dwarf gold barbs?

[WhistlingBadger]

Anybody here have experience with Penthia gelius? I think some might do well in my hill stream tank, but specifically I'm wondering how they'd do with the flow, since they seem to hale from still waters in the wild. Any experiences or insights appreciated.

 

[Ichthys]

I’m curious as to why you think a fish from slow to still waters would do well in a hill stream tank…

 

[WhistlingBadger]

I’m curious as to why you think a fish from slow to still waters would do well in a hill stream tank…

I don't know. It doesn't hurt anything to ask. Some fish are more adaptable than others, and I've never kept this species.

 

[Byron]

Tends to inhabit sluggish, often turbid, environments with substrates of mud or silt as well as marginal zones of flowing rivers and tributaries. In West Bengal state, for example, it is typically found in slow-moving, shallow streams passing through cultivated land such as rice fields and which may or may not contain aquatic vegetation. Many of its habitats are subject to seasonal variation in water depth, flow and turbidity.

Such a situation in nature is not easy to achieve in even a much larger aquarium. I would consider a very quiet pond-like tank better suited to this species (Pethia gelius, just to confirm what we're talking about). This is not going to work with the hillstream fish.

 

[WhistlingBadger]

Yes, I think you're both right. The thing is, I really want them to work in my hillstream tank. That should count for something, right?

 

[Geoffrey]

Just out of curiosity, what all is in your hillstream tank?

 

[Lateral Line]

I think others have already answered the question. Gelius is a still or at most sluggish water species. Not suited to a hill stream. I am a bit of a fan of the species actually. I had specimens from several importations, and bred quite large numbers of them for the aquatic shops locally.

 

[GaryE]

Beyond the really useful observations of the fish in nature and in tanks - that is not a fish built for speed. They have a body that would be pretty rough in a current, and the energy they'd have to expend would be exhausting.

Wait a minute. The entire hobby wants to keep fastwater fish in swamp tanks, and you want to do the opposite??? You are swimming against the current there!

 

[WhistlingBadger]

Beyond the really useful observations of the fish in nature and in tanks - that is not a fish built for speed. They have a body that would be pretty rough in a current, and the energy they'd have to expend would be exhausting.

Wait a minute. The entire hobby wants to keep fastwater fish in swamp tanks, and you want to do the opposite??? You are swimming against the current there!

Just trying to make sure the little couch potatoes get enough cardio...

 

[WhistlingBadger]

Just out of curiosity, what all is in your hillstream tank?

4 (?) reticulated hill stream loaches (Sewellia lineolata), one (?) borneo sucker (Gastromyzon punctulatus), five choprae danios (Celestichthys choprae) (more on the way), five Himalayan sand loaches (Nemacheilus corica), ramshorn and pond snails; springtails; isopods; scuds if the loaches haven't eaten them all.

Lots of aquatic and terrestrial mosses, crypts, anubias, java ferns, tea plants, rice plants.

Water. Rocks. Tree branches. Sand.