"small" predatory fish community tank

[Nicolasa13]

Hello everyone, hope you're doing well in these troubled times !

First of all, I'm new to MFK so I hope this thread is in the right place. Also, english isn't my native language so I apologize if I make some mistakes.

I've been living with fishtanks since I'm 6 years old, and as I've always been facinated by aquatic life I was made to become an aquarist. But of all the tanks I've ever seen in my life, one of them would haunt my dreams for years now : a community tank with big predatory fishes. I'm literally mesmerised by species like arowanas, gars, knifefish, bichirs, catfish, eels, pike characins, snakeheads and so on. I know I will never be able to house really huge species, so I was wandering if there were smaller ones, lets say with a max length of around 12'' or something like that.

My project, as you can guess, is to house some of these in a community tank where they could all live happily. Important to mention, I don't have the tank yet as I want to make sure to meet the space requirement for these fishes.

Thank you in advance for your aswers and wish you a nice day !

 

[twentyleagues]

First off welcome! Secondly your English is better then some who have spoken it their entire lives. (Like me) lol
Alot of the species you listed have "smaller " members of the family also. Bichirs for example the upper jaw species are typically smaller then the lower jaw species with exception to weeksi, teugelsi, ornate. Things like senegal, polli, Palmas, Moke, don't get to much larger then 10 to 12" usually. Sorry arowana don't have a 12" andd under group. But you could try African butterfly fish, definitely predatory and overall the closest thing to an arowana in a small package. Catfish alot of synodontis species are cool looking and stay under 12". Smaller gars like the hajuta (may have butchered that spelling) and needle nose. Knives there are a few but right off the top African brown knife comes to mind. Pike ehhh I'm struggling I think there's a dwarf green might be what it's called pretty nasty little guy if I remember correctly. Depending on on what you mean by eels, if you are referring to salt or fresh and if fresh you mean the "spinney eels" or something else. Spinney eels aren't true eels these include things like the fire eel and tire track eel. There are small members of this group that live in lake Tanganyika I don't have names on them. They are available from time to time in good lfs or online. Snake heads there are some smaller species. I'm not allowed to own snakeheads where I live so I know little about them but I think blehri may be a smaller species. Now with each of these size and aggression differ. So you would have to do more research on what you really want then look at water parameters and size comparison to see what may be able to coexist in a "predators community".

 

[AaronKWolfe]

I think a tank with a leopard bush fish, an african butterfly fish and some senegal bichirs would make a nice "predator" tank (by predator, I mean fish that primarily eat meat as their main diet)/ African butterfly fish eat insects and bichirs and leopard bush fish will eat small fish.

Another good option for small predator fish are some african or south american/central american cichlids.

For african, lepidiolamprologus, dimidiochromis and sciaenochromis species would work well in terms of predators.

Small south american cichlids work well, too. Things like small crenicichla, caquetaia, convicts, etc.

 

[kno4te]

I think what the others have mentioned will work. I’d suggest also letting all know what size tank ur able to get and keep.

Welcome to the forum.

 

[Nicolasa13]

Thank you all for your quick and accurate answers !

I've looked up the species you mentionned and some of them really caught my eyes : the senegalus bichir, african knifefish and bleheri snakehead are really what I'm looking for. Synodontis catfhish like the eupterus are really cool and quite easy to acquire so I say yes for them as well. For small gars, the hujeta is awsome. I also heard about Boulengerella maculata. The african butterfly fish is one of my favorites but it stays quite small so I wonder if he won't end up eaten.

For eels, I was indeed talking about spinny eels. I heard about Macrognathus aculeatus but I think it gets quite big.

I'm less interested by cichlids but I'll still have a look, who knows.

You're right kno4te, I sould have mentionned this. I can quite easily get a 120 gallon tank, a bit more if needed.

 

[tlindsey]

I think a tank with a leopard bush fish, an african butterfly fish and some senegal bichirs would make a nice "predator" tank (by predator, I mean fish that primarily eat meat as their main diet)/ African butterfly fish eat insects and bichirs and leopard bush fish will eat small fish.

Another good option for small predator fish are some african or south american/central american cichlids.

For african, lepidiolamprologus, dimidiochromis and sciaenochromis species would work well in terms of predators.

Small south american cichlids work well, too. Things like small crenicichla, caquetaia, convicts, etc.

If you decide to feed live feeder fish please quarantine the feeders first. Most members like myself don't feed live but that's a personal preference. Live feeders can carry dangerous pathogens and or bacterial infections that will put your fish in the aquarium in harm's way.

 

[Nicolasa13]

If you decide to feed live feeder fish please quarantine the feeders first. Most members like myself don't feed live but that's a personal preference. Live feeders can carry dangerous pathogens and or bacterial infections that will put your fish in the aquarium in harm's way.

I wasn’t planning in feeding live preys, as it is difficult to mannage like you mentionned it

 

[twentyleagues]

Yes the size will help trying to figure out what can go. But I think most of what I posted could go together. Butterfly fish get up to about 5" but they are pretty thick. I don't remember the blehri size but I think they can be included in a mix. I think they may be quite aggressive though. As for polys, butterfly fish, African knife and a dwarf spinney eel would probably be good in a 120. I'd say 3 polys 2 bf couple knives would be a nice tank.

 

[Nicolasa13]

Okay thank you for this answer, I have a better idea of what I want.

Polypterus, knifefish and butterfly fish are good deals. If it isn’t to much, maybe adding a dwarf spinny eel or a synodontis catfish could be great. If the snakehead is to agressive than I’ll avoid it. And as for the small gars like hujeta, I can see they need quite a lot of space and could lead to some cohabitation problems so it may not be a good idea.

Aside this, food and water parameters shouldn’t be to much a problem so I can handle this. I hope I can soon fulfill my dream. Thanks again everyone. If you have other ideas comming in mind I would be glad to hear them.

 

[kno4te]

Would pass on the dwarf spiny eels. Will get eaten by the polys.