I feed my bichirs about every other day too. I sold my sen since I figured he would end up as a snack in here. But thanks, I think I will go with a few tinfoils
Is my tank fully stocked
- Thread starter Joshuakahan
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I really would advise against the tinfoils, they grow rapidly, get way too big and will out compete every fish you have for food. They are very fast and will eat everything, trust me. They can be quite skittish too. Not to mention the huge amount of water changes you'll be doing in 12 months time just to keep the escalating bio load in check.
If you want a school of absolutely beautiful fish i'd go for filament barbs. They're a similar shape to tinfoils but will only max out at about 6". Juveniles are nothing spectacular but after a few months they develop their "filaments" on their dorsal fins. And they have this beautiful shimmering iridescent jade green on their flanks.
A very busy fish, they will be a great addition to your 180.
Thank you
I do like filaments but with the two bay snooks, at 6” they would eventually become dinner. If i add a school of dithers, they would need to be at least 9-10” or very deep bodied like a silver dollar. What do you think about silver dollars instead of the tinfoils? I like both. Any other suggestions? What about balas?
I've zero knowledge of snooks. If they're quite a fast growing predator you are narrowing down your options because whatever dithers you get are likely to get eaten, unless you start off with already mature dithers, or you grow out some in a seperate tank until they're too big to be threatened, and then add them to your snook tank.
I've experience with balas and tinfoils, both are best kept in multiples. Due to their eventual size and skittish nature a 180 is pushing it imo for both these species. Some species of silver dollars are smaller, they may be ok for you, but i've always kept away from them because i've heard they can be super skittish.
Filaments are quite big when mature, and deepish. I don't know how big a snooks mouth is, or how fast they are. Filaments are fast but in your situation you'd have to grow a group of them out for a while, and then cross your fingers when you add them to your main tank.
You could have a really nice peaceful tank if it weren't for them pesky snooks, lol.
I've experience with balas and tinfoils, both are best kept in multiples. Due to their eventual size and skittish nature a 180 is pushing it imo for both these species. Some species of silver dollars are smaller, they may be ok for you, but i've always kept away from them because i've heard they can be super skittish.
Filaments are quite big when mature, and deepish. I don't know how big a snooks mouth is, or how fast they are. Filaments are fast but in your situation you'd have to grow a group of them out for a while, and then cross your fingers when you add them to your main tank.
You could have a really nice peaceful tank if it weren't for them pesky snooks, lol.
Haha, ya the snooks make it tough. They’re peaceful but voracious with a crazy mouth.But they’re the reason for this tank lol They’re about 4” now, but grow at about the rate of an Oscar., but get around 18”Unfortunately I think the filaments would be an easy meal. Im thinking I might try some silver dollars and hope for the best or just leave things as they are. I did some YouTube rabbit hole-ing on tinfoils after reading your first comment and decided you were correct to advise against them
Here’s a pic from the web showing the snooks crazy mouth
Silver dollars would be a better bet.
Or a lot of livebearers and replenish as necessary.
Or a lot of livebearers and replenish as necessary.
I would forget silver dollars if you don't want the huge chance they will make the snooks skittish. Between the blochii and the SD's, you'll be forced to overfeed to keep the bichirs well fed. Seriously, that tank is fully stocked with 3 easily 14" fish. I wouldn't add more until you put money down for a 300+ g tank.
I had a huge spawning pair of red bays. The male was 17 inches and the female was 16 inches.
They have huge mouths that sort of resemble a peacock bass. They might be able to slurp up a smaller bichir, so watch out for that.
They have huge mouths that sort of resemble a peacock bass. They might be able to slurp up a smaller bichir, so watch out for that.
Thanks, actually a 240-300g plywood tank was the original plan. I found this 180 when I was looking for scrap tanks to use as viewing panels on the wooden tank. The 180 turned out to be in great shape and I got it for almost nothing. So I decided to just go with that, but the big wooden tank is still gonna happen most likely.
That’s a concern I have too, I’m hoping the big head star the bichirs have on the snooks will help with that. I have the green type, but do you have any pics or vids of those big red snooks?
