The "Ultimate Combo" for an African Biotope

[Mobius1230]

Hello all! This is my first thread here.
I've been thinking that sometime, if I get enough $$, I'd like to get a 300 gallon (96X30X24) with bichirs and puffers. Some that I was thinking of are:
Puffers:
1 Tetraodon mbu
2 Tetraodon liniatus
3 Tetraodon miurus
1 Tetraodon pustulatus

Bichir:
3 Polypterus delhezi
3 Polypterus endlicheri endlicheri
2 Polypterus ornatipinnis
2 Polypterus lapradei

The only problem is.... I'm not sure how this would work so let me know if there is something wrong here.

Thanks

[Pufferpunk]

You'd need about 2,000 gallons & several walls of glass to seperate them from killing each other.

Oh & BTW,

[Jase]

the problem I see is way too many big fish for that tank. sorry.
Mbu has a recommended minimum tank size of 1,000 gallons...
the rest are all quite aggressive with large bioloads...

EDIT: welcome to the forum

[blondenblue]

at a guess i would say that 300g is not enough for all the puffers!

[riggers]

No definitely not. It's not even big enough for an mbu on its own. So yeah that's not the best bunch of fish for a home aquarium.

[pufferfreak]

I think he meant which one of those would do best in the 300, obviously they all cannot be kept in a tank that size. A pustulatus for sure, dont know much about bichirs.

[riggers]

Yeah but an mbu is too big, you can't keep two fahakas, you can't keep 3 congos, and it is unlikely you will find a cross river, and it will be very expensive. The bichirs I also don't know about. I'd rethink your plan. Maybe go for a smaller tank and get a fahaka? Or get one tank for a congo. Have a look around in the pufferpedia and read up about all the different species.

[Mobius1230]

Maybe I could just get like 2 miurus and 1 liniatus.

[pufferfreak]

Yes for sure you cannot keep a mbu, 2 fahakas. You may be able to do 3 congos in a 300 as their minimum tank size is a 20, but then again i believe they are very aggressive fish. However i would not mix puffer species unless they are saltwater. I would go with a cross river if you can find one and some cool bichir. Definitly go with the 300 though since once you pick out your puffer and bichir you will be able to get other african fish. Also a puffer is always happy with a bigger tank.

[riggers]

I don't think congos would do well in the same tank. If you can find and afford to get the 300 and a cross river then yeah go for it, but it will be very expensive.

[Mobius1230]

From what I have heard, This sounds like it might work:
3 Tetraodon miurus or 1 Cross River

2 P. delhezi
3 P. endlicheri enldicheri
2 Polypterus ornatipinnis
2 Polypterus lapradei

And maybe like 1 african arowana or som'in (I'm from UT, we drop our T's) like that

[Pufferpunk]

You're never gonna find a true pustulatus in the US. If their tempermant is anything like fahaka, it'll eat the miurus.

[The Bruce]

all of the puffers you want will probably leave the bichers finless or more likely dead, they'll probably eat each other as well, if you want a mixture of a bunch of different fish species i would forget about owning a puffer and go for the bichers.

[Myaj]

Yes, I don't think you're understanding how aggressive these species are, how "dirty" of fish they are when it comes to bioload, and their potential size.

A 300 gallon tank would make a single Fahaka an extremely happy fish, and room for some quick and tough tankmates (personally, I've always wanted to do a 210 with a fahaka and a school of green tiger barbs).

As was said, Pustulus is very very rare, and very very expensive.. and 99 times out of 100 its just a Fahaka with some red in its stripes and someone trying to pass it off as a Cross River. Over the years here, I think we've only seen photos of one, maybe two, true Cross River puffers. Look in the Pufferpedia for photos of one, and unless you find that, don't spend the large amount of $$ they'll be asking for a fahaka with some red spots in its lines.

As far as the smaller lurker species.. it can be done IF you luck out and get a male and female, but as there's no way to sex them, you have to just hope. And even if you get a male and female, if they aren't ready to breed, they may kill each other. No tankmates, because they will kill them.. lurkers are the most vicious of all the puffers IMO. And a 300 gallon tank with two fish that do nothing but hide in the substrate/decor waiting for food will be pretty boring IMO.

[Mobius1230]

So, maybe I'd like a tank w/congos or one w/a fahaka (not together). Is there anything they can live with in say, a 125 (48X24X24)? Preferably African fish. Examples would be nice, I've noticed that a few of you have these fish. I also like Tetraodon baileyi, so same question for them as well (Maybe like 2 or something).