David R

Of course they can be kept with cichlids, there are plenty of cichlid species that share the same river syspem they inhabit. Infact anything that's not from a rift lake requiring water much harder than neutral should do fine.

Can you clean one in under 30 seconds without disturbing the bio media??

My uaru's ate nearly every last trace of it, now they've started on the driftwood!

That doesn't really make sense, because you'd have to have a lower water level in the tank to make room for the extra when the sump is turned off. Also you wouldn't get the benefit of having an increased volume of water from having a large sump sitting under the tank, and lastly I'd much rather have a small weir and a hole in the back of the tank than a big ugly pump sitting in there. Sump is the best way to filter a big tank, period. Anything 4' and over I set up will have a sump. So easy to clean, can get a massive volume of media in there (compaired to a canister), and you can also get rid of ugly heaters etc in the tank. If you can't fit one big sump under your tank then two smaller ones would be a good idea. Work out how much water they'll need to hold (usually around the footprint of the tank X 1" plus a bit for in the pipes etc). If weight isn't an issue, then bigger is better, more water = good. I've got both my sumps made up by Hollywood, but that won't help you iuf you're in wellington. Any decent tank builder should be able to make one, mine cost around $140.

Finally managed to snap a couple of half decent (at least you can actually see the fish!) photo of the new bichir. Seems to be quite camera shy... *edit* One more taken 5 minutes ago.

If they're cardinals sell them, if they're neons leave them in there. Maybe swap the cardinals for neons.....

Just wait til they grow....

Clown loaches!! I've never had a problem keeping eels with loaches, and they would definatly add colour to the tank. Get a group of around 6-10 in that sized tank.

Mine get big chunks of shrimp, beef heart, cichlid tucker etc, and the odd feeder, but thats not going to be much help to you. Try starve them for a day or two.

Maybe two uaru and a couple of firemouths, could be hecktic if you have a couple of pairs! Or just three uaru.........

There is asian RTC and south american RTC.

If mym memory is still working, I think Jansens Mt Eden used to have a display tank with a big fire eel, big BGK and a heap of rainbows. Had a couple of big pieces of wood and java fern I think. Anyone else remember?

Perhaps in a really big (like thousands of litres) tank you could possibly keep a huge school of something tiny [neons?] with some really big fish (aro's, catfish etc) if they're well fed. I doubt in habitat that a 4' RTC would bother chasing down a school of neons for a snack...

Wouldnt a hundred little rainbows flying around drive the poor eel nuts??

DATS!!! You know you want some, get a group of about 4-6, would fill the 6'er up nicely!

Those tanks are expensive when you start looking at biiig tanks, get a plain old boring rectangular glass tank (preferably with an overflow for a sump). Sharn pretty much summed it up, 6'x3'x2' would be a good size for those fish. Yes the CK might eventually get too big for it (so would the aro, one day...) but it would take a very long time. As for the plants, when you're keeping large fish and feeding large volumes of food, I found plants can make the tank a lot harder to clean. I used to have big pieces of java fern in my tank and it would just collect soooo much sh!t. Bare tanks are easier to keep clean and give monsters the maximum swimming space they need, although I don't think I could ever keep fish in a completely bare tank, a few pieces of wood and a thin layer of sand look so much better!

I'll try get some tomorrow after I do a water change, have to try get a decent pic to show off the new eel!!

From what I've read on MFK I think the fire eel wouldnt stand a chance with a jardini. I agree width is more important than height for aro's, a 6'x30"x20" tank would be much better than a 6'x2'x2' tank IMO, similar volume but bigger footprint..

I don't really agree with that, I had my black in a 5'x2'x2' tank for over two years with a school of CL's, uaru's, syno's, silver dollers and it was one of the best looking aro's I've ever seen (if I may say so myself :lol: ). I think blacks are a bit more laid back than silvers, and definatly a lot more than jardini.

I have a friend in the US who has been stung by his, ended up having surgery and serious problems with the wound not healing because of something on the barb I think. Yet another thing on my wish-list I'll never be able to keep. Anyway, this thread is useless without pics!!!

At a guess around 20cm long. They seem to grow at different rates, a friend has a small delhezi he got from the same lot and its still tiny despite being fed plenty and kept in good clean water.

Usually beef heart, prawn or frozen bloodworms/discus tucker etc, anything meaty really. I've seen him eat shrimp pellets too. One thing to watch out for is eating gravel. I noticed mine doing it and straight away removed all the gravel as the size of the stones, well I can only imagine what they felt like coming out! I keep him on fine 'grit' now, HFF sell it, and some pool shops stock it as pool filter sand. BTW where/when did you get it? Still looks quite small compaired to mine, and I'm guessing they both would have come from the same lot.

Yeah but by the time the eel is big enough to eat the kuhliis and barbs you'll be so in love with it you wont care! I think you'll need something a bit bigger than a 60L tank... Pic from the thread Snookie posted My latest aquisition: The bin is 18" across (inside) so I'm guessing the eel is 16-17". He's only been in the tank for just over an hour and he's already eating beef heart from my hand!

Sump is where its at! No other way to filter a big tank IMO, increases the system volume, easy to incresae flow and surface area, airates the water better than a canister and is so easy to clean - throw away old filter wool, insert new filter wool, done. As for the big poo's, make sure you have good water circulation so they get sucked up rather than accumulating in dead spots, and/or do more regular water changes.

It looks like a little P. palmas, same as mine! I keep mine with three uaru, a tiger dat, clown loaches and (in about an hours time) a big fire eel. Mine seems to be pretty laid back, I think they'd be alright with anything big enough to avoid being a snack, but nothing too teritorial or aggressive. That said, I've seen photos on MFK of people keeping bichirs with CA cichlids (and I've I have a friend who keeps a large ornate with a big texas cichlid, pics) , however I wouldn't recomend it. Try to train it to hand-feed, thats about the only way mine seems to get food, too slow/lazy.blind to compete with a hungry dat, 3 uaru and 4 big loaches!!