Good Dither Fish- Plants Safe?

[always4lora]

Hi' all ,

I've got a 4x2x2 which has the stocking in my sig in at the moment, I was never planning on having it planted but i'm going to have a go now , the Silver Dollars have eaten some of the plants but left some alone complety. If the planted attempt go's well i'm wondering what i could use instead of silver dollars that wont get eaten and wont eat all my plants?

I know my oscar will most liekly uproot a couple , it seems the weeksii bichir dag the cornor out complty to the bottom of the tank and it sits in there with the oscar, they havent disturbed anywhere else yet

 

[kelly528]

Go for barbs... they are quite sturdy and fast (and to my knowledge, carnivorous) maybe some Tiger Barbs would do, they are quite attractive as well!

 

[Davo86]

Go for barbs... they are quite sturdy and fast (and to my knowledge, carnivorous) maybe some Tiger Barbs would do, they are quite attractive as well!

Tiger barbs would soon be food,

TBH, with Oscars there isn't a lot of choice for dithers, its really a case of Silver Dollars, Tinfoils or Silver Sharks,
With Tinfoils and Silver Sharks arguably needing a 5foot tank minimum IMO

Like SDs, Tinfoils will destroy plants

Pink tailed Chalceus may be another option, although realistically you would need at least 5 to prevent any aggression between them, and in a 4x2x2 that may be overdoing it

 

[always4lora]

Davo , thats what i seem to be finding when reading up on fish , most will either get eaten or be too big the for tank

 

[Davo86]

Davo , thats what i seem to be finding when reading up on fish , most will either get eaten or be too big the for tank

Also once the Oscar gets to around 4-6" it is likely to start destroying the planted setup itself,
If your looking to keep plants with the oscar I would go for anubias and/or java fern that is actually rooted into bogwood, These two will usually go relatively untouched.

You may want to try some large Giant Danios with the Oscar, I have 4 fully grown specimens in with my cichlids and they are extremely quick and agile and just might annoy the Oscar so much that it leaves them alone, especially if you add them when it is still small, by the time it is bigger it should be fed up with tryng and failing to catch them

 

[shroob]

Larger species of rainbowfish might be an option? Not 100% sure on how they are with plants but I think they should be OK.

 

[always4lora]

Davo , thats what i seem to be finding when reading up on fish , most will either get eaten or be too big the for tank

Also once the Oscar gets to around 4-6" it is likely to start destroying the planted setup itself,
If your looking to keep plants with the oscar I would go for anubias and/or java fern that is actually rooted into bogwood, These two will usually go relatively untouched.

You may want to try some large Giant Danios with the Oscar, I have 4 fully grown specimens in with my cichlids and they are extremely quick and agile and just might annoy the Oscar so much that it leaves them alone, especially if you add them when it is still small, by the time it is bigger it should be fed up with tryng and failing to catch them

they look good , my oscar's still only small about 4inch mark now i'd say , i've got a decent sized piece of bogwood in the tank so might give that a try

Shroob - i like the Melanotaenia boesemani but not sure if they eat plants, i had some praecox in my old tank and they never botherd the plants. I think i can get these as well just not sure on which size.

 

[always4lora]

bump

 

[always4lora]

Would torpedo Barbs work or would they get eaten? i believe they get to 5inch or so

 

[Davo86]

Would torpedo Barbs work or would they get eaten? i believe they get to 5inch or so

If you can find large specimens then I'd say yes there is a good chance it will work, however, a group of decent sized barbs is going to be very costly IME,

Going back to the Rainbow idea, I did see some huge red and boesmani rainbows which had to be 5-6" in my nearest Maidenhead store, so you may be able to source some of these through your local store if you have one?
Rainbows won't touch plants btw

 

[always4lora]

sweet , i like both the barbs and the rainbow fish. Tri-mar have some rainbow's in they say are large but im going tosee what i can get locally first thanks for the help

 

[always4lora]

Just an update , i got some torpedo barbs at a decent size but these were DOA so i ordered some Boseman's Rainbow fish i got the 5 largest ones they had about 2-3 inch, unfortuantly one of them has gone missing today Not sure on the culprit i think its the senegal as its looking a bit chubby. Not sure if i should see if i can get some larger rainbow fish or get some more smaller ones and try putting them in with my snakeheads until they grow a little bit. Any thoughts? The rainbows look gorgeous and my planted setup seems to be looking good with them in. See below:

Any advise on what i should do ?



Edit: just another note, if i were to change my oscar for a GT would this make it easier to find dither fish ? These only grow to 8-10inch right?

I've had agood look at my Polpyterus and cannot see any abnormal buldging on either of them and i've checked the sorubim lima which also appears to not to be buldging as it normally is after eating, so maybe it was the Oscar.

 

[drobbyb]

The rainbows will take time to grow out, about a year and a half to reach 4 inches. Your oscar is going to outgrow them, and may see them as food.

As stated above, the oscar is probably going to wreak havoc on your plants and inhabitants. I would re-think the oscar as it is limiting what you can do with your tank.

 

[always4lora]

Is a GT likely to do the same to plants?