210 Gallon Congo River Basin Biotope Stocking Questions

[Exotic Fauna Habitation]

Im purchasing a 210g here soon and I am going to be stocking with natives of the congo and I wouldn't mind some input from the community and people who have kept the species we will be discussing. So far I have a Ornate Bichir(Polypterus ornatipinnis), and a Senegal Bichir(Polypterus senegalus) which get along amazing even though the obvious size difference. so now what i will be adding is a African Brown Knife(Xenomystus nigri), a Leopard bush Fish(Ctenopoma acutirostre), and a Elephant Nose Fish (Gnathonemus petersii), which i think will be fine as long as i add them at fair sizes now what I am concerned with is a schooling fish, I originally thought of like 7 or 8 Congo Tetras(Phenacogrammus interruptus) but I believe them to be too small and would likely fall victim to the knife fish so then after some research I discovered Long Finned Tetra(Brycinus longipinnis) and thought they might be a better match because they get a bit larger. Any ideas or tips here in general or for a larger schooling fish from the congo that isn't tank busting. TY for your time.

 

[cockroach]

With a 210g you have a lot of options.
If you were to get rid of the ornate and replace with say a delhezi you would have a lot more options.
The ornate long term may go for the senegal and would go for the congos if you go them. However, the delhezi likely would not see them as prey.

Also with that size tank you could really look at getting schools of congolese fish and have a few specimens that get larger.
to give you an idea:
2-3 senegals
2 ropefish
1 delhezi
15-20 congos (there are also yellow congo tetras and blue eyed congo tetras)
a small school of the smaller distochodus such as D. teugelsi/D. decemmaculatus/D. affinis
or a single larger species like D. noboli.
For the elephant a single specimen is fine but a small groujp of 5-6 would work well too.
4 or so ctenopoma
Adding a cichlid or 6 wouldn't hurt either.
Maybe chuck in a synodontis

HERE is a tank to give you an idea of what can be done.

If you are looking for a larger fish to go with the ornate, you could always choose a larger distochodus like D. lusosso.
you could add odoe pikes for upper level fish.

 

[neko1]

My african biotope consists of:
delhezi, senegal, palmas
2 ropefish
1 african butterfly
1 ctenopoma
1 hejuta gar( wanted an odoe but they get to big so used this american cousin as a replacement)


I think the above recommended would be overstocking. I would atleast remove the 6 cichlids he recommended. Also large catfish as sydontis (who also live in groups) will annoy bichirs who are just laying on the ground. It is possible but in my experience bichirs prefer tanks without catfishes swimming everywhere. Especially in a 'smaller' tank as yours i would not recommend grouping catfish and bichirs.

Also odoe pikes get way to big for 200 gallon with a size of 60cm and will probably eat most of the fish you recommended.


I would rethink about the eliphant fish. The knifefish is probably gone kill it since it looks kinda similair.
Also they are very needy fish that should be kept in special tanks only in my opinion.


If i was you i would not go with a group fish but i would add more ctenopomas since they look awesome

 

[Exotic Fauna Habitation]

First off ty for the feed back, I would have probably gone for a smaller bichir than an Ornate but at the time I was thinking about putting my Senegal with it and since I've had both of them for years now it would be hard to get rid of one. I can do without an elephant fish if you think the knife would get aggressive with it also don't you think the knife and bichirs would pray on the butterfly fish? One thing to add my ornate is super chill and grew up around Senegals.

 

[neko1]

First off ty for the feed back, I would have probably gone for a smaller bichir than an Ornate but at the time I was thinking about putting my Senegal with it and since I've had both of them for years now it would be hard to get rid of one. I can do without an elephant fish if you think the knife would get aggressive with it also don't you think the knife and bichirs would pray on the butterfly fish? One thing to add my ornate is super chill and grew up around Senegals.

if your ornate is chill the butterfly will be fine. Keep in mind that you will need floating food since it only hunts from the surface (i feed crickets and meelworms)

 

[Sadrobots]

I have a Congo biotope in a 125 consisting of; 3 senegal bichirs/1lapradei bichir/1 weeksiibichir, 4 striped raphael catfish (largest of whom is 6.5"), a leopard catfish, and 4 ctenepoma as well

i know i will eventually have to rehome the lapradei and the weeksii, however my tank is working beautifully and everyone is growing and happy and fat. good luck! would love to see it once it is done!

