Favorite fish to interact with the aquascape?

I’ve never kept the dwarf or smaller fish… but even though a lot of them prefer softer water ( particularly some of the smaller species ) but looks like most will tolerate fairly hard water..

Just for example, this one…

Maybe these would be a better fit…

So it’s mostly the pseudomugil-type rainbows that will fit in a 20 gallon, as opposed to the boesemani-type ones (I don’t know the real classifications but I’ve heard of boesemani) that I’ve seen in my LFS? I think they were just marked “blue rainbows”

I would say at least 6 sids and 10 would be better. They are active fish and need to be in groups. They do not bother anything else in a tank. They live for a long time. I have had most of mine for going on 20 years.

Any of the blue-eyed rainbows would work as they are all small. The males will display and that is pretty cool. You also might want to consider the Threadfin rainbow- their displaying is really neat to watch. https://www.seriouslyfish.com/species/iriatherina-werneri/

The Dwarf Chain Loaches sound right up my alley and they’re definitely on my fish bucket-list, but I think I’m gonna have to pass on them for my current tank. Six 2-inch fish in a community 20 gallon would be most of the tank’s stocking capacity, and I have other species I also want to keep.

I’m a big fan of gobies. They love darting in and out of rocks and sand, keeping things lively. Shrimp are also awesome for adding some action and personality.

I love gobies! From what I understand, there’s a genus of them (stiphodon) that lives in complete freshwater, but it’s rare; I’ve never found it. I actually already have shrimp, although I’m down to a handful of them at the moment. Instead of the Chain Loaches, I’ve decided to try again with Pygmy Cories.

JackGulley said:

I love gobies! From what I understand, there’s a genus of them (stiphodon) that lives in complete freshwater, but it’s rare; I’ve never found it. I actually already have shrimp, although I’m down to a handful of them at the moment. Instead of the Chain Loaches, I’ve decided to try again with Pygmy Cories.

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Mayhaps one of these are the stiphodon you are talking about at Dan's Fish.

Hillstream’s just want to have fun… this is a gold ring, and a reticulated, with a Panda Garra… sitting around telling jokes…

Panda can’t stop laughing

JackGulley said:

I love gobies! From what I understand, there’s a genus of them (stiphodon) that lives in complete freshwater,

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Stiphodon are mega-characters, especially the males. However, the males are pretty territorial. If you can keep a good group it will share out the bickering. However, they are generally obligate algae eaters and feeding them is not the easiest. I used to have a decent group of Stiphodon ornatus but didn't know well enough to provide for their needs and most unfortunately died. They always seem in terrible conditions in the shops too, all emaciated. I suspect they have hardly fed since being wild caught. Anyway, just one of my males decided he would eat any old fish food pellets as well, so he has actually thrived. He is at least 8 years old now and lives in a community 130g tank. There are no other great algae-eaters in the tank so he also has a great area of biofilm and algae to himself. He also still thinks he is the boss of all the fish, even those 50 times his body weight. He is a great character.