What Fish To Add

[Dan-CR4]

Im after maybe a shoaling fish or mid to top of tank fish, as I think I got enough mid to bottom dwellers. I have at this moment a 180 litre tank but hoping to move them into a custom ND Aquatics tank in the new year that will be 347 litres. But for now I just want to add some more fish to my 180 litre.

Heres what i got so far in my tank....

3x Keyhole Cichlids,
4x Bolivian Rams,
2x Cockatoo Apisto,
1x Silver Molly,
1x Balloon Molly,
Malaysian Trumpet Snails.


TIA

Danny

 

[Wills]

A school of Pencil Fish would work well Nice selection of species to choose from and not overly uncommon. A good group of 8 would do well They are not really surface dwellers but do stay up high in the water column.

Wills

 

[Biddles95]

marbled hatchet fish would be nice and they are schooling fish .. so they would look nice
these dwell at the top of your tank thoug.. look them up

 

[Carlovel1]

Marbled Hatchetfish wont really do your 350 litre tank justice. What about a shoal of Halfbeaks of some sort?

 

[Thedoctor]

Denison Barbs.

I'm sure I've seen them kept with Cichlids.

 

[Dan-CR4]

thanks for the reply guys, had a look around and was thinking of Red Arc Pencilfish(Nannostomus mortenthaleri), but not sure how easy these would be to get, also I think these might be quite expensive, was reading around and on the other side of the pond they are going for around $10 to $15 each.

I also like the look of Denison Barbs so would like to know if they will be ok with the rams, keyholes & cockatoo's, also anyone know what sort of price these go for?.

Danny

 

[moochy13]

schools of penguin tetra look good and whenever i see them in shops 99% of the time they are all within a few inches of the surface. i have a pair in a smal tank and they are never more than 3 inches from teh surface, unless they're chasing food down.

 

[Timmy_Bee]

i would get some Gold barbs whilst your still in the 180. I know you plan to up-size, but Denison barbs will be too big for the 180 if your situation changes.
I also love Gold Barbs...

If you do go with any knid of barb, i think you want numbers of 5+ to you want a nice looking shoal - other wise they just potter about on their own (IME)

 

[N0body Of The Goat]

My Denisons Barb spend most of the day pecking at bits on the tank floor, never see them above the mid-level.

 

[elisew]

+1 for the Penguin Tetras. I have them and they are all mid-top and shoal together really well

 

[Carlovel1]

+1 for the Penguin Tetras. I have them and they are all mid-top and shoal together really well

I will have to disagree sadly
I had a group of 6 Penguin Tetras and they were in mid/bottom level of the tank. IMO these fish are not very good top-level/surface dwellers, but they do shoal nicely. Maybe some Glowlight danios or any type of danio, these are always zipping around near the surface

 

[elisew]

+1 for the Penguin Tetras. I have them and they are all mid-top and shoal together really well

I will have to disagree sadly
I had a group of 6 Penguin Tetras and they were in mid/bottom level of the tank. IMO these fish are not very good top-level/surface dwellers, but they do shoal nicely. Maybe some Glowlight danios or any type of danio, these are always zipping around near the surface

It`s swings and roundabouts I guess, we seem to have the same kinds of fish that perform differently

Danios are a good top dweller, very active too.

 

[N0body Of The Goat]

Something possibly be mentioning is that the tank's lighting can play havoc with where a fish is "supposed" to swim... Take my Yellowtails for example, who are supposed to be found in the "upper levels." They hate intensive lighting and so will school at the tank floor in such conditions! Add some floating plants to diffuse the light and they will normally start swimming higher in the tank.

 

[Dan-CR4]

Thanks for all the replies, ideas and comments . I have got a few good ideas now, and I never thought about floating plants to diffuse some of the light. Will look into the floating plants as well. I am so glad Im a member of this great site, so many helpful people.