Hi all,
I just don't think they are suitable for the tank really. I haven't kept them, but I would think that putting them in an iwagumi would be extremely stressful for them, and that they are unlikely to show their natural colours or behaviour.
Trochilocharax ornatus <http://www.seriouslyfish.com/species/search/Trochilocharax+ornatus> is a black water fish (like Tucanoichthys tucano < Tucanoichthys tucano — Seriously Fish>) and should really go in tannin stained, very soft water with leaf litter and subdued light.
If you did want to keep them in a planted tank with clearer water, the conditions that suit Poecilocharax etc <Joe's tank | UK Aquatic Plant Society> should do for them as well.
cheers Darrel
You could argue that a lot of species aren't ideally suited to many of the setups and layouts that people use them in. The ideal setup for a black neon tetra (Hyphessobrycon herbertaxelrodi) is a biotope, but a huge number of them live happily in minimal high tech planted tanks. If our hobby consisted of just replicating the exact conditions that these fish live in in the wild, I think we would be rather limiting ourselves. Especially seeing as a lot of the smaller species (Ones more suited to smaller tanks or Iwugami style layouts) come from low light, blackwater or biotope environments. When I last saw Crystal rainbow tetra in my LFS, they were in an minimal, open water, high tech layout and they appeared to be perfectly happy and incredibly vibrant in colour. They were in that tank for a good 3 months+ (due to the high price). I think that you would undoubtedly notice if they weren't happy after that period of time. The species will behave differently in each tank they are used in, If you were breeding them then of course they would need to be in more of a backwater setup. However, I don't intend to breed them at the moment. I am also using green neon tetra as my main fish in this tank, technically they are also blackwater fish.