Asian/oriental Tank Ideas

[chilledtim]

I started a thread yesterday about fish that have origins in Asia and got some good replys.

my tanks a planted 2'/2'/1' Tall

Im now abit stuck between a peaceful or semi-aggresive tank:

peaceful: 1 male betta, 10+ WCMM, 2-3 Chinese hillstream loach

OR

Semi-aggresive: 10 Tiger barbs, gouramis maybe?

I like tiger barbs but they seem to have a massive reputation as being bullies so im not sure what could go with them. Are they really that bad? any other barbs that are better?

Any ppl with experience of tiger barbs or other barbs no of other asian fish that they get on well with Or any ideas on how to improve the 'peaceful' tank option welcome

 

[mommyof2bettas]

Bettas aren't that peaceful, I'm not sure if they could stay with the WCMM. How about the pentazona barb? http/www.thetropicaltank.co.uk/Fishindx/barbpent.htm

 

[OohFeeshy]

The first tank would be nice but you'd need to find a betta substitute- a), the WCMM and loaches should (well, mainly the loaches but the WCMM will benefit) be in a river style, high curent setup which the betta won't do well in, b ), not as if modern bettas are exactly great canditates for biotope style tanks, being so removed from their wild counterparts. Tiger barbs are a possibility, personally I'd say a tank longer than 2ft would be better though.

 

[chilledtim]

forgot about the temp betas prefer compaired to WCMM aswell.

the pentazona barb is a fantastic idea. Dont no how common they are in uk pet shops tho

 

[invader]

Why don't you try wild betta species? I don't know how common they are across the pond, but it's worth a look.

 

[matt295]

dont put gouramis with tiger barbs. some of the species like pearl gouramis have long fins and they have those antenae kind of things at the front of their body which i dont know the name of which could attract them. the tiger barbs with the pentazona barbs would work though

 

[chilledtim]

I think im going to have to scrap the idea of a betta in the tank (i still want one, i have a spare 8G tank lying about )

Im still having trouble deciding if i want the main attraction to be a shoal of wcmm or tiger barbs. Im pretty sure its going to be tiger barbs aslong as there not too manic, if so i can look up tank mates by searching previous posts.

How active are the tiger barbs? the tank is on my bedside unit so i mainly look at it when im waking up or going to sleep so a peacful/querky shoal of asian fish is what im after. not constant fighting, chasing and bullying. thats not relaxing to watch

 

[Captain Retardo]

the tank is on my bedside unit so i mainly look at it when im waking up or going to sleep so a peacful/querky shoal of asian fish is what im after. not constant fighting, chasing and bullying. thats not relaxing to watch p

Harlequin Rasboras might be a good idea then, I have 8 of them and they are really pretty, they are active, but don't fight. Sometimes though the males will spread their fins out REALLY wide and it shows their colors really well, and another male will do that too, and they will circle each other for 3-even 15 seconds doing this. Recently though, mine has started nipping each other after these shows, but it is never serious. These guys shine very well too, in almost complete darkness at night I can sometimes see their bodies while they "sleep" (sleeping for them is where they kind of just float in the water). Plus Harlequin Rasboras are really easy to come by at LFS's.

 

[-cAtFiSh-]

the tank is on my bedside unit so i mainly look at it when im waking up or going to sleep so a peacful/querky shoal of asian fish is what im after. not constant fighting, chasing and bullying. thats not relaxing to watch p

Sometimes though the males will spread their fins out REALLY wide and it shows their colors really well, and another male will do that too, and they will circle each other for 3-even 15 seconds doing this.

Mine do that too, its weird
Harlequins are great fish and they school really well.