Stocking ideas for 75g mini monster tank

[aggressor09]

Hi All,

Hoping to get some suggestions on stock. The tank is moderately planted (low-tech) and heavily wooded in the center, which would limit turnaround space for larger species. There are no current inhabitants.

I like the idea of a leopard ctenopoma, but I'm also debating getting exodons and calling it a day.

Thanks in advance for your comments.

 

[J. H.]

Pike livebearers and a small pair of CAs. Convicts are cheap and readily available.

 

[Hendre]

Exodons are good but usually pricey and slowly kill each other.

Good ctenopoma tankmates are polypterus. some upper jaw species will work and will be happy for life

 

[aggressor09]

Thanks! Pike livebearers look very cool - don't think I've seen them before.

Yeah, the big turnoff for exodons is that they cost and just kill. I'm steering clear of polypterus for the moment. I had a p. senegalus for 11 years and came home one day to find the tank fried. Titanium heater broke and cooked all my buddies. Wound still hasn't healed

 

[J. H.]

Ctenapoma do well with anything else big and not too tough that likes soft water. pollies, synos, big tetras/barbs, Maybe flag cichlids. Smaller headstanders would probably work well. Clown loaches, maybe some bigger killifish, gouramis (snakeskins are impressive),

 

[magpie]

African butterflies work well with Ctenos.

 

[cichlidfish]

Pike livebearers and a small pair of CAs. Convicts are cheap and readily available.

I agree on pike livebarers, but a convict pair may be too aggressive. But who knows, it might work since the pikes like to stay at the surface and cons like the bottom. A good thing is the cons might provide food for the pikes when they breed. Pike livebarers usually will only except live foods.
IMO a better choice might be rainbows, HRP, sajica or any thorichthys species. I've seen firemouths with pike livebarers before, and it looks really nice.

 

[J. H.]

I agree on pike livebarers, but a convict pair may be too aggressive. But who knows, it might work since the pikes like to stay at the surface and cons like the bottom. A good thing is the cons might provide food for the pikes when they breed. Pike livebarers usually will only except live foods.
IMO a better choice might be rainbows, HRP, sajica or any thorichthys species. I've seen firemouths with pike livebarers before, and it looks really nice.

Is this true? I have had cons and know they deserve their reputation for being evil little killers, and I have never had pike livebearers, but I have had big mollies that were nasty enough to hold their own with any cichlid, and I know people keep them with mbuna successfully, and they are the nastiest of all. As an added bonus, the Belonesox grow to 9 inches and are supposed to be the meanest of the livebearers, although I have never kept them, I would be scared for the convicts.

 

[cichlidfish]

Is this true? I have had cons and know they deserve their reputation for being evil little killers, and I have never had pike livebearers, but I have had big mollies that were nasty enough to hold their own with any cichlid, and I know people keep them with mbuna successfully, and they are the nastiest of all. As an added bonus, the Belonesox grow to 9 inches and are supposed to be the meanest of the livebearers, although I have never kept them, I would be scared for the convicts.

Pike livebarers are your typical preditor. They only are really aggressive when they get hungry. From what I understand they are shy compared to some livebarers. I have had swordtails stand up to cichlids too. But a breeding pair of convicts is hyper aggressive. They will cause problems even for some of the largest and meanest cichlids. No way any livebarer will come close. Especially if the pike is going after the fry. Now a single convict might ignore them altogether.

 

[aggressor09]

Thanks. I am looking more into pike livebearers. I haven't seen them before around here, so wondering if they aren't readily available.

Also thinking of an SA Leaf Fish, African butterfly, and a few others. I was looking into charax gibbosus awhile back, but couldn't find much info on them (and guessing they're pretty pricey when available and require a single-species tank).

I wouldn't keep any of the bully cichlids, especially in a tank with others. Dealing with constant in-tank harrassment just kills the mood.