Evil, creepy looking freshwater creatures?

[angilasguy]

Hey, I've had a few aquariums before, mostly amphibians and stuff, but I need some advice here.
I got a 25 gallon, and I sort of have it split half and half, water and land. I want a theme to make it look apocolyptic, freaky, scary, whatever.
Do you have any suggestions for really odd, strange, or scaly looking freshwater fish or amphibians (preferably sort of small, nothing more than like 8 inches), or black/red/dark colored plants.

Some ideas I have would be creatures like Dragon Fish, some ghost shrimp to eat, maybe a tiger salamander, crayfish, rope fish, couple sucker fish, who knows.
I dunno, I bet most wouldn't get along, but thats why I'm asking, I'm a newb to most kinds of fish, I've only raised newts and salamanders before.

Any ideas?

[richiestang_78]

Well cant do crayfish as they will eat pretty much everything in the tank, and cant really mix reptiles and fish other then an a Aquatic Frog. If you want and try your luck with a weird fish you could try your hand at a Mudskipper only tank.

[angilasguy]

Would amphibians (salamanders or small newts) be bugged by mudskippers or dragonfish? I don't think they would try to eat them if they're about it's size, would they? I've never seen them try to before.
And I hear dragonfish are more gentle than they look.

[cinnastix911]

For a background you can pull a black garbage bag tight around the bag, tape it and trim it so it doesn't look bad from the front or sides. This is of course is cheap but it also looks really good and if you are going for creepy/freaky/scary then it will go with your color scheme without making it look bad (see through to the wall) or confusing/ugly (typical cluttered green plant background). I have it for my aquarium and it makes the fish and natural plants stand out.

[hc8719]

Originally Posted by angilasguy

but I need freshwater fish or amphibians (preferably sort of small, nothing more than like 8 inches)

try nothing more than 1"

25 gallon split in half? how much water is actually in the tank, a few gallons.

what dragon fish are you talking about, a violet goby, or an arrowanna? both fish get far to large to live in even a full 25 gallon tank.

actually all fish you mentioned will get far to large, rope fish, suckers (plecos)

you wouldn't feel comfortable being cramped into a bathroom with a few other people, would you?

[Mosaic]

Can you post a picture of your set up?

Let me say that this is not the easy way to get into keeping fish. You are going to have a small water volume which is harder to keep stable than if the tank were a regular aquarium. Water quality for fish is much more complicated than for amphibians. You'll also have to keep the land dweller's needs in mind and balance those with the fish (although most people warn against mixing fish and herps). But I suppose it can be done for an ambitious, well-researched beginner. I think maybe some tiny frog or other amphibian could co-exist as long as the fish are bigger than their mouths.

My first suggestion was going to be mudskippers for half water/land, but I would not try keeping them with any other type of animal. I think 30+ gal would also be more comfortable for them.
Now, if you wanted to fill the whole tank, we could put together a list of some pretty cool fish. But as it is, Betta, Gambusia affinis or other wild-type livebearers, small shrimp, Marisa ramshorn snails could all give you a wild effect and can handle a small volume of well-filtered water. The shrimp would be the spookiest. Have you ever seen a vampire shrimp? Gross. Crayfish would also be happy, I think, but you can not mix them with anything that's not food.

You can keep sucker fish - oto cats - but this is probably not what you're thinking of, as they are terribly cute, and not at all spooky (and can also be sensitive). Dwarf puffers might also be suitable, but they are also very cute, and are not really beginner fish. Don't let their smiling faces draw you in.

Now, for the plants. If you want black plants, you'll have to get plastic or dead. Red aquatic plants generally need high light and a lot of fussing and only us crazy plant people really care about keeping them. I think a great plant for your set up would be anubias. They are dark colored, can be aquatic or terrestrial, and don't need a whole lot of light or care. Stock lighting should work just fine for them. Other easy low-light plants include java moss and fern, crypts, and hornwort. Floating plants would also be pretty cool. There's usually not a lot of care involved and will shade the water column below them for a spooky look.

This is a neat idea, it will just take a lot of planning and work.

[theotheragentm]

Like the others have said, it's not much room you are working with here. I've seen it done before with African Dwarf Frogs and Guppies, but in a larger tank. While the frogs don't need to come out of the water, the tank had a water return like a water fall, trickling down the rock into the water. You're not left with a lot of options in a 25-gallon, especially if you're talking about cutting it in half.

[angilasguy]

I might have access to bigger aquarium tanks, my family worked with wildlife sanctuaries by rehabilitating various animals, we may have empty larger tanks laying around somewhere.
The only other Paludarium I've made was a 25gal I think, and that was just tiger salamanders (that I actually had as it's larvae form to begin with from a full-water tank, when they started poking their noses out of the water for a few hours at a time and their gills were shrinking, thats when I had to make a different set up), and not fancy at all, really basic (and it was mostly land). Right now this is just sort of an idea.
If I can get the right sized tank, how can I figure out what would be compatable when it comes to the critters?

[theotheragentm]

Well, the crayfish is out. It will eat anything it can get its claws on pretty much. Plus they get pretty large.

The only way I would say to be able to research compatibility is to research biotopes. Which critters go together in real life? Without getting an animal expert, you might find it tough to find someone that knows fish and amphibians well enough. You never know how different animals will act with each other unless you've seen it before in nature or someone else has done it a few times with repeatable predictability.

[Toirtis]

Originally Posted by angilasguy

If I can get the right sized tank, how can I figure out what would be compatable when it comes to the critters?

Just ask...it falls well within the bailiwick of my education and expertise.

You may wish to consider building a small habitat around a couple of Atyopsis gabonensis, which fit the 'odd, strange, scaly' criteria reasonably well.

[Reefmonkey]

Go mudskippers (it'd have to be a brackish tank). Mudskippers (fish related to gobies, that come on to land occasionally) are hard to find, but not impossible. Find a dingy little LFS run by an asian immigrant. I hate to sound racist, but for some reason these stores tend to have the best selection of oddbal fishes. I found freshwater tarpon in one. Talk about a fish that should come with a warning!