ya know, another thought for what you could put in the tank with him would be to get a few feeder goldfish (around here you can get them for .12 cents a piece and another location here sells them 12 for $1 if they are feeder fish) and after a quarantine time you could put them in the tank with him.
As far as other cons, I've seen and have a pink or albino con and there is also dalmation cons that are a mix between the stripped (which is what you have after seeing the picture) and the pink ones. The females have orange on the belly so identifying the right sex is soooooooo easy with cons as opposed to something like an Oscar. Any of the variants of cons would be fine unless they don't pair up but they breed like little rabbits from all I've ever heard, so unless you want the fry for feeders, you might want to think twice about getting a female to pair up with your male. The goldfish idea would at least be a dirt cheap alternative to having a dither fish in the tank with him.
i'm hoping the aquarium superstore may take him for their koi pond 
