Any schooling fish with predators in a 75?

PB&Jcichlids

Jack Dempsey
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Nov 8, 2022
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I have 3 delhezi bichirs and 2 salvinis in a 75 gallon. I know this is probably not possible, but is there any small fish that I could get (10+) for my tank. For example, Mexican cave tetras?
 

Somesed

Exodon
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Feb 10, 2021
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I keep roseline sharks and veiled angels with my polys. the roselines probably will get a bit large for a 75gal, but would work when smaller. in this case, you'd probably be better with like 5 of them (10 would be too much IMO). I don't have experience with salvini though, and I understand they can be aggressive. Columbian tetras might be an option if you can get ones big enough to not fit in the bichir mouth. They can be pretty fast. Exodons might be cool too, but they are scale eaters, so IDK.
 
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Deadeye

POTM Curator
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Aug 31, 2020
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Aussie rainbows might work. Or any large, fast tetra.
The main problem is that anything that will stay out of the way of the bichirs is a salvini target, and anything the salvinis won’t see as a threat are likely bichir food.
 
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xenacanth9

Redtail Catfish
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Apr 19, 2021
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I would recommend larger Congo tetras. They usually sell them at pretty small sizes, but if you get a nice school of larger specimens it could work pretty well and look quite pleasing. However, I don't have much experience with larger cichlids like salvinis and I'm not sure what the success rate is when it comes to cohabiting them with larger tetras
 

jjohnwm

Sausage Finger Spam Slayer
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Mar 29, 2019
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Some fish are aggressive, always spoiling for a fight, can't get along with others.

Others are merely predatory; anything small enough to fit into their mouths...will wind up there.

Salvinis are both! And although they don't grow huge, they can still hit 8 or more inches; in a 75-gallon tank you may have issues with just keeping the two of them together when they mature, unless they happen to pair up. I kept them only once, and they were impossibly aggressive, in a much larger tank. I doubt that you will be able to keep the bichirs with them long-term; adding anything else is, IMHO, a pipe dream.
 

SalviniCichlidFan

Dovii
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I could see large swordtails working in this setup. The swordtails will generally swim near the surface away from the range of salvinis (cling to territories like a tree branch or cave) and out of the range of bichirs as well (bottom fish).
 
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