I'd like to fill my 30 gal. tank with a few aggressive fish that eat live fish. What would y'all recommend?

Question

I had considered putting an oscar or two in their but due to their extremly dirty nature I was hoping to stray from them. I had also been pointed in the direction of a needlefish.
Anyone know the details on those fish?

Yes, I'm from Texas.

Answer 1

1 Dwarf pike cichlid (Crenicichla notophthalmus) would work. The two problems you will run into in trying this is most fish eating fish (piscivores) is that they tend to be large and / or very territorial. There are very few that stay small enough to be comfortable in a 30 gallon and even then you will have the problem of territory issues if you try for more than one of them.

http://fish.mongabay.com/other_samerican_cichlids2.htm about 1/3 of the way down the page

Another that would work is the Leopard Ctenopoma (Ctenopoma acutirostre).
http://www.peteducation.com/article.cfm?cls=16&cat=1911&articleid=2635

Of course, you can keep other similar sized fish with these so adding a bristlenose catfish or something similar should work fine.
Hope that helps

MM

Answer 2

Tank is somewhat too small for algae eating fish, incredibly common Plecostomus. I certainly have one that could be a pair of foot long interior the tank beside me. An Apple snail could be superb, Ghost Shrimp are often ok and additionally consume algae, As for different fish. perhaps some platies. they're comparable sized, yet do no longer choose a school. so which you will upload 2, 3 or 4 of them on your tank. Smaller training fish can artwork too, like Neon Tetra sized. a pair of million" person length, so which you will shop a small college in a 10 gal. Ian

Answer 3

Most aggresive fish eating fish will quickly outgrow a 30 gallon tank. The old wives tail that a fish will only grow as large as their tank allows is not true. It may slow the growth but it will not prohibit it.
Your best bet would be smaller african cichlids. such as a Jewel that max out at or below 6 inches. I would only recommend one however. Or you could go with a jack dempsy or an oscar but you will need to plan to upgrade to a larger tank and sooner than you might think. Also never feed feeder goldfish they carry the disease Hole in the Head and are not suitable as they have no nutritial value. Use feeder guppies or white clouds or shrimp. It is always a good idea to have a good base diet to add feeder fish too. I highly recommend hikari gold as a base then use frozen bloodworms/brineshrimp and live feeders as treats. Your fish will be healthier and look better if you do.

Answer 4

Well for a 30 gallon, there are not so many predatory fish that can live in there (cause most get big in size like the arowana). What kind of fish are you thinking of using as feed? If guppies, just find fishes that have big enough mouths to eat em. Exodons (fish eating tetras) are also a possibility. Others are dinosaur eels (bichirs), climbing perches (ctenopoma), and even archerfish.

Answer 5

if you put aggressive fish together in the same tank eventually they will attack and kill each other. Kind of a waste of money if you ask me. Plus most of the aggressive fish that are out there grow pretty large, so they are hard to keep in that size of a tank. If you want an aggressive fish get 1 and get feeders for it, but realize also that when you do this you are basically feeding it garbage because that is all feeders are are the rejected inbred fish that will eventually die.

Answer 6

One of the problems with fish that eat live fish is they tend to grow to be very large. You could probably house 1 small sized Oscar for the time being but it will outgrow that tank as some point. I have a fish that does that and he does not grow to be extremely large, it is a Datnoid Tiger Barb. He has on occasion eaten up to 20 small guppies on me in one night. You might be able to house a couple of those in a 30 gallon tank, but again the real problem you're facing is in the long term for growth and filtration. If you get them small make plans to upgrade to a larger tank. Is your tank cycled yet?

Answer 7

There really are no fish that eat live fish that are aggressive and would actually work in a 30 gallon tank. Whatever you end up choosing won't be suitable, so if you plan on doing it anyway, the choice is yours.

Answer 8

depends if you plan on going with freshwater or saltwater. if fresh water, oscars are notorious for that, ive owned too many and lost many baby fish that way. as for saltwater, triggerfish and eels, but they require a much larger living space. most predatorial animals need large amounts of food and space. Not to mention unless you have REALLY good filtration, you could crash out your tank. Most fish sold in pet stores and aquariums have been trained on dead food or minnows. I have learned with my experience with eels, puffers, and triggers that live food isnt always the best food for them anyway, if one thing is wrong with the feeder it can affect all your fish. Just remember, one feeder can cause ich, that ich can crash your tank.

Answer 9

Oscars are a fun one but very dirt fish. I have 2 in a 30 gal with no rocks or plants and the tank never stays clean. It is however very enjoyable to watch them eat live fish or even tadpoles.

Answer 10

no oscar they must be in a 55 if alone and even that will be too small eventually. i recommend a few african cichlids. they come in gorgeous colors and can live in a tank of that size. also green spotted puffers, figure eight puffers, ome goby's, and scats ae all unusual and cool fish that eat other fish.