New to larger fish stocking?

[Nermer_pepper]

Hello all

so I have finally convinced my gf to allow me to swap out some fish and free a 75 gallon which I want to stock a bichir and a few cichlids. I want some opinions on stocking currently I am planning on either a Senegal or delve I bichir and a pair of festivums. I wanted to know if there was anything else I could fit or if that should pretty much be it. I would like to also do a trio of earth eaters if there are any that could fit and I would be willing to downsize to an albino Senegal since I have heard they generally are smaller because of poor genetics.

[H.K.Luterman]

Senegals are a perfect size for a 75 in my opinion. My biggest is about 8.5 inches last I measured and very thick; he's a typical wild type and grew very fast. My albino is TINY comparatively, maybe 5.5 inches. If you did albinos you definitely could do more than one, probably a trio.  

[Gannon]

On 2/1/2022 at 9:35 AM, H.K.Luterman said:

Senegals are a perfect size for a 75 in my opinion. My biggest is about 8.5 inches last I measured and very thick; he's a typical wild type and grew very fast. My albino is TINY comparatively, maybe 5.5 inches. If you did albinos you definitely could do more than one, probably a trio.  

Do they max out at that size or does growth just slow down? I've thought about getting one of these for my 125. 

[H.K.Luterman]

On 2/1/2022 at 11:11 AM, Gannon said:

Do they max out at that size or does growth just slow down? I've thought about getting one of these for my 125. 

From everything I've read, they slow down considerably at 8-9 inches. The males seem to max out at about there, and the females can get about 10 inches (both of the two females I had seemed stunted though). There's some outliers that have reached a foot in length.  My big one grew very fast until he hit 8 inches within the first year. He's now about 4 yrs old and has BARELY gotten any bigger. I doubt my little albino guy will get much bigger than where he's at, I've had him for a year.

[Gannon]

On 2/1/2022 at 11:24 AM, H.K.Luterman said:

From everything I've read, they slow down considerably at 8-9 inches. The males seem to max out at about there, and the females can get about 10 inches (both of the two females I had seemed stunted though). There's some outliers that have reached a foot in length.  My big one grew very fast until he hit 8 inches within the first year. He's now about 4 yrs old and has BARELY gotten any bigger. I doubt my little albino guy will get much bigger than where he's at, I've had him for a year.

Are they at all destructive to the substrate bed or plants or anything. One of the other things preventing me from getting one is worry about uprooting plants and shoveling sand into my canister filter input which doesnt go any higher and is a bit close to the sand bed. 

[H.K.Luterman]

On 2/1/2022 at 11:28 AM, Gannon said:

Are they at all destructive to the substrate bed or plants or anything. One of the other things preventing me from getting one is worry about uprooting plants and shoveling sand into my canister filter input which doesnt go any higher and is a bit close to the sand bed. 

I've kept 4 senegals so far, and none of them have been destructive. I had one female who loved to dig up root tabs and eat them, but she wouldn't do any damage to the plants. As for disrupting the sand, my big guy likes to do this when he's excited/happy:

 

It does make an eventual divot in the sand, since he likes to do it in the same spot. 

[Gannon]

On 2/1/2022 at 11:55 AM, H.K.Luterman said:

I've kept 4 senegals so far, and none of them have been destructive. I had one female who loved to dig up root tabs and eat them, but she wouldn't do any damage to the plants. As for disrupting the sand, my big guy likes to do this when he's excited/happy:

 

It does make an eventual divot in the sand, since he likes to do it in the same spot. 

Glad to hear they arent destructive. Now I have to decide between one of these and dwarf petricola catfish, right when I had thought I had made up my mind haha. They seem like they have a lot of personality and wide appeal. 

[Nermer_pepper]

On 2/1/2022 at 12:55 PM, H.K.Luterman said:

I've kept 4 senegals so far, and none of them have been destructive. I had one female who loved to dig up root tabs and eat them, but she wouldn't do any damage to the plants. As for disrupting the sand, my big guy likes to do this when he's excited/happy:

 

It does make an eventual divot in the sand, since he likes to do it in the same spot. 

