African biotope

[ewertb]

I'm already dreaming my next tank and am inclined towards an African biotope with such lovely species like an African Butterfly, Armored Bicher, Upside Down Catfish, an Elephant Nose and to round of some Spotted Climbing Perch.

Can anyone advise on the availability of the Bicher and the Perch? The others I've seen in my lfs before. Also, are these species compatible with each other?

[SalmonAfrica]

Hey

This is a great idea, and I had an African tank running not so long ago. It's a great setup that gets the guest talking.

Within KZN, you shouldn't have a hard time finding bichir - I've seen three species avaliable, those being the Senegal bichir (Polypterus senegalus), the saddled bichir (Polypterus endlicheri), the ornate bichir (Polypterus ornatipinnis) and the marbled bichir (Polypterus palmas).

The Senegals are by far the most common and the cheapest, avaliable at most pet stores nearly all year round. Saddled bichirs tend to cost more and, here in Durban, tend to only pop up once or twice a year. The ornate and marbled bichir I have only ever seen once or twice each, and in both cases they were quite pricy. However, this does mean that they're avaliable. I've heard that ornate bichirs are actually very common on the import lists, but stores are reluctant to bring them in due to their cost.

Spotted climbing perch aren't rare, per se, but I haven't seen them recently in KZN (then again I haven't been looking for them). I have seen them avaliable in other provinces, so maybe you might consider dropping either Dolphin or Altum a PM regarding this species (both are sponsers/vendors on this site).

As far as compatability goes, you'll have to keep a few things in mind. Bichirs are pretty decent predators, and once they can get their mouth around something, they normally end up doing so. And for the species mentioned about, expect a fish of 20cm or more - the catfish may end up as a meal. Perch also have suprisingly large mouths, so keep an eye on them too, especially with smaller fish in the tank.

Besides that, just a word of caution about both the elephant nose and the perch: both are difficult to get feeding. Not only are they initially rather shy feeders, both might only accept frozen or live foods at first. Any competition in the tank can lead to starvation of the mentioned fish. Be sure to mix them with docile, non-competitive fish.

Regards
Tim