Top Of The Tank Swimmers

[Carolinesugar]

Hi All,

I have recently set up my new Rio300, and am looking to buy some active top of the tank fish. As the tank is around 20" deep I'd like to have more action at the top of the tank. I've just brought 6 marble hatchet fish, but wondered what other sorts of fish only swim at the top of the tank.

Any ideas?

I already have a few mollies, platies and swordtails, but they seem to swim more in the middle of the tank.

 

[Lateral Line]

Many Panchax species swim at the top. You need to research the species available though as some grow large and have very large mouths. They aren't overly aggressive but are well able to swallow small fish.

 

[nonot8946]

danios usually stay at the top and are very active

 

[Kombat]

I used to have some White Clouds and all they did was swim at the top. They rarely ventured to the middle and only twice did I see one at the bottom.

Karl

 

[smithy05]

i vote for the danios they brilliant fish idealy ya want bout 5 mountain minnows ive not had but yeah danios r good

 

[diademhill]

Pencil fish.

Any of these will use the upper levels - peaceful. pretty & they eat planaria.

 

[dwarfgourami]

With a tank that size you could keep a school of giant danios- beautiful fish!

 

[juliehainsworth]

I think emerald eye rasboras or blue eyed rasboras if you can find them! I have 5 emerald eye rasboras left and they are a really nice schooling fish that love to be near the surface!

 

[mahdira]

Killifish usually swim near the surface!

 

[neon_platy]

I just got two golden killifish i love them...they're so much fun to watch...also when i planted a plant in teh tank the one swam up to my hand and stayed near my arm the whole time...I also like the dannios too

 

[nmonks]

Marble hatchetfish are pretty, but small and I think rather nervous. Silver hatchetfish are much larger (~6 cm long) and very, VERY lively. Mine spend their entire time either chasing one another around the tank, stealing food from other fish, or biting at the hairs on my arm when I'm doing something in the aquarium. I highly recommend them.

Another good surface dweller is the African butterflyfish, although it is predatory, and would probably eat the marble hatchetfish. Fine with species of approximately similar size, like silver hatchets or bigger.

http/www.fishforums.net/index.php?showtopic=34968

However, my top recommendation would be halfbeaks. They're relatively easy to obtain, eat most foods, including flake (eventually), and best of all breed quite readily. There are some fish profiles on this forum and I have a more detailed article on keeping and breeding halfbeaks on my web pages.

http/www.fishforums.net/index.php?showtopic=109221
http/www.fishforums.net/index.php?showtopic=110686
http/www.fishforums.net/index.php?showtopic=66539

Halfbeaks are incredibly active fish, and fight almost constantly unless kept in really big groups (ten or more). So if you go for just two or three, make sure you have a single male. The females fight, but not seriously; males fight in earnest and will tear chunks off each other's beaks. The wounds heal quickly enough, but still, life is simpler with just one male.

Cheers,

Neale

 

[Carolinesugar]

Hi All,

i have taken your advice, and brought some panchax (killi fish)

I managed to get 1 golden wonder, 1 stripped one, 1 with a blue tail, and one with a yellow strip just on the very bottom of his bottom fin.

I've also managed to spot a silver hatchet in the shop - although now that I have the marbles, not sure if they wud mix ok? (I've also been warned that the marbles and the silvers are prone to whitespot - is this true?)

I already have a nice butterfly fish - hes lovely - managed to find him in a local pet shop - he was in there abt 7 months - every time i went to the shop he was there, but really expensive. then I went there one week, and the shop had taken his price tag off - so i asked why, and was told, no one had taken any interest in him, so they were going to take him off sale and get rid of him. - So, I finally brought him, at a bargin price of just £2.50!

How would siver hatchet fish mix with angels/gouramis?

 

[nmonks]

Silver hatchets will get along with angels and the peaceful gouramis (i.e., moonlights and pearls) just fine. I don't think they'd like to be with those mean blue or yellow three-spot gouramis, though.

Cheers,

Neale

How would siver hatchet fish mix with angels/gouramis?