My son wants a carnivorous fish.I talked him out of the gar and channel cat he wanted ,because of there adult size.What would be a good fish for him?We have a 30 gal. aquarium.Letting the aquarium cycle with some tetras and algea eaters for now.If everything looks alright in a couple weeks,I would like to get a couple fish for him........Thanks Joe
best predator for beginner???
- Thread starter Bowjo
- Start date
How many fish do you currently have in your tank right now? What sort of carnivorous fish are you looking for? There are plenty of fish out there that can be carnivorous, but they range in attitude.
Angelfish can be carnivorous, so can an oscar.
-Richer
Angelfish can be carnivorous, so can an oscar.
-Richer
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My first thought on a 30g would probably be a pair of kenyi cichlids. Second thought I would look for firemouth cichlid. I wouldn't call them carnivourous, but they can be fairly active and will eat a wide variety of food. After those two species you can also look at keeping an angelfish. Whatever you decide do some research before you buy.
Just my opinion:
In a 30g you could try the puffers but as a beginner you may or may not want to maintain a brackish tank. Puffers are cool though.
I had a Salvini cichlid who grew to 6 or 7" and had pseudocanines and liked to eat guppies and pellets. They may or may not be easy to find for you. Firemouths and angels should eat guppies as well.
Although it may be a bit cramped you could put 1 Jack Dempsey or Green terror in the 30 and they will definitely eat live fish.
Just make sure you quarantine the feeder fish if you can. Feed them while you quarantine them and they will be more nutritious for your fish. Also feed your fish flakes or pellets more often than feeders.
I haven't used feeders in a long time for fear of introduction of disease.
In a 30g you could try the puffers but as a beginner you may or may not want to maintain a brackish tank. Puffers are cool though.
I had a Salvini cichlid who grew to 6 or 7" and had pseudocanines and liked to eat guppies and pellets. They may or may not be easy to find for you. Firemouths and angels should eat guppies as well.
Although it may be a bit cramped you could put 1 Jack Dempsey or Green terror in the 30 and they will definitely eat live fish.
Just make sure you quarantine the feeder fish if you can. Feed them while you quarantine them and they will be more nutritious for your fish. Also feed your fish flakes or pellets more often than feeders.
I haven't used feeders in a long time for fear of introduction of disease.
That's a real good point Conman. Feeder fish are treats not food. Well not everyday food simply because they aren't all that nutritious and often carry unwanted disease and parasites if purchased from LFS. I know some people raise feeders to give to their other fish, but that sounds like more than what is wanted here.
The obvious first choice, when you say carnivorous, is a pirahna. Angel fish? Pfft, they aren't carniverous, except for baby guppies and such. And puffer fish? They don't eat other fish, they just nip their fins and pester them mercilessly until they die.
Oscars eat just about all their tankmates, but again, that's not what I'd call carnivorous, they just aren't good community tank members, too aggressive and hungry, but I guess you could classify them as borderline carnivorous. But just about any fish big enough will eat the smaller ones, just like in business. (There are exceptions, though, like plant-eating plecos which get huge but don't eat tankmates.)
Good luck to you.
Oscars eat just about all their tankmates, but again, that's not what I'd call carnivorous, they just aren't good community tank members, too aggressive and hungry, but I guess you could classify them as borderline carnivorous. But just about any fish big enough will eat the smaller ones, just like in business. (There are exceptions, though, like plant-eating plecos which get huge but don't eat tankmates.)
Good luck to you.
In my eyes, problems with pirahnas are:
you need to have more than one as they are shoaling fish
they get rather large
they are illegal in some states
they are more expensive to feed
you need to have more than one as they are shoaling fish
they get rather large
they are illegal in some states
they are more expensive to feed
Pirhana's would get too big for that tank, as would Oscars, and IMO firemouths or Dempseys. IMHO Pirhana's Are highly overrated as a carnivore as well. There are very few truly carnivourous fish, most predators that are kept are Omnivourous which is fine. This simply makes it easier to give them proper nutrition (flakes or pellets) and still feed them feeders as well. Several of the above suggestions were good, I would vote for a mid-sized cichlid that can be kept alone or in small groups. Almost all fish will eat tankmates which are small enough to swallow. Most cichlids are fairly aggressive feeders, and will handle larger prey (because they have big mouths and are always hungry). trying to fing a fish that will fit well in a small tank, and still eat feeders poses some problems, you may look at some of the catfish species which are carnivourous/ omnivourous. Either way the feeders will have to be small enough for the fish you keep.