# Micro fish



## zig (1 Nov 2007)

Im setting up a small 54 litre tank atm and I want to stock it with a micro type fish, Im just looking for a few suggestions my fish knowledge is not the greatest, the tank is 60x30x30cm. Im looking for something very small to fit the Iwagumi scape I have in mind.

I know Rasbora maculata or Galaxy rasbora would probably fit the bill but I am looking for other suggestions as well, what else is out there? a shoaling type fish is preferable. Thankyou.


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## nry (1 Nov 2007)

I have the same size tank, also stocked with teeny fish 

Currently I have:

7xRasbora maculatus (lovely fish, temperament like zebra danio), shoal well
4xCorydoras pygmeaus
6xotocinclus hourani
Numerous shrimp

In the LFS the cory shoal really well and are more midwater swimmers in certain scapes - I did wonder longer term about a tank purely for them, they really shoal well, though 2 of my original 6 died - one jumped out when it was in my 5-gallon and the other, in short, over did the whole reproduction thing


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## Dave Spencer (1 Nov 2007)

Here`s my Rasbora dorsiocellata in a 60cm x 30cm x 36cm. I`m not sure exactly how big they will get, but they look great ATM. I`ve had them since around May, and they have hardly grown at all from 1.5cm.






I have also got some Hyphessobrycon amandae (Ember tetras) in my 24l which are a real nice orange colour, and are barely 2cm long. I did find them a little timid, which they took a long time to get over, but they are looking pretty good now. They may be happier in a bigger shoal, which you will be able to do in your tank.

Dave.


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## Ed Seeley (1 Nov 2007)

How about some Lampeye killifish?  They are very subtley coloured, except for a bright metallic blue eye.  I had some baby ones, but they didn't make it unfortunately.  As soon as I see some adults in a LFS again I'll buy as many as I can and get breeding them!


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## Maximumbob (1 Nov 2007)

I have both boraras maculata and CPD's and they are both great.  For an iguami I would probably edge towards the boraras...  unless you could source captive bred CPD's.

If you give me a few months I may have some


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## beeky (2 Nov 2007)

I have/had some of the Ember tetras as well, but I found they suffered quite badly with dropsy initially and I lost half of them. This may have been a bad batch though. They would have been really nice in a clean, small tank but I had them in a 2' with barbs and a crypt jungle and they got a bit lost.


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## zig (2 Nov 2007)

Some good ideas here folks, thankyou.

It can be difficult to get micro fish around here, the shops normally don't  stock them, they figure they end up as lunch in most peoples tanks with larger fish present, so they tend not to sell very well when they do have them. So basically they don't bother getting them in most of the time.

I had some spare time yesterday and visited a couple of the largest lfs around the city here, one shop had farm bred Galaxy rasboras, cute little guys but expensive at about Â£5 each and considering 10 of those guys would still look pretty lost even in a small tank I ruled that one out pretty quick, nice little fish but wrong colour and shape for me, although I was surprised to see them at all, they were definitely farm bred though I know this shop well they wouldn't stock them otherwise.

They also had one lonesome Rasbora maculata all on his own, they look good I would have probably bought those if they had more of them.

The next shop actually had lampeyes Ed, nice fish with the  big blue eyes , I had read somewhere that they breed very easily so I didnt really want to get into all of that scenario of being over run with fry, but maybe they ain't so easy to breed?? I will probably go back to that shop tomorrow anyway so will have a good look at them again, what sort of max size would these fish get, any idea?

But thanks for the other ideas as well, the tank won't be ready/grown out for about a month so no hurry with stocking, I will keep looking around.

Dave/beeky the ember tetras look excellent I will keep an eye out for them 

Thanks for the offer maximumbob Im sure you  will have no shortage of takers on that one if you are successful in the breeding stakes.

Thanks everyone


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## Ed Seeley (3 Nov 2007)

The Lampeyes you see will be adult size.  They may grow another mm or so but that's about it!  They aren't the hardest thing in the world to spawn, but you won't suddenly find you're seeing loads appear in the tank either.  You need to save the eggs and feed the little ones to get lots of young ones.

And, even if they do start laying loads of eggs, I know someone you could post them to to raise....


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## George Farmer (3 Nov 2007)

I really enjoyed my Microrasbora nana.

Check out the PFK homepage banner.


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## Matt Holbrook-Bull (3 Nov 2007)

micro fish..

isnt that what you use in libraries to look through historic newspapers?


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## ulster exile (3 Nov 2007)

Micro fiche and that's what I spend half my day using - it's not just libraries use them.


