FishProfiles.com Message Forums

Im looking for a small, exotic fish that could be kept in a 10 or 20 gallon (I have both sized tanks lying around in my garage). Anyone have any suggestions? I want something that will turn heads. Thanks in advance.

ummmmmmm thats kinda small for any large colorful cichlid ummmmmmm mabey some type of gourami or a large school of fish that would look pretty cool.

Galaxy rasboras, or a male and two or three of your choice of apistogramma, would be my choice.

A few german rams are always atractive.

I would be glad to remove any extra tanks you have lying around

A pearl gourami would be nice.

There are many killifish that are beautiful that you could also choose.

Thanks for all the ideas, in addition to those, have any of you heard of the leaf fish. Im not quite sure thats the exact common name. Would that work in a 10 or 20g?

It should work. Plant the tank heavily. If you are going to have a low light tank, I would recommend java fern, crypts, and anubias. The fish will eat any other fish that would fit into its mouth. Also, they are not very active fish. Good luck with whatever you choose.

Here's a few small fish:

http://www.franksaquarium.com/nanofish.htm

Plus you might also consider Endler's livebearers

You could do glofish, the genetically modified zebra danio. There are 3 different colors: red, orange, and green. They are just like the zebra danio, their movement and bright color will turn some heads. They stay fairly small and active but might not be considered exotic. Although they are around 5-6 dollars a piece around here, if they are what you are after it is just a small price to pay.

What does that mean, Bob? "Till the cows come home." Where have the cows been?

I like the Leaf Fish idea... You could keep one in a 10 gallon or about three in a 20 gallon. They are awesome fish, highly intelligent and can be trained to take food out of your fingers. They are very shy, however, so they do best in a species tank or with other non-aggressive fish that are too large to eat.

---

I'm not your neighbor, you Bakersfield trash.

Small fishes?

Hmm, you've quite a choice.

Try the following:

[1] Poropanchax species, Killifishes known as Lamp Eyes. Most don't exceed 4 cm. Fairly hardy and adaptable from a maintenance standpoint, and probably less of a challenge to breed than some other Killies.

[2] Epiplatys annulatus, the Rocket Panchax. Tiny fish, you could have a male and 3 females in your 10 gallon and set that up as a species aquarium for it. Not too difficult maintenance wise so long as you keep on top of water cleanliness, but quite a challenge to breed because the fry are tiny.

[3] Hyphessobrycon amandae, the Ember Tetra. A Tetra that's so tiny (it's smaller than a Neon Tetra, just 4 cm fully grown) that you could have a shoal of 10 in your 10 gallon provided you kept on top of water cleanliness. If you put them in the 20, you could have a shoal of 10 plus 8 Pygmy Corys or 8 Corydoras habrosus.

[4] Neolebias ansoergei. A rarity that's well worth tracking down, and if you can find it, will be a superb fish for your 20 gallon. Try and get a shoal of 8 in there (they'll live with the Pygmy Corys too). This rainbow coloured African Characin is a relatively hardy fish - the biggest headache it'll give you is finding it.

[5] Nothobranchius species. More Killies - which will provide you with the breeding novelty of Annual Fishes. Eggs have to be partially dried and kept so for anything up to 7 months (yes, you read that correctly!) depenbing upon species. Best known and one of the most beautiful of the lot is Nothobranchius rachovii.

[6] Rivulus species. Easy to maintain South American Killies that are much underrated, and some are drop dead gorgeous. A trio of something like Rivulus xiphidus would make a fine fisplay in your 10 gallon. Be warned though, they are rocket propelled jumpers - keep them covered!

[7] Rasbora maculata, the Pygmy Rasbora. Just 3 cm fully grown. 10 of them will live in your 10 gallon no trouble.

[8] Trichopsis pumilus, the Green Croaking Gourami. About the size of a Neon Tetra fully grown, a male and 3 females will live in your 10 with care and attention paid to cleanliness and planting. A fish that will provide you with a nice introduction to bubble nest builders without the problems associated with big fishes such as Blue Gouramis.

