So, I've got a lovely-looking AR980 (215L) tank sitting next to me that will soon be home to a couple of my old Ctenopoma, (A full-grown leopard Ctenopoma, Mr Invisible, and a larger, unidentified Ctenopoma, Goliath), and I'm starting to brainstorm their future tank-mates. The tank will eventually be heavily planted and sports some big pieces of driftwood. I'd love some feedback on the fish I'm already interested in and any suggestions you might have.

Fish I'm currently considering, (but not all together!!):

- Ornate Ctenopoma [Ctenopoma ansorgii]

- Upside-down Catfish

- Pantadon Butterfly fish

- Blue Gularis / King Killie (Not sure how readily available they are these days)

- Kuhli loaches (Big ones?)

- Checker barbs (My favourite schooling fish)

- Elephant nose

- Kribensis (Pair)

- More leopard Ctenopoma

- Pekoltia sp L140 (Or some other small, pretty pleco)

- A school of loaches!

I also stumbled across some youtube videos of african mudfish, but I don't think they're available in NZ. I'd love to be proved wrong on this!

Edit - Thought adding the size of the tank might help.

Your kind of heavily planted or my kind of heavily planted. Remember you said my fish were pressed up against the glass. :tears:

I have mine in a 650l planted tank and would say definitely have lotsa plants, they really appreciate nooks and crannies to lurk in. My boys tankmates are 4 kribensis, a featherfin syno, a 'leopard' syno, 16 black ruby barbs, a pantadon butterfly and 5 bristlenoses. The ctenopoma chases the barbs if they annoy him but otherwise there are no issues.

Other good tankmates are the congo tetra, lamp eye tetra, or the african suckermouth catfish. Make sure they're too big to be lunch though

if your after large Kuhili Loachs I have one in my com. tank your welcom to for $5. May take me some time to find it and catch it though lol.

It's about 3yrs old now and fully grown

What?? No bichirs in your list? Get bichirs, delhezis or senegals for the 980, ornates get too big. you could do 3-4. Kuhli loaches will get eaten by ctenopomas.

Best stocklist IMO.

Ctenopomas

2-3 pantadons

small school of congos

3-4 bichirs

and maybe a pair of kribs

congos and kribs have to be a certain size depending how big the bichirs are.

Also - hoplo catfish. NEED to have them in that tank.

If Falkor is in there, that's a bichir (albino).

@p44 - Not so heavily planted my fish are smushed against the glass. 8) But enough so that they can hide all day if they want to. I don't like Hoplo's so won't be getting them.

@BigBossPants - So all your kribs get along okay with the leaf fish? And the pantadon? Are the syno's slow growers or do you think will I end up with a huge fatty within a few months?

@waterlogged - Thanks for the offer, I might just PM you if I find some more decently sized ones.

@Fruju - No bichirs on my list yet, no. :oops: My old albino sen is currently living in a friend's tank and I'd be able to get him back if I wanted, it's just that he's a giant pig and will probably take chunks out of whatever else I try to introduce into the tank! Bichirs are still one of my favourite fish, but since I get to work with mudfish at work, (They are REALLY neat fish!), my greedy guts sen has been put to shame. If I don't find any smaller fish that I like or will live with the leafies happily, then I'll get him back and add another sen I think.

Thanks for all the suggestions guys, they're very helpful. =]

Looks like congos are a good tetra to have?

sweet as no rush

There is a little aggression between the kribs but leafy ignores them. I have crypts and moss and java fern quite low in the tank so the kribs hide out down there. For your tank size I would stick to one pair of kribs, they can rule a tank when breeding. I cant comment on the synos growth rate as I got them at the size they are now, but judging from their appetite I would say you could end up with a fatty pretty soon. Perhaps an 'upside down catfish' would be a better syno species than a featherfin?

Well I'll definitely be getting some upside-down catfish now. I'm thinking I'll get four, as everything I've read suggests they prefer to be in groups, and see how they go with the leafies.

I'll also be on the look out for a nice pair of kribs, I think it'll be neat if they breed. Thanks for sharing, BigBossPants.

How about a small eel?

Eels are neat! They can get quite tame.

The wild kribs look very nice, there were some on here for sale recently I think. You will have to post pics when its running

Well all those ideas are going out the window. The leafies are now settled into their new tank but...

They're just so BIG!!

I'd been told they'd grown, but boy did I underestimate by how much. The leopard ctenopoma is maybe 15cm+, and the unidentified ctenopoma is at least 17cm+. I think the 200L actually looks too small for them especially after being in a 700L for the last year! So... any one with a big tank want to give a lovely pair of leaf fish a home? :nilly:

oh Ange, i'm sorry i made them to big .. i would offer to take them back.

Our big tanks are up for sale, if you wish to upgrade your 200 litre

Haha, don't tempt me, 'else I'll end up with a living room full of tanks! I'm not even sure the floor could support more than one at a time... :tears:

I'll just look around for a bigger home for them, somewhere where they can keep on growing and enjoying their space. You don't want to keep that 700L of yours and have them back, do ya?

Haha umm no, it would be to hard to restock the tanks to how we had them .. they are all going.

I was alittle shocked seeing how big they were in the container, they didn't look that big in the tank. Glad you brought 3 different sizes with you, hate to imagine them in the smaller container LOL!!