Pike species for a 60 Frag Tank

[nyskiffie]

I'm buying a 60G frag tank that's 48x24x12 at the end of this week. I'm going to be doing some type of crencichla in it, and I've been considering dwarf pike for a while, but after realizing that the footprint is so big I'm considering something a little bigger.

Would something like a tapajo be too big? I figured something that maxed out around 12" would be fine since it would still have plenty of room in the big footprint. Obviously I will understand if the major opinion is that the fish is too big for the tank.

My goal for the tank is something mainly predatory. I will be getting a larger catfish for the bottom and probably some type of a big SA cichlid for a tankmate. I'm probably going to be going for either a blushing coi devil or a green terror.

I'm open to other suggestions for pike center pieces (that's what I'm buying the tank for) and tankmates for it. Remember that this tank has a very large footprint but is quite shallow.

Thanks a bunch!

 

[darth pike]

Awesome tank size, that's what I want for my dwarf pike tanks ... but deep blue doesn't send their tanks out west. If you want something bigger than dwarves because of the tankmates, I'd go with a sax type rather than one of the truly bigger groups.

 

[nyskiffie]

Do you have any more info on them? I really don't know much about pikes, besides I used to have crenicichla regani in my old SA tank and it was ALWAYS my favorite fish.

I want to get back into something I can live feed from time to time, and pikes are obviously the coolest option.

 

[darth pike]

Regani are fun for sure, my next dwarf I think will be the tapajos version.

Sax types are inbetween the dwarves and the big boys usually, more in the 8"-10" range though some hit a foot. They are the ones you see where the males have all the spangling.

http://www.aquaticcommunity.com/cichlid/saxatilis.php

 

[nyskiffie]

Thanks, I'm definitely gonna consider them. 8"-10" is exactly what I'm looking for.

Do you have any good suppliers of these fish? The LFS by me rarely has them in so I think I might have to end up ordering them online.

 

[darth pike]

Petsmart often gets in sveni, though it's one of the least colorful of the sax types. Lucius comes in sometimes to LFS. Jeff Rapps has anthurus in right now, which are one of the more colorful species.