What sort of sand would you suggest for them and plants? also do you have any tank mate suggestions? after more googling I believe I will skip the festivums and get a trio of Red Head Tapajos but I still want 1 or 2 more fish for the tank. 

[H.K.Luterman]

On 2/1/2022 at 12:49 PM, Nermer_pepper said:

What sort of sand would you suggest for them and plants? also do you have any tank mate suggestions? after more googling I believe I will skip the festivums and get a trio of Red Head Tapajos but I still want 1 or 2 more fish for the tank. 

Mine are on a mix of Black Diamond Blasting Sand and some sort of black sand from a chain pet store. I can take a current pic of their tank for you, but the plants are a big amazon sword, red tiger lotus, jungle val, cryptocoryne wendtii, bolbitis heudelotii, java fern windelov, and floating hornwort (and lots of duckweed). 

The glare is terrible this time of day, my apologies! The big ditch in the sand is from the blood parrot.



Current tank mates are a ctenopoma and a blood parrot cichlid; the blood parrot is the only one who can be disruptive to the plants. She's also very aggressive, and I've had to remove an electric blue acara because of her. I've been thinking on adding a schooling fish of some sort (maybe congo tetras or a small group of synodontis multipuncatis hybrids), but I'm always slow to make any changes to this tank until I've REALLY thought about what I want to do.

This is a good basic list for tank mates to start with. Basically anything that's too large to be a snack, but not too aggressive; senegal bichirs are just goofy, derpy guys who mostly want to be left alone. 

Albert's Synodontis -Synodontis alberti
Angelicus -Synodontis angelicus
Big-Eyed Synodontis- Synodontis pleurops
Brichard's Synodontis- Synodontis brichardi
Cuckoo Synodontis -Synodontis multipunctatus
Decorated Synodontis- Synodontis decorus
Featherfin Synodontis- Synodontis eupterus
Moustache Synodontis- Synodontis membranaceus
One-Spot Synodontis- Synodontis notatus
Payne's Synodontis- Mochokiella paynei
Striped Synodontis- Synodontis flavitaeniatus
Upside-Down Catfish -Synodontis nigriventris
Lace Catfish- Synodontis nigrita
Liver Catfish-Heteropneustes fossilis
Black Lancer-Bagrichthys hypselopterus

PLECOS
Bristlenose-Ancistrus dolichopterus

CHARACINS
Silver dollar-Metynnis argenteus
Distichodus notospilus-Distichodus notospilus
Congo tetra-Phenacogrammus interruptus
Black-Barred Myleus-Myleus schomburgki
Filament tetra-Bryconaethiop microstoma

LABYRINTH FISHES
Ctenopoma .acutirostre-Ctenopoma .acutirostre
Ctenopoma oxyrhynchus-Ctenopoma oxyrhynchus
Ctenopoma kingsleyae-Ctenopoma kingsleyae

CYPRINIDS
Bala Shark-Balantiocheilos melanopterus
Red-Finned Cigar Shark-Leptobarbus hoevenii
Tinfoil Barb-Barbodes schwanefeldii
Chinese Algae Eater-Gyrinocheilus aymonieri
Clown Loach-Botia macracantha

MISC.
African mudfish-Phractolaemus ansorgei
Black Ghost Knifefish -Apteronotus albifrons
Elephantnose-Gnathonemus petersii
African butterfly-Pantondon bucholzi
African Knifefish-Xenomystus nigri

[Nermer_pepper]

On 2/1/2022 at 2:24 PM, H.K.Luterman said:

Mine are on a mix of Black Diamond Blasting Sand and some sort of black sand from a chain pet store. I can take a current pic of their tank for you, but the plants are a big amazon sword, red tiger lotus, jungle val, cryptocoryne wendtii, bolbitis heudelotii, java fern windelov, and floating hornwort (and lots of duckweed). 

The glare is terrible this time of day, my apologies! The big ditch in the sand is from the blood parrot.



Current tank mates are a ctenopoma and a blood parrot cichlid; the blood parrot is the only one who can be disruptive to the plants. She's also very aggressive, and I've had to remove an electric blue acara because of her. I've been thinking on adding a schooling fish of some sort (maybe congo tetras or a small group of synodontis multipuncatis hybrids), but I'm always slow to make any changes to this tank until I've REALLY thought about what I want to do.

