180 Gallon & Ornate Bichir

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wumbology38

Gambusia
MFK Member
Mar 6, 2016
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Hello, I am going to be making my first attempt at keeping a predatory tank. I recently thought I had my stocking list all figured out but, I started to rethink things. I have a standard 180 gallon decorated with pool filter sand, fake plants, some medium sized stones and a large piece of driftwood. Filtration is a fx6, fluval 405 and an aquaclear 110. The tank also has two 300 watt heaters and a pair of thermometers. Two 36" fluorscent bulbs are currently being used for lighting. The tank has been set up for the past five weeks with a school of 12 giant danios in it for the last 3. All have survived and the aquarium is doing great. The only fish I know I want is an ornate bichir, I'm unsure of how to fill out the rest of the stocking. Some of the fish that have caught my eye have been
-BGK and other knife fish
-Other bichirs
-Freshwater sharks
-Jaguar and Oscar cichlids
-Other South American cichlids
-Gars and gar like fish
I am open to all suggestions and am thankful for any help and tips given to me.
 
Are you testing the water ? 5 weeks probably isnt long enough to cycle your filters.

I would think long and hard what you want to keep. Cichlids and polys worked well for me. Even a maniac zonatus left them alone. Issue is with feeding you may have to get inventive and feed at night to get some food to the polys. Never kept jags but they get big and if you get a mean one you'll have issues.
Also you'll wanna think about maintenance.... more fish ...more water changes.

Its hard to keep one poly man. God bless if your able to just stick with one lol.

If i were to start from scratch and try and have a poly/cichlid comm i would go with mild mannered smaller cichlids like aequidens and acara types, maybe geo's.

The problem with some of the larger growing cichlids even if they arent aggressive for the most part they will get to the food first.
 
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jaws7777 said:
Are you testing the water ? 5 weeks probably isnt long enough to cycle your filters.

I would think long and hard what you want to keep. Cichlids and polys worked well for me. Even a maniac zonatus left them alone. Issue is with feeding you may have to get inventive and feed at night to get some food to the polys. Never kept jags but they get big and if you get a mean one you'll have issues.
Also you'll wanna think about maintenance.... more fish ...more water changes.

Its hard to keep one poly man. God bless if your able to just stick with one lol.

If i were to start from scratch and try and have a poly/cichlid comm i would go with mild mannered smaller cichlids like aequidens and acara types, maybe geo's.

The problem with some of the larger growing cichlids even if they arent aggressive for the most part they will get to the food first.
Click to expand...
+1 ornate can be territorial unless kept in group.
 
I found out that my ornate was territorial when I added the hybrid. Poor things tail was chewed up for a good month. I also have a large mpimbwe frontosa in this tank as well. Seem to do just fine. I originally had angels with my ornate.
 
I dont think the ornate will mess with the cichlids, i meant good luck being able to leep just one poly ! The addiction is real lol
 
I've been testing my water and everything is fine or near where it should be. Would an ornate work with other species of bichir or just fellow ornates? Is it possible to keep them solo. Could knife fish be possible tankmates?
 
Also has anyone ever kept an African themed or oddball tank with ornates? If so how did you like it and what species did you keep? Thanks for your help everyone
 
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