Ctenopoma tankmate list?

[nono]

Hi. Right now i am having a 2,5 cm long leopard cteno. I want to put something nice for a bottom fish and something herbivore. Should i put 3 sterba cory since they are a bigger species of cory or a red fin shark since both of them are kinda passive aggresive fish? Or is it more suitable if i put boosemani rainbow or 3 congo tetra that are around 3 cm long with my cteno? My original planning is to put my cteno with an african butrerfly fish and a peter elephantnose fish to make somekind of african oddball tank. Should i be patient and stick to my original plan or maybe i can pick something from the fish forementioned above because my cteno is still in manageable size and they can grow together? Thanks and sorry for my terrible english

 

[Bertie07]

You have many options for tank mates, cories are a good idea, they will help with cleaning up any mess and for a mid water fish you could do some Congo tetras as well. I would say to do 6 Congo tetras as they do best in schools

 

[nono]

Hmm. Probably i will stick to cory then since 6 additional congo will probably to much for mu 20 gal tank. My tank even need to be upgraded very soon when my cteno already 8 cm or 10 cm. How about buenos aires or black widow tetra? Or is rainbow shark more suitable?

 

[tlindsey]

Ctenopoma have a large mouth so keep that in mind.

 

[nono]

Yes. About the mouth i am very aware of that since i use to keep them year ago. But never keep cteno that is this small before

 

[Bertie07]

Oh I didn’t know it was only a 20 gallon, I would only do a couple cories or a group of tetras like you said Buenos Aires tetras will be fine as long as their adults

 

[nono]

Ok then. Thanks a lot for your advice man

 

[Hendre]

Elephant nose and butterflies will be a good fit for a 55-70 gallon with a cteno! African knife fish or polypterus would be fun too

 

[nono]

Yeah. If i already got bigger tank elephant nose will become my consideration also. How about rainbow shark? In a bigger tank will cteno and shark work out well?

 

[Hendre]

I'd be worried about a shark and elephantnose potentially clashing, apparently sharks can be jealous about territory. Need someone with more experience to chime in..