 

[cockroach]

My african biotope consists of:
delhezi, senegal, palmas
2 ropefish
1 african butterfly
1 ctenopoma
1 hejuta gar( wanted an odoe but they get to big so used this american cousin as a replacement)


I think the above recommended would be overstocking. I would atleast remove the 6 cichlids he recommended. Also large catfish as sydontis (who also live in groups) will annoy bichirs who are just laying on the ground. It is possible but in my experience bichirs prefer tanks without catfishes swimming everywhere. Especially in a 'smaller' tank as yours i would not recommend grouping catfish and bichirs.

Also odoe pikes get way to big for 200 gallon with a size of 60cm and will probably eat most of the fish you recommended.


I would rethink about the eliphant fish. The knifefish is probably gone kill it since it looks kinda similair.
Also they are very needy fish that should be kept in special tanks only in my opinion.


If i was you i would not go with a group fish but i would add more ctenopomas since they look awesome

I am sorry. I usually do not go into disagreements on forums but there is some misrepresented information here.

How would this be over stocking in a 210 gallon tank? None of the fish in the mentioned list except the ornate or "large distochodus" are waste machines. Any half decent filtration for a tank that size stocked with valuable fish like Congo species should be able to handle the bioload.

As for the comment on bichirs preferring not having catfish. This is the first time I have heard of this unless the catfish are outcompeting the bichirs for food during feeding. And, I am not trying to get into a he said, she said, on a forum called MonsterFishKeepers, but how is a 210g considered a 'smaller' tank? There are people on here keeping more fastidious fish of these sizes in much smaller quarters.
A great THREAD ON POLYPTERUS by Hendre can be found here.
THIS THREAD belonging to giseok jung attests to bichirs and catfish living together.

Although the odoe pike might reach 60cm in the wild, i have personally never seen a wild one that big and spent many years fishing African rivers. In captivity they are most likely to top out at about 12" for a good, healthy fish.
THIS LINK to a thread on here about captive keeping and breeding of odoe pike.

And lastly, the cichlids comment. What species are you imagining are being suggested if Congos and other tetras from that region are being suggested? A well chosen group of cichlids from a biotope with some of (opinion only) the worlds most fascinating cichlids would be an interesting addition.

I do agree on the knifefish/elephant nose fish as they both use electric signals to roam the tank. I did not account for the knifefish with regards to the stocking suggestion.

I hope this does not come across as a personal retaliation stemming from a disagreement but it is important with so much misinformation out there to ensure we are giving the most accurate information so future readers of threads like these can learn and take away what they need from them.

 

[DMD123]

In regards catfish especially syno’s in particular the concern is more for bichir safety from my understanding, they can become slime coat suckers from what Ive read. Ive never tried it so I cant attest to the validity of the follow post.

bichir and Synodontis

is it save to mix them together?this question may already be asked before, I know Synodontis is a peaceful type but I am just worry that they might suck my bichirs slime coat.

www.monsterfishkeepers.com

 

[the_deeb]

African brown knives (Xenomystus nigri) are not electric fish and in my experience are generally quite peaceful and only hunt really small fish. Don’t think you should have any concerns about them with Congo tetras or elephant nose. Papyrocranus afer is a totally different story, but it doesn’t sound like you’re considering that.

 

[Friller2009]

And lastly, the cichlids comment. What species are you imagining are being suggested if Congos and other tetras from that region are being suggested? A well chosen group of cichlids from a biotope with some of (opinion only) the worlds most fascinating cichlids would be an interesting addition.

I agree. There are some great stream dwelling cichlids from the congo, like humpheads/lionheads and a few jewel cichlid species.
I believe there was a guy on Youtube who made a Congo tank with fish much smaller than congo tetras in with jewel cichlids.