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I need An Strange/weird fish that will stay mainly at the top of the tank..

It would live in a 55g,

R_Boy

depends on your stocking, hachet fish for a community tank.

Thanks bettachris! But could you reply to my other post titled "Are.." Please,

R_Boy

Taking a peek at your stocking in that other thread, I'm about to suggest something a little different.

Killies.

Not just any Killies, mind you. Rivulus.

The Genus Rivulus consists of a number of species of South American origin, that would be compatible water chemistry wise with the rest of your stock. I would avoid the Herringbone Rivulus, Rivulus strigatus, as it is a touchy fish that needs a lot of TLC, but numerous other Rivulus species are more eminently suitable for the community setup such as the one you are planning upon.

The only thing you have to be careful with if you go with Rivulus, some of which are, it has to be said, absolutely drop dead gorgeous to look at, is that they are deceptive. They look as if they're slow movers, and tend not to dart about a great deal. However, this disguises the fact that like certain other Killies (Blue Gularis and Fundulopanchax species come to mind here), the Rivulus are absolutely rocket-propelled jumpers - at least as much as Hatchet Fishes, and possibly more so. Leave the cover off the aquarium for a moment, turn your back, and WHAM - instant fish ICBM time. You would be surprised how far these guys can fly by the way!

However, since you're looking for a surface dweller, and you're already contemplating some species that have notorious reputations for being jumpers, just take on board that Rivulus species are, if anything, even more e to jumping that some Hatchet Fishes, but they hide their jumping ability a LOT better.

Something else to watch for if you decide to chance your arm with Rivulus - they indulge in a range of odd looking behaviours that are fun to watch, but perfectly natural. For example, if you have floating plants, they'll climb out of the water onto the floating plants for short periods, then plop back in the water when they're ready. If there's a suitable acreage of bare glass between the waterline and the cover glass, Rivulus species also indulge in what looks remarkably like "Velcro jumping" - they leap out of the water and stick to the glass above the waterline. When you see if for the first time, it's very disconcerting if you're not prepared for it, but as a means of escaping from certain aquatic predators, the behaviour has its merits.

Go check out the Rivulus species at this site]http://www.killi.co.uk[/link] ... and in particular, take a look at [link=this utterly gorgeous species ... I think you may be sold on these fishes!

Oops, almost forgot - as well as being in quite a few cases sexually dichroic (females have different colour schemes to males, sometimes alarmingly different!), many Rivulus species possess a feature that allows easy determination of gender - the females have an ocellus or eye spot in the upper portion of the caudal peduncle. So many of the species possess this, that the feature is known as a 'Rivulus Spot'.



Panda Catfish fan and keeper/breeder since Christmas 2002