This is a good basic list for tank mates to start with. Basically anything that's too large to be a snack, but not too aggressive; senegal bichirs are just goofy, derpy guys who mostly want to be left alone. 

Albert's Synodontis -Synodontis alberti
Angelicus -Synodontis angelicus
Big-Eyed Synodontis- Synodontis pleurops
Brichard's Synodontis- Synodontis brichardi
Cuckoo Synodontis -Synodontis multipunctatus
Decorated Synodontis- Synodontis decorus
Featherfin Synodontis- Synodontis eupterus
Moustache Synodontis- Synodontis membranaceus
One-Spot Synodontis- Synodontis notatus
Payne's Synodontis- Mochokiella paynei
Striped Synodontis- Synodontis flavitaeniatus
Upside-Down Catfish -Synodontis nigriventris
Lace Catfish- Synodontis nigrita
Liver Catfish-Heteropneustes fossilis
Black Lancer-Bagrichthys hypselopterus

PLECOS
Bristlenose-Ancistrus dolichopterus

CHARACINS
Silver dollar-Metynnis argenteus
Distichodus notospilus-Distichodus notospilus
Congo tetra-Phenacogrammus interruptus
Black-Barred Myleus-Myleus schomburgki
Filament tetra-Bryconaethiop microstoma

LABYRINTH FISHES
Ctenopoma .acutirostre-Ctenopoma .acutirostre
Ctenopoma oxyrhynchus-Ctenopoma oxyrhynchus
Ctenopoma kingsleyae-Ctenopoma kingsleyae

CYPRINIDS
Bala Shark-Balantiocheilos melanopterus
Red-Finned Cigar Shark-Leptobarbus hoevenii
Tinfoil Barb-Barbodes schwanefeldii
Chinese Algae Eater-Gyrinocheilus aymonieri
Clown Loach-Botia macracantha

MISC.
African mudfish-Phractolaemus ansorgei
Black Ghost Knifefish -Apteronotus albifrons
Elephantnose-Gnathonemus petersii
African butterfly-Pantondon bucholzi
African Knifefish-Xenomystus nigri

That is an amazing looking tank. I have many of those plants in a tank that i already use the black blasting sand in so that is also good info. Thank you for the list as well I was eyeballing the African butterflys already for some top action. I believe the tapajos should be small/peaceful enough to go fine and some colorful plecos sound pretty good as well.

[Beardedbillygoat1975]

I would consider a larger barb like a mascara barb or hill trout for the top of the tank and I think a small group of tapajos and the birchir would work. The only issue would be at feeding times you'll have to feed the barbs first and while they are doing their thing put in the food for the bottom fish. 

I have a festivum and love him. Great personality, he's become the most benign tank boss in history. 

[Nermer_pepper]

On 2/1/2022 at 2:56 PM, Beardedbillygoat1975 said:

I would consider a larger barb like a mascara barb or hill trout for the top of the tank and I think a small group of tapajos and the birchir would work. The only issue would be at feeding times you'll have to feed the barbs first and while they are doing their thing put in the food for the bottom fish. 

I have a festivum and love him. Great personality, he's become the most benign tank boss in history. 

funny thing is I am actually getting rid of my school of a dozen odessa barbs right now to make room for everything. I definitely want some mid/top action but just have not decided what would suit me right now. I plan to upgrade to a 125 at some point so a festivum pair or other larger fish is not out of the question I would just have to tear down multiple tanks in order to move them to make room which I just don't have the time currently to take on that big of a project. That will be for next year after I graduate.

[Beardedbillygoat1975]

Right now you have a group of fish that love the bottom of the tank, the tapajos will stay toward the front if that's where the open sand will be, the synodontis will be in a cave or surfing the glass and the birchir will be hiding in and among the plants basking on occasion but typically are solitary. 75 g's are tall - 22" tall so you'll have a ton of the water column empty. I think that this is something you can decide later in all honesty but for me I always want some action in each 1/3 of the tank.