Any schooling fish with predators in a 75?
- Thread starter breadhead
- Start date
I keep roseline sharks and veiled angels with my polys. the roselines probably will get a bit large for a 75gal, but would work when smaller. in this case, you'd probably be better with like 5 of them (10 would be too much IMO). I don't have experience with salvini though, and I understand they can be aggressive. Columbian tetras might be an option if you can get ones big enough to not fit in the bichir mouth. They can be pretty fast. Exodons might be cool too, but they are scale eaters, so IDK.
The salvini will eat anything that is 2.5 inch and below.
And there's high chance that they will cause trouble with the Polypterus when they mature.
And there's high chance that they will cause trouble with the Polypterus when they mature.
I would recommend larger Congo tetras. They usually sell them at pretty small sizes, but if you get a nice school of larger specimens it could work pretty well and look quite pleasing. However, I don't have much experience with larger cichlids like salvinis and I'm not sure what the success rate is when it comes to cohabiting them with larger tetras
Some fish are aggressive, always spoiling for a fight, can't get along with others.
Others are merely predatory; anything small enough to fit into their mouths...will wind up there.
Salvinis are both! And although they don't grow huge, they can still hit 8 or more inches; in a 75-gallon tank you may have issues with just keeping the two of them together when they mature, unless they happen to pair up. I kept them only once, and they were impossibly aggressive, in a much larger tank. I doubt that you will be able to keep the bichirs with them long-term; adding anything else is, IMHO, a pipe dream.
Others are merely predatory; anything small enough to fit into their mouths...will wind up there.
Salvinis are both! And although they don't grow huge, they can still hit 8 or more inches; in a 75-gallon tank you may have issues with just keeping the two of them together when they mature, unless they happen to pair up. I kept them only once, and they were impossibly aggressive, in a much larger tank. I doubt that you will be able to keep the bichirs with them long-term; adding anything else is, IMHO, a pipe dream.
I could see large swordtails working in this setup. The swordtails will generally swim near the surface away from the range of salvinis (cling to territories like a tree branch or cave) and out of the range of bichirs as well (bottom fish).