Stocking question

Question
QUESTION: Hi, and thanks for your time.  I am planning to set up a 210 gallon tank very soon, and plan to stock a school of 6 ghost knives.  I was hoping to add a school of Congo Tetras (6-10 of them), another school of some type of Cory, and 2 African Clawed frogs.  Am I on the right track with this scheme?  The tank will be heavily planted, with Flourite as a substrate and a little sand, and also quite heavily rocked with hiding spaces.  Thanks again!

ANSWER: Hi Barbara;

It sounds like it will be a beautiful tank. I'm so jealous! I don't have room for one that big. There are a couple of potential problems you may want to know about though;

Ghost knife are not schooling fish at all. They are territorial and aggressive to their own kind. Sometimes a few can be kept in the same very large tank like yours but they will each find their own spot to hide. At night they will come out and harass each other. You will have to really watch them and remove any that are intolerably aggressive. Here is a link to a good web page about them;

http://fish.mongabay.com/knifefish.htm

African Clawed Frogs grow VERY large, about 5 inch long in body alone and are carnivores. They will probably eat all your Congos and Cories as well as dig up or crush your plants as they grow. Here is a link to a really good page about them;

http://tinyurl.com/6e6nvm

Some suggestions for other tankmates for congos, cories and ghost knife;

Clown Loaches (schooling)
Serpae Tetras (schooling)
Synodontis (Upside-Down Catfish)
African Butterfly
Hatchet Fish (schooling)
Angels
Bleeding Heart Tetras (schooling)
Pearl Gourami
Moonlight Gourami
Rainbow Fish

Do some research on those and see what you think. With a tank that size your options are many.  

It's important to know about "New Tank Syndrome", also known as "Cycling" as well. Here is my own web page about it;

http://www.xanga.com/Expert_Fish_Help

Have fun!

At Your Service;
Chris Robbins

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: I'm so sorry Chris, I meant a school of Glass Knives...I did know that about the Ghosts, I have one.  Everything I've read says that the Ghost Knives will school together, and that the competition will encourage them to eat better.

Wow, I didn't know that about the frogs.  I've seen quite a few tanks with them, and didn't realize that I might have problems.  The research I did said bloodworms and mosquito larave.  Guess they will have to go, my husband will disappointed.

I am setting up my 9th tank this weekend, a 125 with baby whales, and some little schooling fish.  Any suggestions for some interesting Tetras that won't eat my plants?  We were thinking Gold, Neon, maybe Serpae, along those lines.

Thanks so much for your time and input.

Answer
Hi Barbara;

Oh, GLASS knife....yes, very cool fish and indeed schooling which is unusual for that family. Baby Whale are VERY cute and one of my favorites. Glass knife do get VERY large and will eat your smaller fish when they get bigger but it will take a while so just watch them. They hunt at night so if smaller fish start to miss roll-call in the morning, that's what happened. Be very careful when changing water with glass knife in there too. It's okay to still do weekly 25% changes, just put the new water in very slowly. They are sensitive.

Go to this site to compare your frogs and see if you actually have the larger type or if they are dwarfs;

http://www.allaboutfrogs.org/info/species/clawedordwarf.html

The African Clawed Frogs (often confused with the African Dwarf Frogs that stay under 2 inches) are actually easy to keep and don't need much space in spite of their potential size so if you want to get a separate tank for them you can keep them. Just for two you only need a 20 gallon with a heater. Be sure to keep a tight cover with no holes in the top or they will get out and dry up somewhere. (yuck) They like very still water so find a very slow flow filter if you want one at all. Types that run by an air pump with bubbles work pretty well. African Clawed Frogs do make a mess but just change part of the water a couple of times a week. A bigger tank for them helps keep it from getting dirty so fast.

When you get your tank all set up I would love to see a photo of it. You can upload it to a free image hosting site and send me a link to it if you like. ;-)

Have Fun!

At Your Service;
Chris Robbins