Creni compatibility in large tanks??

[Conner]

Hey, I'm in the process of planning a 479 gallon plywood tank with the dimensions 96"Lx48"Wx24"T.

In a tank with 32 sq ft of floor space, would my Crenicichla venezuela, cr. anthurus pair, and several Cr. lepidota be able to peacefully coexist in this tank? If I build the tank, I have to get rid of pretty much all my others, so I wont' likely have another place to put them.

Other tank mates will be: gars (3 species), red snook, climbing perch, friedrichsthalii, managuense, a nigerian bichir, maybe some catfish, and some stingrays.

 

[its_an_obsession]

going to be tough. pikes generally dont like other pikes. maybe its worth a shot but be prepared to separate once the aggression kicks in.
last person that i saw try to put that many pikes in one tank ended up with alot of dead ones. just a warning.

 

[Peanut_Power]

It is quite possible that it will work. Thats a fairly large tank, and pretty wide, so would definitely give them room to move. You do have different sizes of fish in there though, as Lugubris are going to get larger than the Saxatilis. Plus if you have pairs of the Sax. in there it could be a problem if they choose to breed.

It looks like its going to be a fairly heavily stocked tank as it is. It may work out, but you might have to edit some of the species kept in there.

I know of several tanks where several species of Crenicichla are kept together successfully, so I know it can be done.

 

[Conner]

Well, here is what I currently have that I KNOW will be going into the bigger tank when its done:

1 Motoro Stingray, 6.5"
1 Spotted Gar, 9"
2 Florida Gar, 13"-14"
1 Red Bay Snook, 8-9"
1 Ven Pike, 10-11"
1 Indo Datnoid, 6-7"
2 Climbing Perch, 6"
1 Friedrichsthalii, 5-6"
2 Managuense, 3-4"
2 Anthurus pikes, 5-6"
1 Lepidota Pike, 4-5"
1 Nigerian Bichir, 6-7"

There are 2 smaller Lepidota pikes, but they're only about 2.5-3", and are growing much much slower than the third, so they may not get added to the tank.

I also have 6 shortnose gars and an albino channel catfish, but they may go out into my pond in the spring rather than into this tank in the house (or will be in it until the spring, depending on when it gets done).

There are also 2 green sunfish (6") and 1 bluegill (5") that may go in the tank, or may end up in the pond. I haven't decided yet.


I know pikes generally don't get along, but this is a lot of floorspace, and there will be plenty of driftwood and rocks to stake out territories, so I'm hoping it will work.

 

[Funky_Fish14]

I agree, the space might allow for it to work. As long as they all have cozy spots to get into and get away from eachother, you'll likely greatly increase the chance of a sucessful housing.

I have a Lenticulata and a Johanna in the same tank right now. The lent is about 12-13" long, the Johanna is about 8" long. The Lent (a confirmed female) outweighs the Johanna (that im quite sure is a male, as it looked like one based on the group it came from @ about 6-6.5"), and she beats him up somtimes, but he can get away from her if he wants (there is a 1.5" piece of PVC about 11" long he can just squeeze into). They are in a 6 foot x 1.5ft 112gallon with a Parachromis La Ceiba, a royal knife, and 4 silver dollars. The other fish distract her from the johanna, and with the upgrade I'll be doing fairly soon, they should be better together. Last time I let them near each other though, I didnt have quite as much driftwood in the tank, and she beat him up pretty bad. Tank was separated for 3-4 weeks or so to let him recover before I let them back together.

Just my experience with mixing pikes.

Looks like its probably a 50/50 in terms of how it'll work.

Hope this helps?

Chris

 

[Funky_Fish14]

*I'd be careful with the Lepidota in there... I dont know about your anthurus pikes, but venezuelans are the largest growing, right? And Lepidota only get 8-10" long. I'd be leery of adding the lepidota... from what I see with mine (I have one that is about 3-4", had two, one jumped), they do not seem to be very agressive. I dont know if it would stand up for itself as well.

 

[Peanut_Power]

Lenticulata are definitely one of the more aggressive pikes available, so mixing them with other pikes makes things quite a bit more tricky for sure. It should be at least a little bit easier trying to mix other species together if lenticulata is left out of the mix, but where is the fun in that?

Another thing that has been discussed and debated is that pikes from different groups won't bother each other as badly. For example, Lugubris kept with Saxatilis generally get along fairly well. Clint keeps cincta, sp. 'red face lugubris', lenticulata 'Rio Atabapo', and a sp. 'belly crawler' all in the same tank together without too much troubles. I believe its 450gals though. So larger tanks definitely make a difference.

You have to be careful about it though and use good judgment, as generally Lugubris pikes are more aggressive than most Saxatilis or Reticulata group pikes. Also if they are remarkably larger than the others, there is the potential of them becoming food.

 

[Conner]

Yah, the venz is about 11-12" now, and the anthurus and lepidota (peacefully sharing space in the 55g now) are both about 5" long. The big venz could definitely fit either of them in her mouth, and she'll eat just about anything, so they would have a little growing to do before they got added.

The big tank is currently on hold until I work up some funding. I may have to sell off a few of my other tanks/fish to be able to afford it as soon as I'd like to.