[9] Dwarf Puffers. Your 20 could become a nice home for something like Carinotetraodon travanicorus. However, do your research before taking on Puffers - some species will live exclusively in freshwater, while others will require you to make the tank increasingly brackish with the passage of time. Go here]http://www.pufferlist.com/[/link] and [link=here if you fancy your hand at Puffers.

[10] Blue Eyes. Members of the Genus Pseudomugil would make utterly stunning fishes for your 20 gallon. Go here]http://members.optushome.com.au/chelmon/[/link], bookmark for future reference, then go [link=here for your species list. Scroll down that list till you find the Pseudomugil species, then take a good peek at them. They'll leave you breathless!

[11] Dwarf Cichlids. Your 20 can accommodate some interesting fishes here. You're restricted of course to the smallest members of Apistogramma, but that leaves you with some interesting fishes - Apistogramma panduro being a very good one to choose because it's among the smallest aquarium bred Apistos, and the male and female are so different in appearance even as juveniles (they actually look like different species!) that getting yourself a male/female pair is ridiculously easy.

[12] Bumblebee Gobies. If you fancy diving into brackish fish keeping, Bumble Bee Gobies will make excellent small fishes for a brackish aquarium. More difficult to keep than most of the fishes above (you'll need to keep breeding Brine Shrimp on a regular basis to feed them, and weaning them onto dead foods will be difficult to say the least), and breeding is a serious challenge, but worth the effort if you fancy doing something unusual with one of your aquaria.

[13] Leaf Fishes. You've already toyed with this idea - well, your 20 will make a nice home for a pair of Monocirrhus polyacanthus. Only trouble with these fishes is that they need live food - and almost exclusively live fishes. Which means you'll be breeding guppies in your 10 and tossing the fry in to feed the Leaf Fishes. But if you don't mind doing that, and want to see truly superb leaf mimicry in action, this is another option for you.

[14] While it's not a true 'dwarf' Cichlid, and will require you to devote your 20 exclusively to a pair, Anomalochromis thomasi, one of my all time favourite Cichlids, is well worth giving a go if you can find it. LOTS of virtues (hardy, peaceful, lovely colours, dependable parent when breeding), the only problem with it is finding it. Well worthtracking down though!

[15] Shell Dwellers. Fancy Rift Lake Cichlids that don't need a huge aquarium? Shell Dwellers are your answer. The Genus Neolamprologus has a number of interesting species for you to choose from, and there are several Shellie keepers here who will be only too happy to dispense hints and tips for keeping these delightful fishes in your 20.

[16] Fancy a SERIOUS challenge to your fishkeeping skills? A fish that will be a real feather in your cap, so to speak? Well, you could go with the Chocolate Gourami in your 20. Chocolate Gouramis are VERY difficult fishes, so if you don't feel you can handle a fish that makes Discus look trouble-free by comparison, give this choice a WIDE berth. But if you think your fishkeeping skills are up to keeping this difficult fish alive, it's a challenge you could rise to. Be warned, however, that this choice is NOT for the inexperienced!

Think that's enough suggestions for you to be going on with for the time being ...


Panda Catfish fan and keeper/breeder since Christmas 2002

If you like killis i would go with Lucania goodei. You check out their profile http://www.fishprofiles.com/files/profiles/176.htm. There simple looking but thats what makes neat.

"No whammy, No whammy, No whammy, STOP!!"

1984-Michael Larsen On Press Your Luck

For the 20 gallon,
a pair of Nanochromis Transvestitus.
You should see the look on peoples faces
when I tell them to come see my Transvestite
cichlids!
Its a great conversation starter and they are
really beautiful little fish.
They like soft water, grow to be about 1.5-2 inches
long. Males sport a gorgeous black and white suit,
females a belly of bright purple and a sporty set of
racing stripes on the tail.
You could do a pair of these and a group of jellybean tetras, and youd have a nice african softwater biotope,
a rare and interesting one at that.


Come Play Yahtzee With Me!
http://games.atari.com
Http://www.myleague.com/yahtgames

These are all great ideas, im going to go check my LFS to see whats available. I was also thinking about a few dwarf puffers. Ill post back if I find anything new.

Calilasseia, you made alot of great suggestions, I really like the Rainbow fish idea as well, are those species rare in most local fish stores?