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## Maximumbob (3 Nov 2007)

Frolicsome_Flora said:
			
		

> micro fish..
> 
> isnt that what you use in libraries to look through historic newspapers?


Groan!!!!


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## Matt Holbrook-Bull (3 Nov 2007)

tee-hee  made you giggle though


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## Themuleous (3 Nov 2007)

I have to agree with George, re the M.nana Ive got two and although they are dwarfed by my clown loaches they are stunning little fish, which have an iridescent green colour in the right light.  I'm certainly thinking of them for when I redo my nano.

Also think about the Australian rainbow fish, such as Gertrude's Rainbow _Pseudomugil gertrudae_ and they can be a bit easier to find than some boraras species.

Sam


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## zig (3 Nov 2007)

Cheers Sam Cheers george, I have never seen Microrasbora nana around these parts but I will keep an eye out for them.

I went back to the shop today and bought a dozen of the lampeye killifish  just in case I dont see anything suitable in the next month or so, I just needed to confirm that I wouldn't have 5 million lampeyes by christmas time!!! nice little fish the eyes really are a gas.

I will keep my eyes open for the other fishies as well, Im getting more tuned into that side of the hobby at long last and I have 3 tanks now that need stocking so room for plenty more new arrivals.

Have a very good evening one and all


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## Ed Seeley (3 Nov 2007)

Cool, can't wait to see some pictures when they're settled in!

BTW Sam where have you seen Pseudomugil gertrudae???  I'd love some of those too, but the only one I ever see around here is P.signifer and then pretty rarely...
I was trying to get eggs of them, and a rare Lampeye imported again from a guy in Hawaii!!!


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## beeky (5 Nov 2007)

Where do you guys get these fish from? None of the shops round me have anything like that!


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## nry (5 Nov 2007)

http://www.trimar.co.uk have a reasonable choice of the smaller fish, I got my b.maculatus from there, the postage was more than the fish though, Â£1 per fish (got 7) and Â£10 P&P


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## Themuleous (5 Nov 2007)

Ed - my local MA has some gertrudae in stock at the moment  got them in special for me a while back then re-ordered them.  They are quite good like that.  Try your local MA, they all use the same wholesalers so no doubt if you ask nicely they should be able to get some in.

They dont seem to sell overly fast so there might be a few left if/when you pop down for the forum weekend at mine 

Sam


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## Ed Seeley (5 Nov 2007)

Cheers Sam,
I'm really hoping to make it down to yours but can't say 100% at the moment as something may get in the way!  I'm working hard to make sure it doesn't!  Should know for sure in a week or so!  
Thanks for the tip, I will look for a MA near me, or make a detour to your local one!
Cheers!


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## Themuleous (7 Nov 2007)

Dave not sure where you are with your fish but what about these?

http://www.tropicalfish4u.co.uk/Fish/Fr ... braRasbora

Sam


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## nry (7 Nov 2007)

They are lovely, no room in my tank for them though


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## zig (16 Nov 2007)

First baby lampeye has showed up


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## Ray (16 Nov 2007)

Iwagumi tank so presumably you have them spawning in some dwarf hairgrass or ricca or something?  Can we see pictures?

They sound much more charismatic and less prolific than my guppies.  The baby males have these delta fins, can't swim very well, so they get eaten.  I have 20 fry of various sizes, all females!


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## zig (16 Nov 2007)

rayi said:
			
		

> Iwagumi tank so presumably you have them spawning in some dwarf hairgrass or ricca or something?  Can we see pictures?
> 
> They sound much more charismatic and less prolific than my guppies.  The baby males have these delta fins, can't swim very well, so they get eaten.  I have 20 fry of various sizes, all females!



I have the lampeyes in a heavily planted 40 gallon tank atm. I tried to photograph "it" (only one spotted so far) last night but the other fish immeaditaly block your view looking for food, so I couldn't get a decent shot, the fry darts all over the place at the surface of the tank.


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## Ed Seeley (16 Nov 2007)

Wow Zig!

They're not meant to be that easy to breed so you must really be doing something right there!!!  I know where they'll have a good home if you get a few more...


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## zig (10 Dec 2007)

eds said:
			
		

> Wow Zig!
> 
> They're not meant to be that easy to breed so you must really be doing something right there!!!  I know where they'll have a good home if you get a few more...



ed it was a false alarm, turns out the fish fry was actually a White cloud mountain minnow!!  same electric blue though as fry thats what threw me, first time I had one of those fry so I wasn't sure, jumping to conclusions


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## Ed Seeley (10 Dec 2007)

Oh well mate - sure they'll breed sooner or later anyway.  Well done for breeding the White Clouds anyway!!!!


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