Suggestions for a new pike?

[JMorash]

Hey,

It's been quite some time since I kept crenicichla, but now that I'm moving my Channa Barca into his new tank I'm thinking about putting some pikes in his old tank. I was hoping I could get some suggestions from some serious pike keepers.

The fish will be going into a 150 in my living room so I am looking for something that is relatively colourful and outgoing. I think I'm going to try to obtain a sexed pair of whatever I get. Price isn't a huge issue, since this is a fish that will be a centre piece to my living room I would rather spend the money for something nice. I like rare stuff, but I want to be able to obtain it legally and not have to track it down for three years.

Originally I was looking at getting tigrina, but it appears it's an impossible fish to get. I have tried more than a few times over the past few years to get this fish, but its been a loss.

Anyway, any suggestions?!

Thanks,
JMorash

 

[Peanut_Power]

What is available to you there?

Crenicichla marmorata and Crenicichla lenticulata are some great looking pikes, depending on their locality. If you can find some Rio Trombetas marmorata I'd go for those without thinking about it.

Crenicichla sp. 'tapajos I' and Crenicichla sp. 'tapajos II' are also great pikes, with sp. 'tapajos I' being the most intense red, both genders.

If you look into getting the atabapos, stay away from Cren. sp. 'atabapo II'. They take A LONG time to color up, and generally get HITH super easy compared to other pikes. Cren. sp. 'atabapo I' though is a great idea, they will blow you away with their red and are not as delicate.

Rapps just started to recently import Cren. multispinosa. They are absolutely gorgeous pikes worth the little extra effort they take.

Those are just a few suggestions. If you want some cool pikes that aren't quite as colorful look into finding Crenicichla hadrostigma. Very cool little pike. Or the Uruguayan pikes.

Just the tip of the ice berg, but I hope it gives you a few ideas.

 

[JMorash]

Thanks for the great answer. I just missed out on a mated pair of Tapajos 1, but it's definitely up there for one of the pikes I'm looking at.

I was going to buy a bonded trio of multispinosa from Oliver back in the summer, but I didn't want to risk them on the 14 hour drive from Montreal.

I will check out the last species you mentioned, it's the only species I'm not very familiar with. It might just be what I'm looking for.

Thanks,

JMorash

 

[clgkag]

On his last list, Oliver had tapajos marmorata also.

 

[JMorash]

I was thinking about that but I think I going to wait for Multis.