Blue Eyes aren't common by any stretch of the imagination. However, there are quite a few dedicated breeders of these little gems who are probably only too happy to ensnare another unsuspecting victim - er, aquarist - into the Rainbow Fish and Blue Eye fold ...

In my case, most exotic find in that direction I've seen recently is Iratherina werneri, the Threadfin Rainbow.

Oh, by the way, Sneaky's Nanochromis transvestitus collection came about thanks to a suggestion I popped his way a while back. And he's pretty pleased with them too. Like he says, it's one really great way of starting a conversation ... someone says "Oh what's those fish in that tank?" and you reply "They're my Transvestite Dwarf Cichlids" ...

It's even better when you tell them that the scientific name is in fact Nanochromis transvestitus, and that they were given that name by two fairly well respected taxonomists ...

Mind you, given that the original paper was entitled A new species of dwarf cichlid fish with reversed sexual dichromatism from lac Mai-ndombe, Zaïre. by the aforementioned authors (Stewart & Roberts), I'm somewhat amazed that no-one thought along the same lines when Pseudotropheus lombardoi turned up, especially as the paper describing the fish again referred to reversed sexual colouration. Such is life.

Mind you, the whole Genus Nanochromis is a bit of an oddity among the Cichlids - its members are sort of 'pseudo dwarf' Cichlids, slightly too big to be real dwarfs such as Apistogramma panduro, with several species that bring to mind miniature versions of those South American peculiarities, the bottom dwelling Batrachops subgenus of Crenicichla, at least in body shape, with Nanochromis nudiceps being a classic of this kind, whilst Nanochromis dimidiatus looks for all the world like a 'stretched' Krib that's been acrylic airbrushed with shades of blue over most of the body! Most of these are very definitely bottom dwelling Cichlids and some of them have other features that make them stick out from the usual run of Cichlids. Out of the lot, however, Nanochromis transvestitus is probably going to be the one that provides the aquarist with a species that packs a lot of oddity into a small package.


Panda Catfish fan and keeper/breeder since Christmas 2002

I went to my LFS store today, and I saw a tank full of a mystery rainbowfish. They were gorgeous, so I picked one up. Its front half is blue and its back half is yellow. it is currently in my recently cycled open 10 gallon. Will this be a fish that will require me to set up the 20L?

Also, can some help me identify the variety of rainbowfish I have? I dont currently have a digital working camera =( so I cant give pics.

Thanks.

I believe you've got yourself a Boeseman's rainbow. It requires more than a 20G tank, and better be kept in a small group:
http://fish.mongabay.com/melanotaeniinae.htm#Melanotaenia%20boesemani

i like bucktooth tetras. they are agressive and small.

exodon paradoxus

I wouldn't do Bucktooth Tetras. They might be small, but due to their temperament they need to be kept in groups of at least ten in order to help prevent them from injuring each other too much. Ten of them would be too much for even a 20 gallon tank - I personally wouldn't keep them in anything smaller than 40 gallons and get as big a group as possible.

---

I'm not your neighbor, you Bakersfield trash.

Exodon paradoxus is not a small fish. Even the venerable Innes book lists it as a 3 inch fish (at a time when the species was first introduced to aquarists in 1932) and later experience with the species has led to the discovery that it can reach almost 5 inches in the aquarium. Plus it is seriously nippy - bear in mind that the Genus Exodon was devised to describe the fact that the fish's teeth protrude outward from the mouth, making it a VERY capable inflictor of damage upon an opponent. This is a fish for a 55 gallon minimum in my view, and preferably a 75, particularly if being kept with other fishes (whcih had better be tough). Plus, it's almost as bad a jumper as some of the Leporinus, to which it is related and with which it shares some less than desirable sneaky aggression issues.


Panda Catfish fan and keeper/breeder since Christmas 2002

Most of my books list an adult size of about three inches as well, which I would consider to be small (most three-inch fish can be kept in a 20 gallon tank), but some of them are a bit dated. Personally, I've never seen the species in person larger than 2.5 inches.

I would be interested in seeing a picture of a 5-6" specimen.

---

I'm not your neighbor, you Bakersfield trash.