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I think I only have one neon left in my 30g, so it's time to look into another schooling fish.

There is a trio of apistos and a group of kuhlis remaining. I'll include a pic but the tank has driftwood, is well planted, and has a dark substrate.

Because of the apistos I want to stay away from anything nippy. I'd like to have something on the small-side so I can purchase a good-sized school. On my definite 'no' list are neons, cardinals, lemons, and rummynoses.

Ideas I've come up with so far include:

-gold tetras
-diamonds
-black neons
-bloodfins
-green fire tetras

Anyone have experience keeping any of these? Any other suggestions would be appreciated as well

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There is water at the bottom of the ocean

I saw diamond tetras at the LFS this weekend and they are very pretty. I have no experience with them, so I don't know if they are nippy.

I would think the black neons would blend in too much, since the substrate is dark. They could be a good contrast to your Apistos though.

Gold tetras look pretty, but again I don't have any experience with them. Sorry!

*Kristin*

I do not have experience with the ones you have mentioned.

I do have experience with these:

Highly recommend:
1. Harlequin rasboras
2. Marbled hatchets
3. Glowlite tetras
4. White clouds

Would not recommend:
1. Cochu's blue tetras (often nippy)(don't school well)
2. Orange von rios tetras (often nippy)
3. Serpae tetras (often nippy)

I agree with Pookiekiller12's recommendations. Marble hatchets have always been a favorite of mine. I would also suggest Rummynose tetras for a peaceful mid water schooler.

Sometimes its the fish that choose the tank!
Celebes rainbows, threadfins or dwarf neon rainbows would love that tank. 5 or more passes for a shoal.None of them are nippy, and theyd give you some nice , highly visible midwater action. Certainly worth the extra cost. Just a little non-tetra alternative Not that im biased or anything

I also recommend the celebes rainbow, from experience. I forgot about them.

maybe 8 or so threadfins and 3 congotetras ???

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''All the clown fish and yellow tangs in the world cant save you now!''

I forgot about rainbows

I like the looks of both celebes and threadfins...is one species hardier, more difficult to keep, etc, than the other?

Thanks for the suggestions

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There is water at the bottom of the ocean

Theresa, if you can find them, and I admit it will be an interesting logistical exercise, how about Rasbora veterifloris?

It's a personal favourite of mine. Here in the UK we know it by the old and woefully incorrect name of Sri Lanka Fire Barb, even though it isn't a Barb. This anomaly came about because it's more typically Barb-shaped than most other Rasboras. However, name shenanigans aside, it has several redeeming traits:

[1] It's a peaceful, non-nippy species

[2] It's drop dead gorgeous

[3] It's nice and small (2 inches max)

[4] It's possible to breed it in captivity (though it's somewhat of a challenge)

[5] It's pretty hardy and adaptable as regards aquarium water chemistry provided extremes are avoided

Nice fish, and because of its rarity in the hobby, you'll have a real show stopper to present to fellow aquarists who call round.

Feed them colour food and live Daphnia, and watch them turn into little supernovae colour wise! You won't regret getting them if you can find some ...


Panda Catfish fan and keeper/breeder since Christmas 2002

Celebes can be nervous when young,but they get over it if you have a decent size shoal and when they get to full size they chill out, and if you buy some make sure you do the bag in the tank thing and add tankwater slowly.

Threadfins arent difficult per se, but they do demand nice clean water, but in your tank I guess that wont be a problem, looks nice and clean.Obviously they are a target for fin nippers.

With both species they will apreciate the frozen foods, bloodworm, glassworm, and brineshrimp, so as long as they get a small daily amount of one of those plus flake, I think youll find you do ok with them.

The tank design as is should suit both species well.

I have kept both rainbows, I feel that the celebes is the heartier one, but not by much.

making the assumption that your water is soft and has a low ph, the threadfins may be best over the celebes, as the threadfins prefer soft, acidic water, while the celebes prefer hard, basic water. then again, celebes IMO look prettier than threadfins, so i would let availability be the deciding factor on which rainbow to get

Just happened upon this auction today...

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There is water at the bottom of the ocean

Very nice! I've never seen a fish with long fins like that. I definitely think you should go with rainbows...even if its not the ones in that auction.

*Kristin*

I was going to give the water params in my original post but forgot

temp 79
pH 7.4
9 dGH (although that might be a bit off, the test is old )

I think I'll start doing some research about rainbows since I've never kept them, and see if any lfs carry them.

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There is water at the bottom of the ocean

Ahh... Threadfin Rainbows, very nice.

Chris

Theresa, if your pH is 7.4, and your hardness is 9 degrees dH, the Celebes Rainbows might be the better bet. In that water, they'll sparkle beautifully. I've got an amazing photo of one in my Braz Walker pocket book that shows just how stunning they can be, and I think you'd be suitably pleased if you had something like that swimming around in your aquarium

By the way, Celebes Rainbows can be fairly athletic jumpers if you decide to go with them. They're mostly upper layer dwellers and fast swimming to boot - a recipe for some interesting acrobatics


Panda Catfish fan and keeper/breeder since Christmas 2002

I get threadfins for £3 each. Is that bidsite supposed to be cheap?

This is a good site if youre just starting to check them out.

http://members.optushome.com.au/chelmon/index.htm

Those Rainbows are beautiful and would add really nice color to the tanks. Are you looking for a mainly mid-water schooling fish or something of a mixture?

You can also go the Barb route if you want schooling. Cherry Barbs and bright in color and add personality to most tanks. (In my experience, they have not been nippy and get along with the numerous mixtures of other fish. Although - I do appologize that I do not know if they are water *PH, Hardness, etc. specific)

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"it's the neck, it creaks under the weight of too much heavy thinking."

Threadfins do fine in high ph water. My males have been trying to get my females to spawn since a few days after I got them and then I was still using the well water with around 8.0 ph or higher. They don't seem to care and acclimated very easily. The only problem I've had is that they are highly susceptible to ich but I've never lost one and I only treated the first 2 batches I bought. After that I just tossed them in quarantine for a week and they always recovered fine on their own. I never had 1 get sick since then and I've moved them to 3 different tanks in the past few years. I suggest buying them from different sources because you will get some with various colors. I have some with red, some with purple, and some with dark green fins and markings. They are very entertaining fish and the males are always flashing their fins and displaying for the 3 females.

My 2nd favorite out of those are the black neons but they are a bit larger and while they look good on say dark blue or dark green substrate on a really dark substrate like black they won't be as noticeable. They do color up much better on somewhat dark colors though and wouldn't be very happy at all on something like bright white or hot pink gravel. I actually thought they looked pretty good with the eco complete and heavily planted tank.

I really do not suggest white clouds for any tank that you want to stay away from nippy fish. I temporarily added my school of 9 to my 55g and they tore the fins up on everything. My poor congos looked horrible. They even managed to kill one of the otos. I have 3 left and they occasionally tear up my betta and angelfish in the 29g. I've also noticed them picking on the pleco every now and then. I'm never buying them again.