Spotted Headstander Owners
 

Has anybody had luck with the Spotted Headstander (Chilodus punctatus)? I have heard that it is difficult to feed. I am going to be setting up a 75 gallon SA biotope aquarium and I want it to be filled with unusual fish from south america. So far I have come up with the Scalare Angelfish (unusual looking body), Rummynose Tetra (unusual because it always remains in a shoal), Whiptail Catfish (unusual because it is uncommon and dinasour looking), Diptail Pencilfish (swims in an upright position), and Spotted Headstander (swims in a downward position). You get the point. Any other suggestions?

Ooo! I love oddities, and I love SA fish! What a fun game!

Okay, just a list of weird fish with no attention to any other aspect (compatibility, size, etc, or any sense of reality, really. :demented:)

Splash Tetra (breeding style)
Leaf fish/ Polycentridae family (hunting style, camouflage, one of the fastest fish)
Black Ghost Knife Fish (shape, locomtion)
Arrowana (body shape, jumping ability)
Motoro ray (body shape, evolution)
Hachetfish (body style, "flying")
Twig Catfish (body style)
Banjo Catfish (body style, head bumps)
Electric Eel (duh! :lol:)

Too bad the "Amazon Molly" isn't really from the Amazon, because that whole parthenogenesis (or whatever) thing is pretty whack.
That's all I can think of ATM. Thanks for the game, what fun!

Also, isn't there some type of Archer fish? My brain's failing me at the moment. I know there's a fish with a similar hunting style from across the globe, but isn't there one for South American, too? Well, anyway, thanks for the fun game! And also, my head's gonna be buzzing for the rest of the night trying to think of more! :lol:

That leaf fish is awesome!! I want to add him to my stocking list so bad but im afraid it would eat all of my other fish. It would be so interesting to watch it blend in with the plants though. thanks for all the suggestions mina

I don't know your level of understanding, so pardon me if I say what is already known; all of the fish mentioned so far are South American but not all of these will manage together. I won't go into details, as it would turn into an essay. Just a caution.

To your initial question of the Chilodus punctatus, I have had this fish--successfully--for nearly 3 years now. You are correct, feeding it can be problematic especially at first. Once it is used to eating prepared foods (flake as they sink in the water, or sinking tablets/sticks/disks such as you feed substrate fish) it will be fine. But unfortunately, when first introduced to an aquarium it may not accept prepared foods, requiring only live common green algae and it can starve. I have had this happen several times previously.

The best method is to place newly-acquired fish on their own in a small tank, a 10g is plenty, and feed it sinking foods daily. Sort of a quarantine anyway. Once it is eating well, and for several months, it will be OK to move it to the display tank.

Byron.

Which fish are not compatible? The ones I mentioned in the first post or the ones that Mina listed? If it is the ones that I mentioned then which ones are not compatible with the Scalare Angelfish or the Rummynose tetra? Those are the fish that I want to keep for sure.

I was referring more (well, exclusive actually) to Mina's listing. The only possible question I would have with your initial fish would be the diptails, Nannostomus eques. These are very shy fish, I have a group of 12 in my 70g that have spawned several times, and I have one N. unifasciatus with them. This latter species is very rare, I just found one lone fish in an importer's tank and grabbed it, thinking he would do better with his cousins in my tank than he would elsewhere, and I was obviously correct as he has been with me for almost 3 years and he shoals with and gets along with N. eques just fine.

Anyway, this pencil needs quiet; they spend all day almost motionless, search every stick of wood, plant leaf, and esp floating plant roots for tiny morsels of food. They eat a lot of invisible zooplankton that live on these surfaces. Similar to the headstander in this respect. The angelfish and the headstander might--and it is just a "might"--annoy them, depending.

I have two geographic Amazon tanks, the 70g is what I term a flooded forest, and the 115g that I term an Amazonian riverscape. The pencils belong in the forest tank, no question. The headstanders are in the riverscape, no question. Angels would suit the latter; discus more the former. If that distinction helps.:fish:

Byron.

Alright so the diptails are out and my tank will be a South American Riverscape. My stocking list now looks like this: 5 Scalare Angelfish, 13 Rummy Nose Tetra, 7 Spotted Headstander, and 3 Whiptail Catfish. I do have one question though. Since it will be a riverscape, does that mean I will need some water flow to simulate a slow-moving stream?

I love you Byron, always so level headed and logical. :-D But, just to clarify, before my list I wrote: See? I was was just listing oddball fish from South America. That's all, silly! :lol:

Yes, that's OK. I was just emphasizing the point for the benefit of others reading.:smash: There have been a few members mixing some of these fish regardless of what we might say about them. One told me I had a closed mind on such things.:frustrated: