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I have a 46 gallon tank with 5 giant danios and 6 rainbow fish, ( Melanotaenia duboulayi/Eastern Rainbowfish from Burnett River)
and I want to replace the rainbow fish with something that’s body structure is less like the danios. The fish are in the tank (lightly planted with Java ferns) with 3 Pictus cats and one Rubber Lipped pl*co. What can I replace the 6 rainbow fish with?


"I am who I am, and who I am is who I want to be."
-Kasey Carter

Well, in the 60 I have pearl danios, ottos, Synodontis eupterus, a whiptail cat, kribs, and an SAE. All of those fish get along, although I wouldn't recommend the Synodontis for a tank any smaller than 55 (hardly has enough room in the 60). For a schooling fish less like the danios I'd go for barbs of some sort, tiger barbs would be great and very different from the danios.

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oldpro, Hi . I assume that the Giant Danios occupy the upper levels of the tank ? So I would go for some bottom dwellers , perhaps Corys and some Mid level fish like Golden Barbs or Gold Angels to add a flash of Colour .

Garry

I kept chunky bettas with mine. I had Betta falx and B. fusca, but B. pi and B. simorum would be nice too

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

I would like some corys in the tank, but I don't trust the Pictus with any thing that could fit in their mouth(even a little bit. ).They’ve got the bottom of the tank all to them selves, and I think they like it that way.

Barbs sound like a good idea, so I might try those. I like the way Checkered Barb look, but they cost more than Tiger Barbs, so I'll probably go with those. Will those fish work?


"I am who I am, and who I am is who I want to be."
-Kasey Carter

Rainbowfish being humpbacked not enough of a difference?

I think you're doing pretty good having the top and bottom filled with active swimmers. I'm thinking someone bigger and slower, but still not going to get pushed around too much is in order. Something like a cichlid. That would add some added personality to the tank, and also draw viewer's eyes to a specific fish. But what do I know, most all of my fish are catfish that hide all day.

Barbs will probably work, provided they don't fit in the Pictus mouths, as you have already pointed out is a danger. I've never kept barbs so I don't know if their growth rate is comparable to that of a pimelodid catfish, though...

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The aquarist is one who must learn the ways of the biologist, the chemist, and the veterinarian.

This kind of rainbowfish doesn’t have a humpbacked.
The Pictus are fully grown, 2 1/2 years old and about 4 inches long.
Oh! I forget to tell ya that there is a dojo loach in there, but you will never see him, as he is always under the sand.
What kind of cichlid?


"I am who I am, and who I am is who I want to be."
-Kasey Carter

Get some Tiger Barbs and a two or threesome of Firemouth Cichlids! The Cichlids seem to like the bottom area of my 20g so far, and are shaped and colored nothing like the danios. The Tiger Barbs are all over the place, bring color and energy (especially if you get a few albinos and greens along with the regular ones) to your community.

Probably find that firemouths will make a pain in the butt of themselves, they usually do, mine do a good line in nipping at catfish as active as pictus, the pictus faffing about seems to annoy them. In a 100 gal plus it wouldnt be a worry but in 50 gals they will probably make each other nervy and aggressive. For that kind of setup if I had to choose a cichlid, it would be something like a heterotilapia multispinosa-rainbow cichlid. Tough, ph tolerant, easy to feed, and fairly laid back. Firemouths almost live aggravated. If I didnt have a huge cichlasoma robertsoni to keep them in check, mine would cause more trouble than they do.


BTW oldpro, what species of rainbowfish do you have?

Giant Danios, Pictus Cats ... hmm.

I like LHG's suggestion of Rainbow Cichlids too (whose correct scientific name is actually Herotilapia multispinosa ) but there are other choices of fish that would go with the Giant Danios & Pictus for a contrast.

If you want a Cichlid, I could recommend some others. Laetacara curviceps, the Flag Cichlid, is probably about as near as you'll get to a 'pacifist' Cichlid among the South Americans, has lovely colour as an adult (it's gorgeous in breeding raiment) and shares its native waters with the Pictus Cats in the wild, so it would probably know how to deal with them. You'd have to get adult specimens though as Flag Cichlids are pretty small at just 3 inches or so.

Keyhole Cichlids, Cleithracara maronii, are bigger, similarly peaceful in the same manner as the Flag Cichlids, and less likely to attract unwelcome attention from the Pictus Cats as juveniles because the juveniles you'll see for sale will be correspondingly bigger than juvenile Flag Cichlids.

If you don't mind something that's fairly feisty, you could risk the Firemouths but I'd watch them like a hawk because they can become pretty fractious when the mood takes them. I'd suggest that among the Cichlids, Firemouths are probably the most aggressive ones you could put in there, and that would require you to be fairly much 'hands on' in case they cut up rough with each other as well as the other fishes. I'd AVOID anything more aggressive than that, I'd CERTAINLY AVOID Convicts or Salvinis because those things would unleash the fish version of tactical nuclear warfare in your setup!

If you're looking for something a bit unusual, you could run with some unusual livebearers. Limia species, to be precise. Some of these grow to a nice size, have attractive colours to recommend them, and as a bonus, were once sold as algae eaters because they're almost as good at the job as Bristlenose Plecs. They'll also reach algae that's hard for Bristlenoses to get at, such as algae growing near the water surface on plant leaves. Mind you, you'll have a LOT of fun tracking them down, as they're nowhere near as common as they once were, certainly not here in the UK at least ...

You could, if you wanted something unusual, try Microctenopoma ansorgei, a Labyrinth Fish from Africa that has striking markings and which will provide you with something of a show stopper. If you run with this, it'll be fairly demanding, and you'll have to provide hiding places for it in order for it to feel secure (it likes bogwood root tangles for this purpose) but if you can pull off the somewhat challenging business of acclimating it to your aquarium, and can meet the heavier maintenance demands that it places, it will be a show stopper that will have everyone who sees it in your aquarium talking!


Panda Catfish fan and keeper/breeder since Christmas 2002

yeah, I would like to recind my suggestion of the firemouths. I found that they ahd already begun tormenting my other fish so I took them back to the LFS within the first week, and got some neon dwarf rainbows... much better!

I do stand by my recommendation of getting a nice 10 fish shoal of various tiger barbs.... love em!