Tanking question...

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ClownKnife28

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Aug 18, 2008
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USA
In my tank so far, I have a 2.5 inch gold severum and a 4 inch clown knife. I wanted to put more life and color in the tank and was considering a small school of clown loaches (5 of them) and maybe 3 bala sharks. My LFS told me that the CK will eat the loaches. I have seen a large CK in a tank with a school of jombo clown loaches and there were no problems. When I brought this up, I was told that the CK would grow much faster than the CLs and devour them. What do you guys recommend? I mean clown loaches and bala sharks look VERY good together and they would add life and color to the tank that just has a severum and ck. I originally wanted an ornate bicher, but it seems that buying one would limit what I could get for an algae-eater. They will be in a 200 gallon tank when they get larger. I'm just thinking 1 CK, 5 CLs, 1 Golden Severum and 3 bala sharks will be a complete tank full of life and color.

Look how the bala sharks and cl's look together in this aquarium!
Oddbal671.jpg


If I bought some CL's, would my CK kill them? The LFS told me the bala sharks would be fine.
 
Clown Loaches grow really slow. If the Clown Knife does decided to make a meal of the Loaches, they have spikes underneath their eyes that will probably cause the CK to choke. I haven't had any experience with Balas, but I hear they grow at a decent rate so they might be able to hang with the CK's growth rate. I've had success with Polys and Plecos. As long as you keep your Plecos well fed, they won't bother the Polys. I'd say get some Tinfoil Barbs instead of Balas, I think they have more color and look great as a school. 1CK, 6 Tinfoil Barbs, 2 Gold Severums, and 2 Fancy Plecos I think would look good.
 
yeah bala sharks will get a foot, knife fish will get 2+ feet. to my calculations u have already got too much for a 200g
 
instantthc;2183789; said:
yeah bala sharks will get a foot, knife fish will get 2+ feet. to my calculations u have already got too much for a 200g
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I don't have all of that yet. Right now I only have a 4-inch clown knife and a 2.5 inch gold severum. I just want to figure out what else to get to bring life and color to the tank.

What are some options for fish I can get that have life and color? I was thinking maybe a school of scats instead of the bala sharks. However, scats and severums are relatively the same shape and I want variety in the tank. I'm not really big on tinfoil barbs, but if tiger barbs grew to the size of tinfoil, that would be my choice. ;)

I am hesitant to get more than one severum in the event they may become a breeding pair get overly aggressive.
 
benzjamin13;2183750; said:
Clown Loaches grow really slow. If the Clown Knife does decided to make a meal of the Loaches, they have spikes underneath their eyes that will probably cause the CK to choke. I haven't had any experience with Balas, but I hear they grow at a decent rate so they might be able to hang with the CK's growth rate. I've had success with Polys and Plecos. As long as you keep your Plecos well fed, they won't bother the Polys. I'd say get some Tinfoil Barbs instead of Balas, I think they have more color and look great as a school. 1CK, 6 Tinfoil Barbs, 2 Gold Severums, and 2 Fancy Plecos I think would look good.
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Okay, so a fancy pleco, 1 gold severum, 1 clown knife, 1 ornate bichir would be safe if the pleco is well-fed on zucchini, right? Now I just want a colorful schooling fish of 3 to 5 that will swim together and look pretty. I was hoping for clown loaches, but I don't want anything that will choke my CK and I don't want any fights in my tank. :( This is tough!
 
You might be able to get away with some Red Hook Silver Dollars for awhile.
 
Pink Kissers grow a foot long just like gold severums and they eat algae. Are kissing gouramis good enough algae-eaters to replace a pleco?
 
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