Your favorite tankbuster miniatures

[Deadeye]

Is this too much of a stretch ?. I like to think of my Convict as a mini Midas. He might not be a glass banger but he definitely has an attitude. Especially if you don’t drop in his pellets fast enough.

Con Solo my Convict
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And a very cool Barred Midas from Google.

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Beautiful con!
Definitely not a stretch, they are the best mini wet pet cichlid. A white con looks just like a white Midas.

 

[mybirthdateisfake]

I’ll second that and raise you one:
Most wild Bettas - mini snakehead (helps that they’re cousins)

there's a species of bettas literally called snakehead bettas (betta channoides)

 

[mybirthdateisfake]

think african glass catfish look like pangasius catfish

 

[Zmouvek]

For starters, even ignoring the dislike, there is an inherent trouble for me with bichirs and cichlids that deals with a lack of appeal and more trouble than having them is worth.
Bichirs are too drab for my taste, and many, many cichlids are either too drab (eg: wolf, oscar, jaguar, convict, uaru, many pike cichlids) or too much work relative to reasons one would want to keep them (eg: discus, Malawis, Victorians, Tanganyikans) for me. To elaborate on the latter a bit, I'd rather not spend ages and ages with, say, ensuring I don't stunt notoriously sensitive young discus or ensuring my Malawi/Victoria/Tanganyikan tank is properly overcrowded, the mbunas aren't eating too much protein, increasing the pH, the cichlids aren't hybridizing, etc.

Moreover, all species of bichir that I know of as well as many of my least favorite cichlids (here's looking at you, oscars) are just plain unsuitable for my tanks looking at size alone. No matter if it's my favorite or least favorite pet, I hate the thought of having a tank too small long-term for the fish in it and no plans to upgrade.

Add in to that the fact that many bichirs and cichlids are well known for bullying and/or devouring innocent community fish, as well as the fact that there are plenty of accounts on MonsterFishKeepers and elsewhere of bichirs and cichlids actually doing this to said innocent community fish. Worst of all, I have read far too many cases of my absolute favorites, clown loaches and pictus catfish, getting bullied and/or eaten by bichirs and cichlids (especially my absolute least favorite cichlid, the oscar). Additionally, there is (or was, it was either bought or died) a clown loach at my local Big Al's that was put with some mbuna and was on the verge of death (cloudy eyes, scraped up, 'pinched' behind head), that I felt incredibly bad for and would have rescued in a heartbeat had my tank space allowed for it.

And this is where a simple lack of desire and lack of ability to care for said bichirs and cichlids turns into a full-blown dislike. Truth be told, I was actually quite happy when I read one thread about a red tailed catfish eating 3 oscars (which, in a way, avenges some of the innocent pictus catfish that were eaten by the nasty, ogreish oscars).

Plus, on top of all that, my stocking plans for all my tanks don't allow for space for any more cichlids.

So to all the bichir and cichlid fans reading this, call me as irrational or as spiteful as you want, but my strong dislike for and vow to never get any of these fish is much better than my innocent loaches, catfish, and community fish being bullied or eaten by nasty bichirs and cichlids that will get too big for my tanks.

what do you make of rope fish?

 

[Fishman Dave]

Assuming you are referring to Jexnell and his Convict/Amphilophus duo? Definitely one of the few comparisons in this thread that seems to show some significant non-imaginary similarities.

How about this one: if you haven't the room for an actual Jelly Cat (Lophiosilurus apurensis), how about one of the Batrochoglanis cats? A friend sent me some pics of one he recently acquired, and the overall form, colouration, behaviour (and appetite!) are so striking it's almost spooky...but this one only grows to about 8 inches instead of 2-feet-plus. Same beady-eyed squint, same evil smile, same svelte figure...a peaceful, fairly inactive little monster which eats anything that will fit into its mouth, and even a few things that can't. My buddy says that he is working on training the little guy to take food from his fingers at the surface, which can probably be done without drenching the floor and terrifying unsuspecting onlookers as often happens with the real thing.

Personally, I would miss all that drama and entertainment, but if you keep your fish in a finished part of the house and prefer all the water to remain in the tank, I suppose it might be considered a good thing...

Let’s hope it doesn’t turn out that he bought Batrachoglanis Acanthochiroides ,otherwise he may wish he’d just got a L. apurensis.

 

[Kayden]

Payara - Charax/Roeboides
Wolf fish - Lebiasina
Wallagonia - Ompok
Boulengerella - Luciocephalus
Dorado/Brycon - Hollandichthys/Pseudochalceus/Moenkhausia
Brachyplatystoma - Rhamdia
Dats - Polycentrus/Polycentropsis

If only all the smaller suggestions weren’t so rare LOL

 

[jjohnwm]

Let’s hope it doesn’t turn out that he bought Batrachoglanis Acanthochiroides ,otherwise he may wish he’d just got a L. apurensis.

Lol, he does wish he got a Jelly! But he plans on housing this thing longterm in a 3-foot tank, and the LFS told him it was an 8-inch fish at max.

I'm not familiar with B.acanthochiroides, but the pics online show a much more pronounced bumblebee-cat pattern than his fish shows. Planet Catfish shows a B.villosus and some of the pics seem pretty close to his fish. at least going by memory. I'll see if I can locate the pic he sent me, but that was 2 years ago on a different phone, so...