New critters?

Jim Miller · Post by **Jim Miller** » Sat Aug 27, 2011 9:02 pm

I'm considering changing out my fish for something new. I've currently got all smallish fish in my tank: b. briggitae, sundedanio axelrodi and microdevario nanus, a couple of otos and a half dozen c.habrosus.

And of course 5 soon to be gone honey gouramis.

I might put the b briggitae in my 10g if I decide to keep it setup but they're so small I have trouble keeping them out of my filter on the big tank.

So before I go down the well trodden cardinal tetra, etc., path I'd like to consider some alternatives. I really wish the weather would have allowed the tank tour since I want to see other ideas. (i actually like cards...)

Since my tank is only 4ft long I don't see fish bigger than 4". I'd really like to include shrimp in the tank. RCS for now. I realize that shrimp are tasty snacks but I'm hoping that with sufficient foliage they can thrive.

So I could go with schooling critters like rummynose which I really like but I'd like to mix in something else. I see several members mentioning apistos. What are the +/- considerations for those? They seem to have a variety of colors and would look nice in combination with rummies. I like their size of around 2" max.

Or I could go with rummies and rainbows.

I'd be keeping my c.habrosus and the otos.

Suggestions encouraged!!

Jim (i'll try to catch and auction the existing critters over the next few months...)

scientist0724 · Post by **scientist0724** » Sat Aug 27, 2011 10:17 pm

Jim,

I have an overstocked 40 BR with a mish-mash of small fish. I have eye-spot rasboras, ember tetras, celestial pearl danios, endlers, briggitaes, pygmy cories, pygmy catfish, rhino gobies, borellli apistos, sparkling gouramis.

I'm hoping to upgrade to a 75 G, because I really love my little fish!

Arlene

ddavila06 · Post by **ddavila06** » Sat Aug 27, 2011 10:44 pm

Jim, most rainbows will eat shrimp...they get to a pretty good size..
i have apistogramma cacatuoides orange splash and love it! of course it prefers being down and has a mate.
i have nannacara anomala and is my fav. fish! sooooooooooo much color but the male is rather shy..it has huge eyes which tell me tthey come from shaded areas so i guess thats normal...
apistos are great but they will eat shrimp......and so will other dwarf cichlids

i love the rumminose and im actually in the lookout! unless i find something else that im also looking for...just don't know what yet

i would suggest two species of smaller/med. schooling fish like the rummynose!, a group of dwarf cichlids, aa med/largeish group of corydoras and a few larger "display" fish

what do you think?

DonkeyFish · Post by **DonkeyFish** » Sat Aug 27, 2011 11:58 pm

How about peacock gudgeons??

(I just happen to have 5 I'm trying to rehome)

halak · Post by **halak** » Sun Aug 28, 2011 10:12 am

You may enjoy smaller rainbow species such as Iriatherina werneri or Pseudomugil spp. They are not easy to come by though. Also, sparkling gouramis are not only very pretty and small, but they also emit a croaking sound.

msjinkzd · Post by **msjinkzd** » Sun Aug 28, 2011 5:14 pm

apistos will relish eating your shrimp, even the adults.

Pseudomugil rainbows are a great choice. I also really really enjoy the Yunnanilus cruciatus loach, you might take a look at those as they are very neat fish and invertebrate friendly (I keep them in my tiger shrimp breeding tank right now which ahs 800 tons of moss but tons of baby shrimp as well). The rainbows would stay largely in teh top 1/3, giving you room to also add more habrosus (not sure how many you have, but they are really comical in bigger groups).

Another realy underrated small/midsize fish is Brevibora dorsiocellata (emerald eye rasbora). They are one of the tightest schooling fish I have ever seen when in a good sized group.

scientist0724 · Post by **scientist0724** » Sun Aug 28, 2011 5:34 pm

msjinkzd wrote:Another realy underrated small/midsize fish is Brevibora dorsiocellata (emerald eye rasbora). They are one of the tightest schooling fish I have ever seen when in a good sized group.

I agree with Rachel on this one! This is also called the eye spot rasbora and why I have a decent school of over 15 of them.

Arlene

Jim Miller · Post by **Jim Miller** » Sun Aug 28, 2011 6:53 pm

You're all giving me great ideas! Thanks and keep it coming. I'll probably add some more habrosus to my current 6. I like the frisky little devils and they're always hard at work.

Rachel, how about if I went for just a dozen or so Amanos and skipped the RCS in the 90? How might they fare with some of these suggestions?

Thanks

Jim

msjinkzd · Post by **msjinkzd** » Sun Aug 28, 2011 7:43 pm

amanos would do just fine, they get twice the size of the dwarf shrimp.

Alot with apistos also depends on if they are wild or domestic. The wilds just annihilate shrimp while some of hte domestics will ignore large adults.

I like to tell a story abotu how I had a single male wild cac in a 20 long. I made a fish order and realized I had forgotten to plan out a tank for 300 wild neocaridina adults.

Since I was in a tight spot,I figured they could go in teh heavily planted with the wild cac male.

Three days later, I had FOUR shrimp left............. just food for thought

Jim Miller · Post by **Jim Miller** » Sun Aug 28, 2011 7:48 pm

Rachel

Did you provide the cocktail sauce?

I miss having shrimp for the cleaning crew. The amanos were very feisty about getting their unfair share.

Jim

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