# West African tank



## TUBBS (Mar 16, 2009)

ok, now i've upgraded my tank to a 200L Fluval roma, i feel i need more fish (was a Rekord 120 before)

so atm i have:
1 x African knifefish
1 x reedfish
1 x delhezi bichir
1 x senegal bichir
2 x butterfly fish
1 x pair of kribensis
1 x bulldog plec (i know, not african, but no african plecs)

plus these odds and sods that will be dead soon enough due to age and deteriorateing health:
1 x cherry barb
1 x darter tetra
1 x vieja apistogramma

anyone got any ideas for new fish?

i want a bottom catfish such as a syno species, i can only get small upsidedown cats (will get munched i reckon at their size) and featherfins atm but should be able to order more types in

a tetra
can get congo's, yellow tailed congo's (GF likes these best), Red-eye tetra (my favourite)

i would also like some african glass cats but can only get asian ones atm and they stay small

any ideas?

considered a centopoma again as my african leaf fish have all died off now


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## strictly_scales (Sep 10, 2008)

Sounds good to me... I like theme tanks. I trust u have plenty of Anubias planted in there...


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## Cleopatra the Royal (Nov 29, 2008)

How about Synadontis multipunctatus? (I think thats how you spell it)

Harry


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## Esfa (Apr 15, 2007)

centopoma centopoma centopoma centopoma centopoma centopoma centopoma centopoma centopoma centopoma centopoma centopoma centopoma centopoma centopoma centopoma centopoma.

Of the leopard variety!


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## TUBBS (Mar 16, 2009)

thought about multies, but they are from lake tanganyika, eat africa, they are my favourite syno though, even though it clashes, looked after a 16 strong breeding shoal in a 4ft malawi tank at the shop i used to be at, they were awesome

leopard centopoma are so common though, was thinking more ctenopoma ansorgii, but they stay to darn small 

nah i'm keeping anubias to a minimum, got loads of vallis, 2 tiger lotus and loads of bog wood which i may add anubias to when i get some, also got what i believe to be a crinium bulb, crikled african one, but will see soon


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## Esfa (Apr 15, 2007)

I was after some ansorgii, but I just couldnt source any, so I got leopards.
Ansorgii are sooo nice, just wish they got the same size as the leopards.


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## TUBBS (Mar 16, 2009)

neil hardy's always have them, tis where someone i know who i was helping set-up their 4x2x2 west african tank got theirs via


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## lionfish (Jul 15, 2009)

what about a giraffe catfish ? - their african , there are 2 types one gets huge though !


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## Cleopatra the Royal (Nov 29, 2008)

Esfa said:


> centopoma centopoma centopoma centopoma centopoma centopoma centopoma centopoma centopoma centopoma centopoma centopoma centopoma centopoma centopoma centopoma centopoma.
> 
> Of the leopard variety!


I prefer ctemopoma leopard variety.


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## Cleopatra the Royal (Nov 29, 2008)

*Africa*



AmphiliidaePhractura *Phractura ansorgii* African Whiptailed Catfish
BagridaeBagrus _Bagrus meridionalis_ Kampango 
ClaroteidaeAnaspidoglanis _Anaspidoglanis_ _macrostoma_Dwarf Giraffe Catfish 
ClaroteidaeAuchenoglanis*Auchenoglanis occidentalis*Giraffe Catfish 
ClaroteidaeChrysichthys_Chrysichthys nigrodigitatus _Silver Cat
ClaroteidaeChrysichthys*Chrysichthys ornatus* Ornate Bagrid
ClaroteidaeLophiobagrus_*Lophiobagrus cyclurus *_African bullhead
ClaroteidaePhyllonemus*Phyllonemus typus* Spatula-barbeled catfish
MalapteruridaelMalapterurus*Malapterurus electricus *Electric Catfish
MochokidaeBrachysynodontis_Brachysynodontis batensoda _Giant upsidedown catfish
MochokidaeHemisynodontis
_Hemisynodontis membranaceus_
Moustache Catfish
MochokidaeMicrosynodontis
_Mycrosynodontis polli _
Pygmy Synodontis
MochokidaeMochokielia
_Mochokielia paynei _
Payne's Catfish.

