BGK Tank Mates.

  • We are currently upgrading MFK. thanks! -neo
PaiLum92;4850590; said:
They may have them, its been a while since we've gone, the other shops may though, one shop has some pretty wild looking fish.. and according to them, rare ones too... ill try and get 5 of them.. possibly 6..

I was thinking that i'll add my BGK & Bichir first, at the same time, then after a few weeks add the others a few at a time, to make sure they get along with the new additions... after all, this tank is for the BGK first, the Bichir second, and the rest last..
Click to expand...

Sounds like a good plan. I can tell you now though that the cory cats and yo yo loaches will not bother your knife or bichir at all. Just make sure that you don't do something like get a 10 inch senegal bichir and 2 inch cory cats or 2 inch yo yo loaches. The senegal will try and make a meal out of them. :) If you get say 2 or 3 inch yo yo loaches, get about a 3 inch senegal bichir and let them grow together. Make sure the black ghost knife if a little bigger than the senegal bichir as well when you put them together. If the bichir is larger, it may chomp the knife. So a 5 inch black ghost knife would go well with a 3 inch senegal bichir. 2-3 inch green cories (that max out at about 4 inches) and 2-3 inch yoyo loaches would be okay with the 3 inch bichir and 5 inch knife. Even if the yo yo loach is 4 inches and the senegal is 3 inches, there should not be any problems at all.
 
When should i get the severum? I may have to ask around the petshops for the size of thier BGK's and bichirs, petsmarts BGK's are around 3-4 inches, but so are the Bichirs...
 
PaiLum92;4850692; said:
When should i get the severum? I may have to ask around the petshops for the size of thier BGK's and bichirs, petsmarts BGK's are around 3-4 inches, but so are the Bichirs...
Click to expand...

You can get the severum along with the knife and bichir. I think you are right to get the bichir and knife first, though if you can't get them all at the same time. Truth be known, I am not so sure that severums and angelfish are a good match with each other. Either fish will work well with the knife, bichir, loaches and cory cats, but if the severum is on the aggressive side, angelfish are slow movers and a large angry severum would have a big advantage over the angel. I wasn't going to say anything because I know that some people put severums with their angels and it works out. I just don't do it and would not recommend it. Silver dollars would be better with the severum than angelfish. Silver Dollars will also work with angelfish. Again, keep the severum close in size to the knife and bichir and let them grow up together.

Something like this would be my recommendation:
1x black ghost knife
1x senegal bichir
5x-6x yoyo loaches
5x-6x green cory cats (or any cory that gets at least 4 inches)
3x-5x silver dollars
4x-5x angelfish OR 1x severum (you should be able to order a gold severum from your LFS if you would rather have that than a green severum)
*6x Rainbowfish
(If you go with the severum, I'd only recomment 1 to avoid a breeding pair and the aggression issues with that. You may want to add some rainbow fish to the setup to fill out the tank and get a lot of movement going on. If you get a couple of angelfish, you can leave out the rainbowfish since you will have all of those angels or you might get the rainbowfish anyway if you like them.)

You can try the severum with the angelfish if you want. Some people are successful with the mix. I just wouldn't recomment it.
 
They have turquoise Severums, if that would work? I personaly think the blue would like nice with black, my two fav colors in the same tank.. http://www.petsmart.com/product/index.jsp?productId=3924465

There any other catfish that may be ok to put in? Cory's look funny to me, i will add them but only if none other will do.. Also, what about SIlver Tipped Sharks? Would 1 be ok to add in? PS site says they get to 14 inches, so it should be safe from the BGK and Bichir.. no?
 
Sharkcats are brackish, I believe. They would not work. Also, I would be wary of catfish that outgrow the bichir. Such a catfish can swallow a bichir like spaghetti. You can get a striped raphael catfish as an alternative to the cory cats. They are very, very nice looking. I wish I had thought to tell you about the striped raphael earlier. http://www.google.com/images?q=stri...tle&resnum=1&ved=0CCEQsAQwAA&biw=1259&bih=587 . PetsMart should have those too. They max out at about 8 inches. I would recommend that the bichir is a little bigger (not too much bigger) than the striped raphael when you put them together.

Also, a turquoise/green severum would work just as well as a gold severum. They are essentially the same fish with a different color is all. They are interchangeable.

Looks like you're going to go with the severum. Good choice! If you don't do angels, I'd get the knife, bichir, severum, yoyo loaches, striped raphael (if you like it) and use giant danios, silver dollars and rainbow fish to fill out the rest of the tank and have constant movement going on.
 
Wow, i def like the look of the Striped Raphael better than the cory. Yea, they list Striped Raphaels on thier site, so they should carry them.. How many of those would you recomend getting? 5-6 as the others, or fewer?

Also, i read a little on the Striped Raphael you mentioned, why is it also known as the talking catfish? Wwill it stick its head out and grunt at me or something? I know catfish grunt, like wild ones, but will this one as well? would be nice to know so im not startled in my sleep or something...
 
I'd probably just get one or two striped raphael catfish. They can make croaking sounds when they get agitated. That said, make sure that the other fish in your tank are not small enough to fit in the catfish's mouth. They will eat fish small enough to fit in their mouths. They are not aggressive though. So if you get a 2 inch striped raphael, make sure that your yoyo loaches are about 3 inches at least, that your bichir is 3-4 inches and your knife should be 4 inches since you want the knife a little bigger than your bichir.

If you get the striped raphael, be sure that it has its own cave to hide in otherwise it will stress out.
 
Cool, so if the BGK finds the cave the Rapheal is hiding in, will it just find another cave? If it does, will it just move to another cave and keep moving untill the BGK finds a cave he likes and sticks to it? Or will the BGK just keep moving to all the cavesclaiming them all? I have 2 caves now, and am planning on getting atleast 2 more and a couple logs, and possibly a small root system.

(Also, when cleaning the tank, should i remove the fish? I noticed some other people on a dif website said you should remove fish when cleaning the tank, like the walls and water change.. if so, how do i remove the cats without the barbs getting tangled up and hurting them?)
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
MonsterFishKeepers.com
Top Bottom