filter sand. I will have many sticks and things on the bottom of the tank. The ultimate goal is a realistic blackwater look (so rift lake fish are out of the question). There will be some low profile 3D backgrounds from Designs by Nature on the tank. There will also be appropriate, high quality fake plants near the surface to round out the illusion. Right now the tank is in storage from my recent move. I should have all of my crap in a week or two and I'll post pics of the root balls then.
For filtration, I have a Wlim Bioglass 16 that will serve as my primary water polisher and as additional bio. I have a 150 gallon stock tank that I am going to use as either a sump or a fluidized bed filter. I will cross that bridge when I come to it, but one thing is for sure: I should have enough filtration between those two things to allow for a MAJOR bio load.
Now, on to the part that everyone cares about: the fish.
The King of the tank will be my Hydrocynus brevis, Billy Badass.
The rest of the stock will be African as well. My stocklist rounds out as follows :
View attachment 984756
View attachment 986220
View attachment 985230
(All polys courtesy of Mike Sema of Jurassic Aquatics. They're who I'm getting the fish from anyway.)
The fish listed above are my for-sure list of fish: BATF, Afrowana, edit: Indo-Pac tarpon, P. polenni x2, leopard Ctenopoma x6, African butterfly x 3, fire eel, buettikoferi, ornate, Palmas palmas, Palmas polli, edit: Giraffe cat. I also intend to have a few Congo tetras as dithers. I'm open to suggestions for smallish, expendable dithers.
Below are fish that I'm considering, but haven't decided on for sure. I would like input on these fish from people who may have worked with them.
Papyrocranus afer
Are these guys really as bad as they're made out to be? Would they work well with the above? Is it true that they actually behave like an arowana? I really love the look of these guys, but if they're the demons they're made out to be, I'm going to steer clear and just get a brown knife.
Tiger Scat x3
Aside from the obvious problem of being a SERIOUS pita to acquire, how aggressive are these? Does anyone ACTUALLY have any firsthand experience? I've read reports that they're nippy and go after eyes. I don't want to risk that with Billy.
FISH I WOULD LIKE YOUR HELP WITH: MORMYRIDS, catfish and dithers. I would like to have one largish catfish for this tank. Preferably something that isn't blah colored. Failing that, please suggest some interesting Synos; nothing that looks like a swimming turd please. I like unusual oddball fish. The idea of a large catfish and some synos isn't mutually exclusive. I'm willing to do both.
For dithers, thus far I'm planning to have a school of Congo tetras. I'm not stuck on this as an exclusive plan. Cheap, small, readily available African cichlids would make great filler fish I think, but I'm not a cichlid guy so I don't know what would work. For dithers, I'd like to keep them at about 4" or so as adults.
Finally, no African oddball tank is complete without a mormyrid. I desperately want to have a mormyrid in this tank, but it seems to me that there are three options: Cornish jacks, Aba Abas and elephant nose fish. Two get WAY bigger than I want and the elephant nose seems as though it wouldn't be able to compete with the planned stock. I'm going to continue to research this on my own, but if someone who has some familiarity with this subject can steer me in the right direction, I would greatly appreciate it.