Mochokidae Synodontis 

_Synodontis acanthomias_
_Synodontis afrofischeri _
_Synodontis angelica _
_*Synodontis bastiani*_
_Synodontis brichardi _
_*Synodontis congica *_
_Synodontis decora _
_Synodontis euptera _
_*Synodontis flavitaeniata* _
_Synodontis greshoffi _
_Synodontis nigriventris _
_*Synodontis nigrita* _
_Synodontis petricola _
_Synodontis robbiana _
_Synodontis robertsi_
*Synodontis schall* 
_Synodontis schoutedeni_
_Synodontis waterloti_
Black-Spotted Synodontis
Fischer's Catfish
Polka-dot Catfish.
Ivory Synodontis
Brichards Synodontis
Congo Synodontis 
Clown Catfish
Featherfin Syno.
Pyjama Cat 
Greshoff's Catfish 
Upside-Down Catfish
False Upside-Down Catfish 
Pygmy Catfish
Brown-spotted Catfish
Roberts Catfish
Schall's Synodontis
Marbled Synodontis
Waterlot's SynodontisSchilbeidae
Pareutropius


_Pareutropius buffei _
3-stripe African Glass Catfish





These are all African catfish. Will probably help you're search.


Harry


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## Cleopatra the Royal (Nov 29, 2008)

Have you got any pics of the tank?

Harry


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## TUBBS (Mar 16, 2009)

no, no pics yet, only just set it up and discovered there was no heater so getting that tomorrow as one wasn't put in it

but it looks so empty though as i need to get more wood in it


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## Reptile-newb (Jul 13, 2009)

Try a few Distichodus affinis, a medium sized shoaling fish native to the Congo basin, and a very interesting species to keep. Sadly it is rare in the hobby.

There are tons of african cichlids like A. Thomasi, that might be a good idea if you like them. They are relatively common in the hobby.


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## TUBBS (Mar 16, 2009)

i've always liked the thomasi ones but wanted to wait a while before ading them to see if i can get a pair out of the group at the shop i work at

but the Distichodus affinis get a bit bigger than i wanted and seem very bland, as all i want the tetras for is as dither fish or basically a shoal to attract the eye when you first look at the tank until you spot the oddballs which subsequently hold the attention thereafter


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## xyra (Apr 26, 2007)

Reptile-newb said:


> Try a few Distichodus affinis, a medium sized shoaling fish native to the Congo basin, and a very interesting species to keep. Sadly it is rare in the hobby.
> 
> There are tons of african cichlids like A. Thomasi, that might be a good idea if you like them. They are relatively common in the hobby.


Distichodus affinis are beautiful fish, but remember like all Distichodus species they will decimate any plants in seconds


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## Cleopatra the Royal (Nov 29, 2008)

What do you reakon about the catfish?

Harry


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## TUBBS (Mar 16, 2009)

i want to get 6 of the 3 stripe cats (african glass cats?) as we have them at work

the african bullhead looks ok, but i'm torn between that, upside down catfish and some syno species, such as featherfin, flavitaeniata, could get a couple of congica as we have 2 in

but i'm not sure really

the GF has expressed a liking of the yellow tailed congo's, over normal ones and red eye tetra as we have them in stock, thinking of adding 12 for now and seeing how it looks

got some pics as fish went in tonight, but i need to get some backing for it, but i'm not off until wednesday so have to wait till then as its like half the price of where i'm at all week

will upload pics tomorrow night


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## TUBBS (Mar 16, 2009)

heres some pics taken on friday night










my 12" reedfish


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## Stan193 (May 27, 2009)

*Polypterous*

Hey Tubbs,
I had one of those polypterous delhazi alien monster things and theyre a mennace, mine tried to eat a 10" synodontis decorus, it chewed the barbels off it and it chewed the eyes off a mystus. I'd take it out if you havent already otherwise it will eat everything, I dont know the other bichir without googling it. Im assuming its another polypterous so likely to be the same. Reed fish are fine though with all but small fish, I have some, theyre great. Knife fish are nasty too but I dont know too much about them, I know theyll scoff small fish at least.


