Tetras and Rasboras, oh my....

[Hopfrog]

Some of you may have seen my other thread on quarantining my cherry barbs, but I did go ahead and move them to my main tank (planted 40g breeder) and they are doing great. Now comes the hard part. I decided pretty quickly on the cherry barbs as my first fish a while ago, but when it comes to the next fish for my tank I am a bit overwhelmed by the choices. I am going for a nice tropical community and I know that in the future my centerpiece fish will most likely be a trio of pearl gourami. I want my next fish to be another mid-water schooling/shoaling fish that will contrast well with the cherry barbs and will get along with the gourami that I plan on getting in the future. The problem is there are so many choices available. I was initially thinking about rummy-nose tetras but now I wonder if that will be too much red in the tank with the cherry barbs, even though they are only red in one area of their bodies. Then I was thinking that black neons might offer a good display, but I was in my LFS yesterday and I really liked the look of the black skirt tetras. I also got a look at some harlequin rasboras and they look like a great option as well. I worry a bit about general aggression and fin-nipping with some species.

So you can see the dilemma. The amount of options has me a bit overwhelmed. So what do you think? What tetra or rasbora do you like and think would make a good addition? I have been reading entries on Seriously Fish so obviously I am very open to hearing opinions on this. For reference as I mentioned I have a planted 40g breeder with a GH of 10 and KH of 6 (both according to the API test).

 

[Essjay]

Harlequin rasboras and their two smaller looklalikes (Trigonostigma espei and T. hengeli) are good tank mates for pearl gouramis. Black skirt tetras are not as they are nippy fish.

If it matters to you, cherry barbs, pearl gouramis and harlequins are all from Asia, though not the same country. Tetras are from America.



I have pearl gouramis, T. espei which I've had for 5 years, and new harlequins. I've also kept Daisy's rice fish (Oryzias woworae) with them, though they are not long lived fish and I now have just one female left.

 

[Bruce Leyland-Jones]

I lean towards the OCD spectrum when stocking my tanks and, having started with Cherry Barbs, I'd be looking to stay SE Asian, with Harlequins, (as already mentioned). A decent number of Cherries and Harlies would make a nice and active display. Personally, I might then be looking for Chain and/or Kuhli Loach for the lower level and then Gouramis as my 'show' fish. Whilst I've enjoyed the larger Pearl Giuramis, again, I'd be tempted to go for Dwarf Gourami, siimply because I could have more of these in the tank than Pearls.

OCD tendencies aside, giving my tank a theme helps me make choices re stocking, by removing many options from me. That said, what then happens is that, having established a South American tank, I then had to go for a second tank with SE Asian fish...and then another with Africans...and then another with...you get the idea?

 

[Byron]

In the past I have always been "geographic" in stocking my tanks--still am actually. Not exact biotopes (with one exception, an authentic Sri Lankan stream tank housing a group of 12 Black Ruby Barbs that are endemic to the Kelani and Nilwala river basins), but the tanks have had fish species and plant species and "decor" that were from the same geographic area, if not the exact same creek. This also has the advantage of having fish that will have the same water parameter requirements, which avoids that issue.

 

[Akeath]

I’ve got a very similar tank to yours, except I haven’t added the Cherries yet and started with the other tank mates first. Both the Gourami and the Cherries can actually be stressed out by super active tank mates, so that is an important consideration. You’ll also need to stay away from fin nippers like the Skirt Tetras, because the Gourami have long feelers and should never be kept with fin nippers. The Black Neon Tetras, Rummynose Tetras, and Harlequin Rasboras should work though.

When choosing the contrasting fish species, keep in mind that female Cherry Barbs are pinkish brown more than red, so there may be a bit more color similarity for female Cherries to the Harlequin Rasboras. My Harlequins are a deep bronze with pearlescent bellies and deep navy traingles. And if you are mixing sexes, you’ll need 2 female Cherry Barbs per male, so the majority of the school of Cherries will be pinkish brown rather than red. Unless you choose to get all male Cherries. Here's a video I found with Cherries and Harlequins

for an example of how they would look together (although my Harlequins are much less pale than the ones in the video, so keep in mind Harlequins can be a bit darker and more vibrant than this specific example)

For Tetras, Gold Tetras are a very shiny, pretty fallow gold color. I’ve kept them with Gourami just fine, and they aren’t super active and will not fin nip. These are not the most mainstream Tetra species, but imo opinion they deserve to be. They are fun to watch without being active enough to alarm other fish, they display beautifully, and they school well. Plus their shiny coloring provides a good contrast to other fish species.

