Peacock eels in 40 gallon freshwater tankmates

[Oohitsae]

What about some upside down catfish? They swim on mix-upper levels and are pretty odd! Are upside down about 80% of their lives. I think that they are peaceful, so I'm not 100% sure how they would co-exist with the eels, but they are 1 type of fish that I've always wanted.

Some type of barb would be good too if you are going for semi-aggressive. I love Rosy's and they get to a fairly decent size.

[Laurenlloyd]

Picture of my tank now:

[Laurenlloyd]

Upside down catfish are cute! I just don't want them to be miserable. What about danios? Zebra or possibly giant danios. I would like to put my large opaline gourami inthe tank. He is bossing my other fish around.

Also with my tank setup... I am going to add a cave and possibly a PVC tube/ tunnel.

[Oohitsae]

I think zebras would be prey items for the eels, but giants might work.
I don't see any problems with adding the gourami.

[cgthebeast]

The African feather fin catfish, they get bigger thrn the upside down catfish but still stay upside down most of the time, or a striped Raphael catfish. Dragon gobys are pretty cool, live aquaria has some good info on them

[Laurenlloyd]

Would a dragon goby be ok in a 40 gallon tank and living with the peacock eels?

[cgthebeast]

What the length and width of your tank

[Laurenlloyd]

30" long
13"wide

[cgthebeast]

So dragon gobies are brackish fish and peacock eels are freshwater. So they won`t work together in the long run.

[Laurenlloyd]

I am going to put my blue gourami with the two peacock eels in the tank and I am looking at the african butterfly fish and german blue rams. If i get them should they be in the tank alone or as a pair? Also, I was told that angelfish might work with my tank setup. Would they be too aggressive?

I want to plant the tank. Does anyone have suggestions of plants that my fish might like/ prefer?

[Oohitsae]

If you don't want to breed them then I'd just go with a lone female, or you could get a couple females, they can do well together. If you want to breed them then you might want to try to search for someone selling them as already paired up. You'd want to buy 6 or so if you can't find them as pairs because they are very picky with their potential mates. They are also really sensitive and shouldnt go into a tank unless it's well established, I'd say running for atleast 6 months ahead of time. I started with 9 a month ago in my tank that has been up and running for over a year and only have 4 left, and still no pairs.

An angel could work, I'd suggest getting only a single of those as they tend to get overly aggressive during spawning time. They are also much more hardy than GBR's.

Like I said in my PM, let me know what light you have and I'll give you some plant suggestions.

[Laurenlloyd]

The lights I have are long fluorescent tubes. Would spears work with the fluorescent tubes? Could I put 6 gbr in my tank?

[Oohitsae]

What type of fluorescents? Do you know the specs on it? You may have to upgrade the tube.

Spears?

You could so 6, definitely, but you'll have to narrow it down to only 1 pair after you get it, so have other homes ready for them. Also like I said, wait till the tank is well established before adding them as they are extremely sensitive fish. Bolivians are a tad hardier and even though they still need a well established tank, you'd likely have less losses with them. GBR's seem to die when you just look at them wrong

[Laurenlloyd]

thats good to know. I would not be able to house the others so if i buy them I will get a pair. -- I will also look at the bolivian rams.

spears are what my local fish breeder calls them.... I'll see if I can find another name...

[Laurenlloyd]

also, while i am waiting to add the rams what other fish should I add. I don't want the tank to look empty.
also, I don't know if it was you who told me but someone said that the peacock eels would not be happy with aggressive fish. Are there any fish (possibly schooling) that I could have that would not get gobbled up?

[cgthebeast]

Various fruit tetras maybe and Bolivian rainbow fish would be good,

[Oohitsae]

Anything bigger than the eels mouth could work. I personally don't have any experience with eels other than reading up about them a little here and there so I can't be of too much help with them specifically.

Do you have a picture of the spears?

[Laurenlloyd]

[Laurenlloyd]

Similar to these but many have darker leaves.

[cgthebeast]

I have some of those, there called Anubis. I love mine to death, my favorite plant. They don't need much light, I've grown mine with the lights that came with the tank. There very tough plants, one of the few goldfish can't eat