I am looking into getting an aggressive fish for a 30 gallon tank. I want something that will fit in this tank, and be aggressive. I would like to feed it feeder gold fish. I am just starting to look into this and see what I can get. Any personal preferences are welcome. Pictures of what I should get. I would just like to get all your feed back. Thanks. I am just starting to resurce these kind of fish. I would just like to have an aggressive fish
Preditor fish?
- Thread starter joeyg2100
- Start date
well fisrt of all feeder fish are a no no unless they are just treats and made sure arnt sick or your new fish will end up dead.
A 30 gal. tank is not that big of a tank so there are not thaaaat many options. One fish I would consider would be exodons. They are a small, aggressive tetra. If you do get something bigger, I would suggest feeding it something other than goldfish. There are some better alternatives out there that are much healthier for your fish. Read the "sticky" on feeder goldfish for more info.
Good luck though, and welcome to MFK.
Good luck though, and welcome to MFK.
Hiya joey2100, welcome to MFK, there are several fish that are aggressively feeding fish in that size range.
As a 30g is only 12" wide you will want a fish up to around 8" at max.
From the way you phrased your question it is feeding aggression that you are looking for rather than a brawler type fish like some cichlids.
One thing I will mention here is that goldfish, while easily available, do not make good feeders as a steady diet, guppies and mollies are better for your fish and even with those it is best to vary the diet a bit with crickets, shrimp, earthworms, etc.
Some unusual fish that would work are nandus leaffish (Nandus nandus), pike topminnows(Belonesox belizanus) (a small group), and Wimple's piranha (Catoprion mento).
As a 30g is only 12" wide you will want a fish up to around 8" at max.
From the way you phrased your question it is feeding aggression that you are looking for rather than a brawler type fish like some cichlids.
One thing I will mention here is that goldfish, while easily available, do not make good feeders as a steady diet, guppies and mollies are better for your fish and even with those it is best to vary the diet a bit with crickets, shrimp, earthworms, etc.
Some unusual fish that would work are nandus leaffish (Nandus nandus), pike topminnows(Belonesox belizanus) (a small group), and Wimple's piranha (Catoprion mento).
how much experience do you have in keeping fish tanks? if you have already kept fish for a while and are looking for a bit more of a challenge then you could go with some kind of puffer. these are not the easiest fish to care for which is why they are not recommended for beginners. however some of them are highly predatory and many of them are very aggressive.
if you want one that is fairly easy to find then you could go with a green spotted puffer. this puffer will need light brackish as a juvenile and the salinity will need to be gradually increased as the fish gets older so that it is in high end brackish to full marine conditions once it reaches adulthood. making the tank brackish really isn't all that difficult...you simply add the appropriate amount of salt to the tank. if you choose this kind of puffer then there are many who can assist you further with setting up and maintaining a brackish tank.
if you want something a bit more rare then I'd go with either an arrowhead puffer (Tetraodon suvatti) or a dragon puffer (Tetraodon palembangensis). These are both purely freshwater species and either would be fine in a 30 gallon. If you're wanting an active fish, however, then the arrowhead is not for you. these guys will spend most of their time hidden in the sand awaiting prey to pass by. then, they'll rise up out of the sand and ambush their prey. I'm not as certain about the activity level of a dragon puffer as I've never kept one.
Just a couple general care tips on puffers so you'd know what you're getting yourself into. I'd recommend excellent filtration...you'll want the water to turn over about 10-12 times per hour. Also, 50% weekly water changes are usually recommended with puffers as they are messy fish and they are scaleless so they require very excellent water quality. they'll need to be fed shelled foods such as snails, crayfish, fiddler crabs etc. to help keep their beaks trimmed. you can feed them live fish but as dacox said it is much better to raise your own feeders. that way you can feed them a very good diet so they'll have some nutritional value for your predator and you will have the peace of mind of knowing they're not diseased. mollies and platys are very easy to breed and make very good feeders for larger preds.
if you want one that is fairly easy to find then you could go with a green spotted puffer. this puffer will need light brackish as a juvenile and the salinity will need to be gradually increased as the fish gets older so that it is in high end brackish to full marine conditions once it reaches adulthood. making the tank brackish really isn't all that difficult...you simply add the appropriate amount of salt to the tank. if you choose this kind of puffer then there are many who can assist you further with setting up and maintaining a brackish tank.
if you want something a bit more rare then I'd go with either an arrowhead puffer (Tetraodon suvatti) or a dragon puffer (Tetraodon palembangensis). These are both purely freshwater species and either would be fine in a 30 gallon. If you're wanting an active fish, however, then the arrowhead is not for you. these guys will spend most of their time hidden in the sand awaiting prey to pass by. then, they'll rise up out of the sand and ambush their prey. I'm not as certain about the activity level of a dragon puffer as I've never kept one.
Just a couple general care tips on puffers so you'd know what you're getting yourself into. I'd recommend excellent filtration...you'll want the water to turn over about 10-12 times per hour. Also, 50% weekly water changes are usually recommended with puffers as they are messy fish and they are scaleless so they require very excellent water quality. they'll need to be fed shelled foods such as snails, crayfish, fiddler crabs etc. to help keep their beaks trimmed. you can feed them live fish but as dacox said it is much better to raise your own feeders. that way you can feed them a very good diet so they'll have some nutritional value for your predator and you will have the peace of mind of knowing they're not diseased. mollies and platys are very easy to breed and make very good feeders for larger preds.