Small Aggressive Tank

[Berserkr]

I'll have a little 15 gal tank available soon as I'm upgrading to a larger one. I'd like to use it for an active, interesting, aggressive tank. Just a few fish but something fun to watch. I was thinking along the lines of Convict Cichlids, any other ideas? Are there any Eels that may be appropriate?

 

[Stephen]

I can't think of any eels that would do well in a 15 gallon for the long-term. If you want an aggressive tank, you might want to go for a rainbow snakehead, which doesn't grow as big as the other Channa species.

If you're going to go with cichlids, then maybe some shelldwellers would do. They're not that aggressive, but they do get into some territorial disputes once in a while.

 

[Mosaic]

Snakeheads are messy, messy, messy and deserve more than a 15g. Also, they're illegal in most (if not all) of the USA. I don't know where you are, though.

What about the shell-dwelling African cichlids? They have some fascinating behavior.

 

[theotheragentm]

Most of the time small and aggressive don't go well together as fish need more space.

 

[WaterPond]

Ok, here are some very agressive fish that would LOVE that tank, and these are very interesting.

I would go with either ONE figure eight pufferfish(they need brackis conditions)

or about 5 dwarf pufferfish. (they only grow about 1" and are fully freshwater. mine died a few days ago, it was my absolute favorite fish....)

i have also heard of people keeping amazon pufferfish in 15gal tanks... they are anotherr full FW puffer.

 

[Stephen]

Sorry, I didn't know that snakeheads were illegal in the US. They're considered food fish here in the Philippines.

I haven't had any experience with puffers, but from what I've heard, it would be good to consider them as well.

 

[Mosaic]

Actually, we had a big deal a few years back because someone bought a live snakehead pair at a market to eat but released them into a lake instead, and they took over. So, yeah, someone went and ruined it for everybody.

Go with puffers!

 

[Berserkr]

That's good, I will go with puffers! I had gotten so interested in other fish I forgot about the puffer I wanted! Found the puffers at my trusted lfs. They're the common Spotted Puffers, Tetraodon nigrifilis. Any advice on those I'll check out those puffers you mentioned and see. I've been told that alot of puffers don't make good tank mates due to their level of aggression and tendancy to at least be fin nippers. Is this true? It made me wonder since WaterPond stated to have several dwarf puffers. I have heard nothing but good about puffers in general. There's a guy that goes into the lfs all the time to buy tiny crabs and clams for his. I guess the little puffer just tears into them!

 

[tropicfishman]

maybe a few tiger barbs, both the striped and green strain would be fun to watch, with some live plants, a nice red tail shark lol any kind of barb would work really, they're pretty fun to watch, especially when they fight, they bite each other by the mouth facing each other and spin around in circles and upside down, its a blast to watch

 

[Berserkr]

Yeah, I've been attacked by an Albino Tiger Barb. They are quite ferocious. The little guy came right out of the tank at me! I'd like to get some, would they be suitable for my community tank?