Another good complementary Tetra species would be Lemon Tetras. This is one of the few deep bodied Tetras that will not fin nip. They are a soft yellow color overall with deep orange eyes that should be different enough that they don't blend in with the Cherries while still being complementary colors on the color wheel. They often don’t show well in store tanks, but will color up nicely once you take them home.

Green Neon Tetras may also be a good option, too, with colors that will contrast with the red. They lack the vibrant red of their Neon and Cardinal cousins, but still have that lovely bright blue/green stripe. That way you would have a little less overlap with the red of the Cherries while still getting lovely fish. They are nice and peaceful and won’t fin nip.

 

[FishNturt808]

I don’t think those are harlequins (at least the first few seconds of the video, I didn’t watch the whole thing). Those look just like my porkchop (lambchop?) rasbora’s. They have the silver bodies not the reddish of the harlequin.

 

[Akeath]

I believe there are both Trigonostigma espei and Trigonostigma heteromorpha in this video. That's what the person who uploaded it said. I've kept both and I think some of the Rasboras in the video are too deep bodied to be T. espei, but I could be wrong.

 

[Byron]

I believe there are both Trigonostigma espei and Trigonostigma heteromorpha in this video. That's what the person who uploaded it said. I've kept both and I think some of the Rasboras in the video are too deep bodied to be T. espei, but I could be wrong.

You are correct, both species are present, though not very happy. Their colouring is very pale, a sign of stress, which is likely from the too intense lighting, and possibly also from the current which seems to be affecting the T. espei more than the T. heteromorpha, not suprising given the difference between these two species. The cherry barbs are doing better, but they are barbs which as quite a different cyprinid from the rasboras. Though given their habitat--the species is endemic to the island of Sri Lanka, inhabiting shaded slow-flowing forest streams with thick marginal vegetation; fallen branches and leaves litter the substrate of silt--they might be better served as well.

[You said this was not your video, so I can be honest in my comments without fear. ] Corydoras are mentioned in the description, but I don't see them...also not unexpected, they are most likely hiding from the glare as well, plus having to deal with inappropriate substrate. The plants seem to be doing very well, and the tank looks quite nice...but it is frankly simply not suited to these fish.

 

[Hopfrog]

Just wanted to give an update - I went with 10 Harlequin Rasboras. They just looked so good in the shop that I had to go that way. Currently have them in quarantine and they are looking good so far.

 

[Hopfrog]

I wanted to give an update and ask for some advice. As I mentioned I purchased 10 Harlequin Rasboras and started to quarantine them and things started well. However, I had two die within a couple of days of getting them - one looked as if its jaw had gotten injured but the other one looked fine physically when I examined the body and there was nothing off with my parameters. I chalked it up to bad luck and went back to my LFS and purchased three more because I wanted to keep my numbers around 10-12. I added them and things seemed to be going well again, until a couple of days ago I noticed one of them was not schooling properly with the others and it did not look like it was swimming freely and easily. I checked my parameters again, and again nothing was off. I found that same fish dead yesterday and I again checked my parameters and nothing was off. Well, overnight three more died and I found them this morning. Again, I checked my parameters and they told me the same thing:

pH - 7.8
Ammonia - 0.00
Nitrites - 0.00
Nitrates - 5.00

Again, when I examined the bodies I could not see anything obviously wrong with them, and they had been acting totally normal as recently as the day before. I am really dumbstruck as to what is happening here. Any advice?

 

[Slaphppy7]

Are you using a liquid test kit?

Is this in a QT tank, or the main tank?....if the latter, any other deaths, besides the new harleys?

 

[Hopfrog]

Are you using a liquid test kit?

Is this in a QT tank, or the main tank?....if the latter, any other deaths, besides the new harleys?

I use the API Master Kit, so liquid. This is in my quarantine tank. The cherry barbs that I quarantined in that same tank are in my main tank now and have been doing great, no deaths.

 

[Slaphppy7]

Sounds like bad/diseased/parasite-infected stock, then....do you know how long the LFS had them in stock before you got them?

 

[Byron]

Is the store experiencing any deaths in their stock of this species? They might or might not want to answer this, but it is a legitimate question. There could be something in the genetic makeup of the fish, as this species will be commercially raised in SE Asia.