Fish recommendation

[hamfist]

Just had another brainwave - Pencilfish ! A decent shoal (any of the common species) is a magnificant thing. These chaps are so full of character too. They tend to prefer softer acidic water though - not sure what your chemistry is.

 

[jellybean]

Saying all that I'd probably double or triple the amount of harlequins first to see if you actually want another species. I tend to think less species but larger groups looks best and even with shy species, at high numbers you tend to see a lot of them.

Ok, after MUCH thought and consideration and YouTube scrolling, I think I’m going to give this method a shot first. I will be in New Orleans next week and will see what I can find down there. IF I happen to stumble upon a nice group of black neons, I might come home with those also. Which brings me to my next couple of questions.

Depending on my schedule and the hours that the shops are open, I may have to get the fish and hold on to them for a day or two before coming home. Would putting them in a 5 gallon bucket (or two), with an airstone, indoors at room temp be ok? I could do small water changes or not. And add doses of Prime or not. And if that will work, would I then bring them on a 5 hour car ride home in the buckets or bag them up?

And if all of this sounds like a bad idea, I can just order them online.

Thanks for all of your input. It’s been really helpful.

 

[Bradders]

Well, this is how Cory from Aquarium Co-Op did a long-distance transport of fish. Hot rooms, plenty of air, treated water and containers!

I guess the advantage of this compared to postal is that you have direct control and monitoring of the little lives under your care.

 

[FrozenShivers]

Saying all that I'd probably double or triple the amount of harlequins first to see if you actually want another species. I tend to think less species but larger groups looks best and even with shy species, at high numbers you tend to see a lot of them.

Good advice, you often see better behaviour, there is usually less issues and in my subjective opinion, it looks much better - I hate fish soup tanks with far too many species and not enough within to shoal/school properly.

 

[jellybean]

Well, this is how Cory from Aquarium Co-Op did a long-distance transport of fish. Hot rooms, plenty of air, treated water and containers!

That was a VERY helpful video. Thanks for the link.

Good advice, you often see better behaviour, there is usually less issues and in my subjective opinion, it looks much better - I hate fish soup tanks with far too many species and not enough within to shoal/school properly.

I have around 20 mixed rasboras in this shoal - mostly harlequin but a few lambchops and a few glow lights. They are all roughly 3 years old and the number has shrunk over time. Seems like a good idea to build it back up.

 

[jellybean]

I was unable to find the fish I wanted so I’ve placed an order for them online. They should arrive on Tuesday. I have a 20 gallon long and a standard 10 gallon tank with loads of plant trimmings. Frogbit on the surface along with hornwort, anacharis, Java ferns, small Amazon swords, etc. The 20g has an aquaclear HOB filter and the 10g has a mini pat. Sand/gravel substrate. Some red cherry shrimp in both tanks along with scuds in the 20. Tanks have been set up for a year or so.

My plan is to put the harlequin and glowlight rasboras in the 20 (around 20 small fish) and 15 black neons in the 10. And I can move prefilters from my main tanks to these two. Good plan? Should I do extra water changes? Add Prime?

 

[itudela]

Black neon tetras are nice. Embers tetras is another nice option - and almost monochromatic (one color).

Cheers,
Michael

Fully agree with @MichaelJ about embers. I have both embers and neon tetras, and the embers are always together schooling and are even more peaceful than the neons (both are peaceful anyway). The embers are getting more colour with time, and their red/orange is indeed beautiful. It will still take some months to get the colour I would like them to get, but they still look beautiful now.
Ideally you want to get a minimum of 10, potentially more. I got 12 and now I feel like I should have gotten 5 or 10 more!

This is how mine look like (terrible photo) after a month and a half in the tank.

 

[itudela]

ATO arrived today, set it up on my 3-footer until this 4-footer is going and it's great! Should have done it ages ago. My Vuppa & metal pipes are setup on my plant holding tank, they will also be migrated onto this tank when it's time. I travelled to Premier Aquatics to collect tank and then Horizon Aquatics for a workshop yesterday, drove home this morning, around 12 hours driving so I'm very tired, was absolutely bricking it driving with the tank in the back

And here you might see how @FrozenShivers' ones look like (they are beautiful)

 

[FrozenShivers]

And here you might see how @FrozenShivers' ones look like (they are beautiful)

I think that's the image you tried quote 🙂...there is certain foods that are meant to help them colour up. Giving them time certainly helps, lighting can also.