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Hi All,

I've had a few mystery deaths in the last few weeks in my 15g planted, dwarf tank (as in tank dedicated to teeny-tiny fishies ), so I've been thinking about adding some more fish. Here's what I currently have:
1 pygmy (sparkling) gourami
2 male Endlers
3 dwarf pencilfishes (nannostomus marginatus)
8 corydoras hastatus
2 corydoras habrosus
3 dwarf loaches (botia sidthimunki)

I don't think I want to add any more Endlers since I've had 2 unexplained deaths recently and some people say they have a relatively short lifespan.

Ideally I'd like to increase the number of cory habrosus to 6, but they haven't been available here for over 6 months and I don't forsee them coming anytime soon (the last batch of import was particularly weak).

The tank is pretty empty in the middle, so I've been thinking about a school of very small middle swimmers. What I'd really like is the dwarf rasbora (boraras maculata), but I've never seen them around. I've seen rasbora hengeli recently (small ones), but I'm not sure how big those get (don't want them if they get as big as the harlequins). Most tetras I know are too big for this tank.

Anyways, any recommendations? Think tiny! Thanks a lot.

Last edited by upikabu at 20-Oct-2005 23:59

-P

Blue eyed rainbowfish might be worth a look or two.

Getrudae, signifer and furcatus are all small, awesome fish with good appeal. Most LFS's don't carry them in stock, but are available for order if you ask.

Thanks, Fallout! I did see a variety of blue eyes once at a local LFS, but couldn't find much info about them so I didn't pursue it. But now that I got the nice rainbowfish site, I think I'm in with the spotted blue eyes (gertrudae). Looks like they stay quite small too, which would be perfect. Do blue eyes need to be kept in a large group, or would a trio be ok? I'm going to hunt for them this weekend.

Thanks a lot!

-P

There are quite a few dwarf rasboras, you can read about some of them [link=here]http://www.azgardens.com/schooling_fish.php" style="COLOR: #CC3366[/link].

Another idea would be to add another sparkling gourami or two, I never had problems keeping them in groups.

~~~~~~~~~~~~
There is water at the bottom of the ocean

I would Try the http://www.fishprofiles.com/files/profiles/blueram.xml
German Blue Ram

Face up make your stand and realize your living in the golden Years

How about a dwarf plec*. They stay purty small. Petsmart carries them, the L187b striped rubbernosed plec*

Threadfin rainbows are another small colorful rainbowfish. I have a large school in my 90g and despite their lack of size they have too much color to get lost or be missed. The only thing to watch for is that they are VERY e to ich but they also seem to have a 90% recovery rate with no meds. The first group I ordered from azgardens and treated with ridich+ when they got here with no losses. The 2nd group I just added a half dose of melafix and only lost one. However their survival rate in store tanks is much lower and alot of stores here won't order them.

Glad you've noticed these little beauties before

They're really nice fish, small, colourful and peaceful for the most part. They do like to be kept in small groups, so at least 4

Good luck!

"How about a dwarf plec*. They stay purty small. Petsmart carries them, the L187b striped rubbernosed plec*"

C. [confer] thomsoni grow to at least 4" and need cool, highly overturned water.

Thanks for the additional suggestions.

Theresa: I did have 2 pygmy gouramis originally, but one always bullied the other, to the point that the other one went into permanent hiding and stopped eating. He died a few weeks ago. I wanted to add more of them, but I'm afraid I have an alpha male gourami.

I wouldn't consider Blue Rams "tiny" by this tank's standards (everything there is at most 1" long). Nice-looking fish, though.

Plecos are rare and extremely expensive here in Australia, I've seen some selling for upwards of $500!

I did consider threadfin rainbows at one point, but for some odd reason, even though they're considered native fish here, I've only seen one LFS that has them. And they didn't look very nice. Maybe someday when I come across good ones.

Fallout: I went to one LFS that specializes in native fishes today, and the only pseudomogil species they had were p. signifer (pacific blue eyes). They had tons of them (it's their breeding season now) and the bigger, mature males (~5cm) were quite nice, but I'm holding out for p. gertrudae (spotted blue eyes) since they should be smaller (and prettier, in pictures at least). They aren't available very often though.




-P

The gouramis are best kept in at least a trio for the exact reason yours died. A pair often ends up with 1 bully and the other eventually dead. They do love company though and in a larger group they get along quite well. I have 7 in a 20g tank right now.

upikabu, try contacting ANGFA, someone will be able to send them to you

For animals, the entire universe has been neatly divided into things to (a) mate with, (b) eat, (c) run away from, and (d) rocks. - Terry Pratchett