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In our 60-gallon tank, we have one male krib, two Syno. eupterus (the largest over 9 inches, can swallow small fish sleeping on the bottom), and a RTBS Along with a few more peaceful fish (ottos, pearl danios, odessa barbs, whiptail cat...) The tank is lightly to moderately planted, with some driftwood for hiding places that are pretty much claimed by the synos, krib, and RTBS.

My question is, my mom is interested in schooling fish and we would like congo tetras. Would congos be too shy for this tank? I have read they like hiding places, but the RTBS would probably drive them out of cover if they did try to hide. I'm not really a fan of rainbows or more barbs, but congos are really pretty and big enough the larger synodontis couldn't just slurp them up in the middle of the night.

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How many of each fish do you have in the tank? You may risk overstocking if you add another school....

Inky

We're not overstocking... two or three ottos (hard to tell with them), 4 odessa barbs, 5 pearl danios, and one whiptail cat. We'd get about 10 congo tetras, so it certainly won't be overstocked. The smaller synodontis is only about 4", and hasn't grown any in several years. My question wasn't about stocking, it was about compatibility. If you have kept congos with relatively agressive fish like a krib or RTBS successfully, please let me know.

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I wouldn't worry about the congos b/c the RTBS and the kirb stay on the bottom regions of the tank. Kribs aren't that aggressive, but when breeding they are.

Hi, I have kept all three together, I took on two RTBS when I bought a second hand tank as a beginner not realising how aggressive they were, gradually stocking fish which I thought were nice looking. As it turned out the sharks didn't bother either the Kribs or Congo's but mainly just stuck to terrorising each other most of the time.

Eventually they became to large and aggressive for the tank so I sent them off to another home. The Congo's were shy to start with, it took about 3 weeks before they were completely at ease.

I didn't notice any aggression between them and any other fish that I had. But they too become very large and need a lot of room to swim. I had 4 in a 53g and I dont think that it was really big enough for them. Hope this answers your question about aggression, that was just my experience, others may have had different ones?

Cheers - Crusha

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Those who say they cant, Never will !!!

Thanks crusha! I am a little worried because we have only on RTBS, and he chases the smaller fish around sometimes, especially when they stray too close to the bottom. The RTBS doesn't pick on the krib or catfish, but they're bigger than it is.

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Yeah having only one could be a problem, I think mine were so consumed with each other that they didn't have time to bother with the other tank mates.

The Congo's may be ok if you are planning on getting a larger number - I think you mentioned getting 10? They will school together and are on the larger scale as far as tetra's go. By the sounds of it, your RTBS is only small if it is smaller than the male Krib.

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Those who say they cant, Never will !!!

Well, the krib is about the same size, maybe a bit smaller, but fights back. They're both fairly big fish, but not nearly as big as the syno I couldn't believe how much the RTBS had grown since I left in January (about when Mom got him). My mom says he's stopped growing, but that's what she said about the syno too and it has gained a few inches in the time it's been in the 60. Anyway, wish us luck. Hopefully we can find some congos at a reasonable price

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