Help me piece together a stock list please

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Aqualoon

Piranha
MFK Member
Jul 8, 2009
1,787
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81
Minnesota
I found a LFS (well, local as it's in the same state, but it's a quality store that can get a unique variety of fish in) that will take my entire current stock so that's that, I am officially changing my stock.

Tank in question: 160 gallon 72"x20"x25"
Filtration: FX5, XP3 + UV - I will be adding power heads for current

In 2 years I will be upgrading to at least a 240 gallon 96"x24"x24", I already have half of what I need saved up so I may go bigger in the 300+ gallon range, but for all intents and purposes it will be at least the 240 gallon.

Type of tank I want: Predator - I do want some type of toothy predator with something else in there.

Here is a short list of fish that I like for this type of tank setup, it's not a full list so if you know of something that kind of fits with what I'm going here, please feel free to add it.

Yellow Tail Barracuda, Red Tail Barracuda, Bichirs, Florida Gar, AT Dat (Dats in general), Fire Eel, Tire Track Eel, Silver Dollars, Payaras (Tats & Scombs), Clown Knife

Anyone able to piece together a stock list? I was thinking a Trio of Yellow Tail Cudas, a Fire Eel, some type of bichir and/or the clown knife? Or maybe a Trio of Scombs, AT Dat and a Clown Knife/TT Eel? Would love to have a FL Gar but have read that they don't do well with silvery fish which is basically the majority of the toothy predators.
 
picture of my 120 before I upgraded..

2 Florida gar
3 Longnose gar
1 Cuban gar
3 reticulated stingray
1 M dayii

Lots of teeth and plenty of activity. You could easily sub out the rays for bichir and the eel with another species. also plenty of gar species other then floridas to mix and match ( alligators, Cubans, and Trops being pretty touchy with tankmates)

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For me that's a bit busy, I do tend to enjoy under stocked tanks more so then over stocked. But with that said I do like to see some movement.
 
not exactly toothy but a big clown knife is an interesting predator that i would definately consider, neat shape, absolute pigs for feeding, grow huge, and are quite intelligent
 
Odoe pike are good toothy community predators. Max out around the 15" range in aquariums. Brycon are pretty cool too
 
Odoe pike are good toothy community predators. Max out around the 15" range in aquariums. Brycon are pretty cool too

I'll check out the Odoe Pike, I really wish the FL Gar liked silvery fish a bit more!

not exactly toothy but a big clown knife is an interesting predator that i would definately consider, neat shape, absolute pigs for feeding, grow huge, and are quite intelligent

That's what drew me to it, I really hope I can come up with a stock list that includes a clown knife.
 
Silvery fish are fine with fl gar as long as they can't fit it in their mouths. I've never had any issues. And odoe aren't as silvery when they get big. They get a lot of color especially around their tail and fins

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Gator trout if you get a baby till it out grows your tank florida gar small snake head ( pending legality ie where you live ) bow fish and a few war mouths are fun


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Alright, after much reading I think I want to stock around 3 Yellowtail Barracudas. I've heard that they grow bigger then the redtail but are a bit more 'chill' especially when it comes to tankmates.

3 Yellowtail Barracudas
1-2 Bichirs (no idea which kind?)
Fire Eel*
AT Dat*
Clown Knife

* Or do I scrap the Fire Eel and AT Dat for some Silver Dollars? Like Wide Bar if I can find them - basically a silver dollar that you can't find at petco.

Anyone see some glaring issues there besides not knowing which type of bichir? I need to look more into polys to see which one would work with this setup, but if someone has an idea of what kind please let me know.
 
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