Wrestling Halfbeaks

So i was reading this months issue of the tropical fish magazine, and read probably the best article ive ever seen in the magazine. Written by Neale (some of you know who im talking about as he pops in and out every where), it describes a number of what sounds like fascinating livebearers. And me just so happening to have an empty 20 gallon tall sitting in my room, coudnt resist hearing how appearently 3 males and 6 female wrestling halfbeaks would be suitable for such a tank! Another exciting tid bit is knowing that my local fish store is often able to get in any species of fish upon being asked! So i still have a couple of questions however.

I know Neale went over water chemistry and it should be on th harder side and even a bit of salt cant hurt, but my water is fairly basic at 7.2, so by adding some crushed coral or lace rock would that help bring up the hardness of the water? or is 7-7.2 fine for these fellows?

Also are there any types of plants that are hard water tolerant or even like hard to slightly alkaline water besides valli's?

With harder water would i be looking at any tank mates with these cool livebearers? Would a family of bumblebee gobies not work? I just thought so since they seem to have similar care requirements..

Any other help or general facts will be appreciated thanks guys!

a 20 gallon is nearly not enough to house that many halfbeaks. I have 3 in my 20 gal tall and i'm planning to move one to another tank because they reeaally like their space.
i'd stick with 2.

You can go 2 routes. get a freshwater kind (Dermogenys) or the brackish water kind. If u go freshwater then you don't need to add any salt. but if u go brackish then make sure the water is within apporpriate parameters salt-wise. Dermogenys are smaller too, so i think that might be your only option for this tank, to be honest; but double ckeck on that.

i can only speak from my experience with these fish (freshwater). I tried adding white clouds and they tried to eat them. I tried adding smallish killis - same reaction. ANYTHING they think they can fit in their mouth they will chase as long as the fish is near the top.
So even if you decide to get a couple of brackish water species, please expect your bumblebees to dissapear/harrassed at if they come near the top of the aquarium.

I didn't find danios to be perfect companions as they also like to stay at the surface during the night and that's invading their territory (i have a couple of torn fins)

any smallish cichlid would work in my opinion. I love my ram (that's him on my avatar). And he never comes in contact with the halfbeaks.

and whatever u decide make sure to get a whole bunch of floating plants!! I have 2 territories set up on different sides of the tank and that keeps the aggression down.

I'm going to disagree slightly with lyola above.

A 20-gallon tank is, in my experience, fine for a single male plus 2-3 female Dermogenys spp. Yes, a bigger tank would be nice, but it's the males that fight. The females are cranky, yes, but they rarely do any serious fighting. On then other hand, Celebes halfbeaks are much bigger and will need more space.

I haven't found halfbeaks particularly predatory, though one big female did eat a small dead fish I happened to drop into the tank. Oddly enough, she completely ignored cardinal tetras, so it may well be they only register prey at the top of the tank. That said, they are potential predators, so you do need to use your common sense when choosing tankmates. I have combined them with gobies though, and in a 50-gallon tank they didn't cross each other's paths and the gobies were fine.

It's questionable whether the Dermogenys spp seen in shops are the brackish water species like Dermogenys pusilla or a freshwater species like Dermogenys siamensis. Telling the various species in the genus apart is very difficult.

So far as ideal companions go, I'd be looking at, for example, dwarf rainbowfish, Celebes rainbowfish and Limia spp. if you wanted things that would tolerate a little salt if you wanted to add some. If you didn't care to add salt, then pretty much any peaceful barb or tetra should do well; obvious hard water tolerant species include the "false" penguin tetra and the x-ray tetra. You're aiming for about 10-15 degrees dH, pH 7-7.5, in which case you would probably find adding a 10-25% the dosage of Rift Valley salt mix would do the trick nicely. Tweak the ratio of sodium bicarbonate (carbonate hardness, and therefore pH) to magnesium sulphate (general hardness) as needs be.

Many plants thrive in hard, alkaline water. So apart from Vallisneria, you can expect good results with Hygrophila, Amazon swords, hybrid Aponogeton, hardy Crypts, Anubias, Java ferns and pretty much any "easy" plant. I do agree with lyola that floating plants are a must.

Cheers, Neale

PS. Thanks for the kind words!

Wrestling Halfbeaks are fascinating. one of my females eating a cranefly

Brilliant photo!

Wow thanks all! Im on vacations so i just came back from no internet, and i was pleased to see all the information that was posted here! I will take all comments in as advice and continue being open minded with careing for these fish! i cant wait to get this tank going!