David R

+1 to what Barrie said...

I doubt if he'd tell you they weren't containment or he'd have a million people pestering him to buy some. Best people to ask would be the authorities, but even then I wouldn't expect a straight answer...

It really depends if the two get on, often with aggressive fish two is a bad number. But if they did, a tank of that size would be a better home than 95% of silver aros end up in....

^thats about right, a 6x2x2' should last a couple of years until the aro is about 2', then you'll need something bigger. 8x3x2' will house it for many years after that.

Wild types are awesome, the fancy line-bred ones interest me about as much as fancy goldfish and long-finned oscars.

I've got earth eaters (heckelii and "surinamensis"), severums, uaru, dats, ornate bichir, royal plec and a tyre track eel with my green aro. Those fish are mostly mid to lower level fish and should all do well with aros.

most medium-large fish will work fine, almost anything that is too big to be eaten, although it does depend on the temperment of the aro. If its not eating pellets you should keep it alone in a smaller tank until it does, train them young and don't spoil them. Just remember they will grow fast, probably around 1.5-2" per month at that size up to ~20", be prepared for a 2' fish in a couple of years...

Got oxymoron? As Barrie said, you get what you pay for, I've stopped buying those cheap aqua-one heaters and only buy Jagers now because the aquaones are inaccurate and don't last. When you're considering the price difference between heaters, consider the cost of the livestock in your tank. Also, it might be a bit overkill on a 165L tank, but could be worth while if you've got some expensive fish, two smaller heaters are better than one bigger one, gives you some sort of backup if one dies.

What are the dimensions? You'd probably want a minimum footprint of 36x18"for a single small bichir, height doesnt really matter.

Thats more of a dutch-style planted tank than a south american tank. Japes from MFK has some beautiful looking south american tanks, I can't post pics because they're too big, so check them out here; http://www.monsterfishkeepers.com/forum ... p?t=230733 Video; Your 180L tank would make a nice little SA style community tank with some wood, a few plants, your neons and kuhliis (even though they aren't south american) and some dwarf cichlids like Apistos, keyholes, flags, rams etc. If you want to keep the platties you could also get a south american leaf fish to keep their babies under control... ;

Most likely, most fish unless wild caught are more tolerant of "average" water parameters. If your tank water is quite acidic I'd suggest putting some coral or shell in the tank to help stop the pH from dropping further, but wouldn't worry about buffering it when doing a water change. Its much better to have it consistent than right on what some expert says they experience in habitat...

Silvers would be $5, but I don't think the RTG's would have been that cheap! (unfortunately!)

unless they don't actually come from hard water environments... :lol:

They weren't when I got them, which is why I decided to give them live food. They've now got about 30 krib fry thanks to phyrestaata, and are looking a lot fuller. When they're hungry they will eat during the day and actively stalk fish, cool to watch and lightning fast when they strike.

180 what? Most of the smaller upper jaw species (senegal, delhezi, palmas) we get should be fine with larger lumpheads.

Sounds like it should be alright, are you just getting one? 10 neons lasted less than 24 hours (7 were gone in under 12) with my 3...

The worst ads ever have to be the premature ejaculation ads on the radio!!! And they highlight just how unequal things are between men and woman, can you imagine them advertising 'womans issues' in a similar fashion? "Girls; who do you think a guy is going to choose, the busty double D or the flat chested ironing board? Sorry girls, the guys will go for the double D every time, go get some implants today!"..... :roll: Oh, and the big island woman going to get a smear test, probably my most loathed ad on tv for more than one reason...

As Ryan said, not all african cichlids come from rift lakes with hard water. Buffalo heads come from the congo river basin and prefer neutral to acidic water. Would be good in a riverine biotope tank with kribs, congo tetras, bichirs (smaller species), ctenopoma, etc. Sandy substrate, driftwood, anubias etc.

Should be alright, unless you want to fill it full of big rocks or something. Less of a margin for error too, if you drop something there is less supporting the bottom...

I wouldn't count on it, they are slow growing and small, so it could end up as food for the ctenopoma, bichir or knife. Chances are it will probably require live food first, which would probably result in you having to feed live to the other carnivores. IMO they're better suited to a species tank, at least until they're a bit bigger and taking dead foods.

All the fish you mentioned should be fine, generally speaking. Mind you, I had a problem with my 12"red spot plec chasing my 16"black aro around the top of the tank at night, so nothing is guaranteed. Most medium-large fish should be alright with the average silver aro, just remember the aro will probably grow at 1-2"per month up to about 20-24" so slower growing tankmates will need to start off bigger than the aro.

2 is usually considered to be a bad number, 3-5 would be better to spread the aggression as with two if you end up with one more dominant than the other it will get picked on and suffer. Its a bit of a gamble, but if you keep a close eye on them and are ready to separate them if needed you should give it a go. That tank should be alright for a few years at least, if well filtered.

That fresh up ad was awesome! But the best by far have to be the instant kiwi ads with the mexican doug... Most annoying ads I've seen recently were the TV2 ads with the txtlsh in them, took me a while to figure out what "ton" and "tmw" meant...

cuisses de grenouille

Wants something different but was looking at an altezza???? :-?