African Community Tank

[NOLANANO]

My LFS has Leopard Bushfish in and they look amazing. I was wondering if anyone on the board knows of some suitable tankmates for this fish? Preferably other African fish as I'd like to keep things somewhat "Biotope-y".  Maybe Kribensis? Are there any more affordable African schooling fish than Congo Tetra?

This will be in a 75G planted tank.

[Tlindsey]

On 8/12/2024 at 11:18 AM, NOLANANO said:

My LFS has Leopard Bushfish in and they look amazing. I was wondering if anyone on the board knows of some suitable tankmates for this fish? Preferably other African fish as I'd like to keep things somewhat "Biotope-y".  Maybe Kribensis? Are there any more affordable African schooling fish than Congo Tetra?

This will be in a 75G planted tank.

I recommend fish that can't be swallowed. The leopard Bushfish has a large mouth. @NOLANANO

[NOLANANO]

Doing a little research and what are thoughts on these 4 inhabitants:

African Butterfly Fish 

Leopard Bush Fish

Rope Fish

Kribensis

If I feel like I need a schooler I will either go with the Congo Tetra or I will go outside Africa and do Tiger Barbs.  I can't find a ton of info on all of these fish so someone let me know if this will be a disaster of a combo.

Edit: I am no making any purchases in the near future, just trying to figure out what I want to do next. Other Ideas: Betta Sorority, African Cichlid Tank, Rainbow tank. The Rainbow tank is looking interesting because my LFS has a ton of them and I never realized their were slimmer bodied schooling Rainbows. Do all Rainbows school? Meaning do I need multiple of every kind I get or can I get one Bosmani, One Madagascar, etc?

Edited August 12 by NOLANANO

[JoshWash1026]

On 8/12/2024 at 11:18 AM, NOLANANO said:

My LFS has Leopard Bushfish in and they look amazing. I was wondering if anyone on the board knows of some suitable tankmates for this fish? Preferably other African fish as I'd like to keep things somewhat "Biotope-y".  Maybe Kribensis? Are there any more affordable African schooling fish than Congo Tetra?

This will be in a 75G planted tank.

Crazy!! I’m doing the same biotope. I’m getting

Congo tetras and African moon tetras

(there’s a couple variants of Congo tetras and other African tetras and barbs that are hard to find and expensive)

Synodontis Eupterus or Nigriventis

African Brown Knife (xenomythus nigri)

You could do Ropefish. I have 2, but I wouldn’t recommend a group of them due to size. 

I already have the baby Leopard bush fish, 2 rope fish and 1 African butterfly fish in the tank. 
Mine is also 75 g

Edited August 14 by JoshWash1026

[NOLANANO]

They are all compatible and leave each other alone? Do I need to get multiple bush fish or butterfly fish? Do they eat flake and/or pellets?

I was leaning more toward getting some rainbows but I am definitely interested in the African tank.

Maybe I can do both and use Madagascar Rainbow fish as my schoolers.

Edited August 14 by NOLANANO

[Lennie]

On 8/12/2024 at 8:07 PM, NOLANANO said:

Other Ideas: Betta Sorority

I have no experience with others but I have experience with this one.

 

Trust me, and skip the betta sorrority. I had very peaceful females that lived together happily for long enough until one day they decided they hate each other. 

 

Sororities do fail at some point as these fish are not meant to be living together all the time. At best scenario, they tolerate each other until they don't want to.

I had an option to spare the bettas I have to my other nano tanks as I had many tanks in the fishroom. Without such back up plan, trying is even riskier.

[NOLANANO]

Yeah every time I go down the Betta Sorority road, I see stories about how they don't really work long term.  The only real potential success story I have seen is a guy that had 20 wild type bettas in a tank. His theory is that the colors bred into them make them more likely to catch each others eye and be aggressive. He thought that wild types were more likely to ignore each other. Given that my draw to the Betta sorority is the colors, that solution doesn't work for me.

I bought a few shrimp a few months ago and thought they were all eaten by my Apistos (RIP) but since the Apistos are gone, they have resurfaced in the last couple of weeks. I definitely have a small population of around 10 and saw at least one female with eggs.  Given this revelation, I think am going to stick to smaller fish and see how it goes. I am looking at getting schools Furcata Rainbows and/or Celebese Rainbows. Maybe a Killi Fish or 2 if I can find some that I like. Boost my number of Panda Cories. Maybe some Khuli Loaches and/or some Hillstream Loaches.  Just go for peaceful fish that I think look nice.