Anyone out there with a Distichodus Sexfaciatus?

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bmxer4ever

bmxer4ever

Fire Eel
MFK Member
May 25, 2006
1,036
8
68
Glasgow, Scotland
Hello MonsterFishKeepers....greetings from Bonny Scotland!
This is my first ever post, so I'll try to keep it short.
I'm a born again fishkeeper - last time I had any tanks was 20 Years ago!
My sister asked me to babysit her fish while she was away for six months, so I thought why not, and promptly went out and bought a 4 foot tank! (Easier to move the fish than her 50 gallon tank!)
Among my newly adopted fishy friends was a big stripey guy - biggest fish she had, about 4" -5". She had no idea what it was and neither did I.
After much Googling and web surfing I found out he was a Six Barred Distichodus, sometimes called a short nose Clown Tetra.
The other thing I found out was that he'll grow to 2 feet long in the wild!
Hence the reason I sought out MonsterFishKeepers!
Anyone out there have any experience with this species or any advice?
Thanks
Bmxer4ever
Glasgow, Scotland, UK
 
It wont grow up to 2 feet in an aquarium. The biggest I've seen so far is aroung 12" in a 200 gal tank with an asian arowana.

They will any anything, sort of like a scavenger. The will also eat fish flakes, pellets, krill, shrimps, bloodworms, earthworms etc. They are very easy to care for.
 
Hi there and welcome bmxer,
I have had a couple many years ago, they are very easy to keep but that 5" fish can double in size in a year, the six barred can reach 30+" but the largest I have seen in a home aquaria was about 16", I traded mine out at about 10".
They eat anything but love shrimp, worms and your plants. They do need veggies such as algae wafers or sheets of nori. They will eat fish if the fish is very small and unwary but they are generally peaceful and in the wild form large schools.
They like a neutral (+/- 1) pH, and aren.t picky about hardness, temps from mid 70s-mid 80s F are fine.
Jd7.62 raises a point, did you use her established filter or a new one, if new do daily ammonia checks and water changes as needed, probably daily for the first week as the filter cycles in or you will probably get an ammonia spike that can kill the fish, You can also use sludge from the old filter to speed the process of starting a new one.
 
Hi all... thanks for the replies!
Wasn't able to do a full cycle in the new tank as the decision to move the fish was a bit last minute, but brought as much of the original tank water as I could and mature rock and driftwood from her tank. Helped a bit, but still lost a good few small fish in the first month or so. My sisters tank was overstocked in the first place, but a shame, as always, to lose any. That was all six months ago and I've had to learn fast!
Everything rosy in my tank now, although still too many fish!
Doesn't help that a good few of them are growing fast!
Distichodus is going to need a bucket to transport him when I have to give him back!

Bmxer4ever
 
Here's a couple of pics of my Distichodus...not great shots, but all I've got at the moment!

Distichodus.jpg

Distichodus.jpg.jpg
 
They are not real commonly seen but make great bottom fish for large tanks, I am suprised it hasn't eaten your plants.
 
saw them in one of my lfs...sizes are around 4" - 5"....thingking of getting some but the health of the fish is questionable...some of them have the fins shred and look very dark...

i am still debating (w/ my self) wether to get a couple of those or not given that distichodus are very seldom offered in my area..
 
When you are ready to give anything up, don't take them to a store, put them up on mfk and send them to a better home.....especially if it is some of those Monster clown loaches!
 
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