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hi,i have a 4ft long tank,18" high and 18" wide.i have a 10" fire eel,a 4" clown loach,a 2" synodontis, and a 6-7" lima shovel nose.any idea on some more tank mates???

At least 2 more clown loaches should be added as they preffer some company of their own kind but really you should be looking at a larger tank before getting more fish, fire eels can reach over 2 feet and lima shovelnoses reach at least 12 inches.

thanks catfishcrazy.had the fire eel for about a year and he's not grown much(about 2") having trouble finding any clown loaches bigger than 2".i want the clown loaches approx same size as mine.

My local shop had a few large clown loaches, and I've seen some elsewhere too, so I think there's recently been a big import of larger ones.

You may want to ask your local shop if they can get some...

Also,www.trimar.co.uk, which is in Tuckingmill, Cambourne, Cornwall, says that they have 12-15cm ones for 28.50. Obviously, not necessarily next doors to you, but at least in the same county...

Otherwise, clown loaches are quite happy shoaling with others of different sizes.

And yes, you need a bigger tank at some point in the near future, also for the clown-loaches. They grow to 12"+.

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Mats

thanks matsp.looking for other fish to go in the tank.maybe pictus??

Pictus are nice. Need a few of them too, probably better with 5-6 rather than less. I've got 3, and they aren't quite as active as I would like. Looking to get another three at some point.

Not sure if they are suitable tankmates to your current stable, as I have no experience in any of your ones.

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Mats

the fire eel is as gentle as a lamb.cant say much about the shovel nose,only had him a week.ps fire eel lived with small neons for the last year and never ate 1

I wasn't referring to any particular fish of yours, but just saying that you need to determine some other way than through me if the are suitable tankmates with your current stock.

Pictus are non-aggressive towards each other, and as long as they don't fit in the mouth of the pictus, most fish are quite OK with them. However, some fish don't like being "disturbed" by the long whiskers, particularly Angel-fish are known to be disturbed because of this.

Pictus are fast feeders (they "fly" around eating anything they can get to), so you need to take that into account with the others, so the others don't get starved.

Fish compatibility is quite a big subject with many variables, like so many other things in aquarium life.

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Mats

I think a slow feeder, like a pl*co would be good because it would rarely eat the eel or lima food, and is fairly slow, plus it will eat algae. Somewhat off topic, it is illegal for Asian fish importers to import clown loaches of over 4" to anywhere to protect future generations. Just some food for thought. SorubimLima