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## TUBBS (Mar 16, 2009)

that would be why i'm not keeping small fish mate...

i've looked after 14" bichirs as thick as your wrist so i know how big they can get as well, if anything my delhezi bichir is the most placed and had its right pectoral fin bitten off by the reedfish about 2 months back and it is about half grown back atm so looks like nemo's fins

i've also had the african knifefish for 18 months without problems, but will bare what you said about all the fish in mind


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## Stan193 (May 27, 2009)

Maybe you got friendly delhazi and i got a psycho then, I've only had the one and that was enogh lol, theyre pretty unusual looking things though.


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## xyra (Apr 26, 2007)

Stan193 said:


> Maybe you got friendly delhazi and i got a psycho then, I've only had the one and that was enogh lol, theyre pretty unusual looking things though.


I've never had an aggressive polypterus (currently got 7 polys including delhezi, but have had more in the past.)

They are predatory but not aggreesive in general, although there is always the possiblility of one which is - this would be a rarity however. ropefish as you say are incredibally placid.


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## xyra (Apr 26, 2007)

shipra said:


> giraffe catfish that's a great idea


Only the dwarf though, the normal giraffe cat will outgrow a 200l tank in a matter of months!


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## ctarry (Jan 24, 2007)

afican knife fish are the more friendly of the family. they even left my neons alone : victory:
its the knife fish from asia (clowns and asain knife) which aren't very friendly

how big are your polys?
i don't think the kribs will last long, or congos, unless you get some big ones. 

Ctenopoma should be ok, but nothing is safe with bichirs...

...i had an 8" ornate bichir with a large Ctenopoma, which was far too big for the ornate to eat, he still had a go when it was feeding time, ripped out one of its eyes, died 2 days later. he also tried his luck with a 6" severum, which was very thick bodied, thankfully he was OK.
bichir will try to eat anything, as they have crap eyesight

i did also have a large senegal bichir, he use to eat sand eels that were as big as himself

I think a Dwarf Giraffe Catfish would be decent and some Synodontis sp.
wharf aquatics always have a good selection of these in stock. but having too many bottom dwellers, the bichirs wouldn't be too happy

as for the african glass cats, again, these wouldn't last too long with bichirs


overall though, personally, i think a shoal of large congos so they provide more movement in the mid water, and that would do.


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## TUBBS (Mar 16, 2009)

they are only like 4" or so atm, maybe 5" so congos etc should be fine s they be fully grown

plus the cherry barb will let me know well in advance of them approaching a large enough size to predate upon the congos etc


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## TUBBS (Mar 16, 2009)

oh and i've just boiled 2 litre jugs of oak leaves i;ve had drying in the conservatory for the last 2.5 weeks, got 2 jugs left to do tomorrow, then it's out to cut some beech leaves to mix in, got a few cherry laurel leaves drying to add later on, but only a few as a variety side as the chemical within the sap turns to cyanide in water, but most should be removed via boiling, but as with my other leaves they will go past my "canary" first before hitting the africans


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## ctarry (Jan 24, 2007)

TUBBS said:


> they are only like 4" or so atm, maybe 5"


:flrt:

any pics of them?


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## TUBBS (Mar 16, 2009)

only ones are these



















not the best but they wouldn't sit still and then i got bored of taking pics


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## TUBBS (Mar 16, 2009)

had to move the pictures to a different folder on photobucket as they were in wrong one

so the full tank shot and reed fish are missing so here they are



















this tank may be moving into the new extension were building (removing conservatory as it's either too hot or too cold) so next time i'm adding pond aquatic soil to the base at about 1-2cm thick mixed with fine gravel as a rooting medium and then fine gravel on top at 1" thick at the back 3/4 of the tank and fine sand half inch thick at front


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