Ideas for oddball African Fish in a 33 gallont (36" long) tank?

Jayhawk

Jayhawk

AC Members
May 12, 2001
1,358
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Lawrence, KS
I have a 33 gallon 36" long tank that currently has:

2 Ctenopoma acutirostre (leopard bushfish), 3 upside down catfish, an African Butterfly Fish, and some remnant fish (RTB shark, 4 cherry barbs & a 5 year old clown pleco)

The cherry barbs are older and I don't think they'll be around too much longer, and I may have to remove one C. acutirostre because the larger one is picking on it (these two had been at PetSmart for about 6 months, hung out together, and I thought they might have been a pair...but now I'm not sure).

Anyway, if I do have to get rid of the C. acutirostre and the cherry barbs move on...anyone have any suggestions for other African fish to fit in with the ones I already have?

I like odd fish, but not ones that are too difficult to feed. The leopard bushfish eat everything in sight, and the butterfly fish is doing fine on crickets, freeze dried shrimp, bloodworms and he even eats a few flakes or pellets from time to time.

So, I'd thought of an African knifefish, but I think they get too big and I'm not sure how hard they are to feed...the smaller eels all seems to require live food or feeding with a turkey baster (I'm too lazy for that), so I'm looking for ideas.

Thanks,

Eric
 
ropefish should be kept in a 50 gallon min in my experience. in captivity rope fish dont get much longer than 18". The bushfish are fine together when small but tend to do better solo when larger, plus they really should be in a 50 gallon as well since they do get up to 6" and grow pretty fast. if you upgrade to a 50 gallon you'll be fine. i have a 55 gal bow front. In it i have 2 dwarf african frogs, 7 congo tetra, one leopard bushfish, one african butterfly fish, and three ropefish. I eventually want a couple vampire shrimp. 30 gallons is a little smoall for most african oddball fish.
 
What are your dimensions on you 55 gallon bowfront? That's a funky sized tank...and I've always used more of a length and width rule than gallons for keeping fish (it's all about the footprint in my experience - but that's based on years with cichlids). My tank is 36" long, 12.5" wide and 17" tall - seems like that should handle a 6" fish, especially if I end up with one leopard bushfish.

I'm not planning on upgrading, so I'll pass on the ropefish. Maybe just removing the picked on bushfish is good enough.

Eric
 
my tank is roughly 36" by 20" by 20"
 
African Knife fish get about 8" long in an aquarium. Out in the wild they average about 10" with rare ones hitting 12". They eat anything. I have 4 in a 65 gallon tall. They will even pick pieces off the alge wafer.
They get along great with the pair of leopard bushfish and the 4 USD catfish I have in the tank as well.
 
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