shoaler suggestion

[mort]

Hi,

I recently setup a new planted tank which will hopefully mature into a semi jungle. It's 60x45x45 with slightly soft slightly acidic water which is 22c. I'm hoping for opinions of nice calm peaceful species that can be kept in numbers. I've currently got a group of golden pencilfish, so would like something to go with it that won't impinge on their behaviour. I find them more interesting than most shoal/schoolers as they interact more and have the odd scrap.
I plan to add a group of pygmy copies and shrimp as well so would like something with a similar small stature.

So would appreciate your experiences and suggestions.

Ta adam

 

[Ryan12345]

Im gonna suggest the fish that i have in my tank as of now. It is also around the same size as yours.
Harlequin Rasbora and pristella tetra's, both are really friendly community fish.
The rasbora are pretty bold and are pretty good dither fish as the pristellas are quite timid, which i read is because they have amazing hearing due to a bone in their head or something.
Both color up really well once they are settled in and fed good food.

 

[PARAGUAY]

Glowlight Tetras, in larger numbers seek each other out and look really well together in a planted tank, something a bit more deep bodied I agree Harlequins or ten or more Red or Black Phantom tetras can look stunning.

 

[alto]

The pencilfish will mostly inhabit upper regions of the tank (though I suspect this is less notable unless tank is relatively tall - 45cm may be enough) so look for a fish that tends to stay lower (also pencils can be a bit intimidating with their territorial games, so don't add hatchets for example)

How many pencilfish do you have? what color?

Pigmy cories sound a nice addition - if you can find C. hastatus, they will swim/shoal midwater a fair bit, but you need 10 - 20 (with the latter really being much better if you want to see them frequently)

Black phantoms would be nice but they don't really school, though they tend to always be aware of who's where & interact (males will flare & spar)

Most commonly kept fish will display a wider range of behaviors when kept in larger groups 🙂

 

[mort]

Thanks for the replies and suggestions, to answer the above questions they are golden pencilfish and I have 10. They are definitely middle to upper level fish at the moment and I do see some territorial displays and the males scrap but it is interesting, seems harmless and doesn't last more than a few seconds.

Cories are definitely going in and although sterbai's are a fav it will either be c habrosus (already got 6 in qt) or c adolfoi (again already have 6), and i'll up the numbers with maybe 15 or so pygmies or a dozen adolfois.

I like phantoms and harlequins (and haven't ruled them out) but fear a little for my shrimp (had harlies demolish them in the past when they were bigger). Also funnily enough I saw Apistogramma paulmuelleri in a shop today. They weren't labelled and I had no idea what they were until I typed that into google. Whilst they look really cool with their red markings, again I don't think the shrimp would love their addition. I'm only so concerned with the shrimp as I won't or am trying not to add any other algae eaters as I have a few echinodorus and I don't really know anything else that doesn't eat them.

 

[alto]

had harlies demolish them in the past when they were bigger

interesting - I've not seen this with the T heteromorpha or T espei I've kept (groups of 18 -20)

Most apisto's & dwarf cichlids will react to shrimp, some very minimally though, so it's possible to keep some individuals with shrimp (always establish shrimp first)

One of the most dedicated shrimp hunters that surprised me recently - a licorice gourami pair that went from introduction stillness to multiple decimation in seconds, some of the shrimp were almost as big as the LG's who just ripped into shrimp heads, no stopping to eat (not sure if they were going to go back later to feast - I removed the LG's) & onto the next target ... I've read many reports of success with LG's & shrimp

I'd wait on any other fish until you've sorted the cories - tank may seem busy enough at this fish level (depending how many end up going in)

 

[mort]

It was T heteromorpha that I witnessed eating them. I'm not sure what happened as it wasn't my tank but thy just seemed to go into a mad feeding frenzy and were chewing everyone up. They had also had problems with sparkling or croaking gourami's taking them but I've read this is quite common.

I'm slowly letting the shrimp population develop. I'm keeping a colony in my smaller tank and bringing a few over at a time, so even if something does bring the numbers down I should have a new supply.

I definitely agree adding the cories first is the way to go. I'm not wanting to pack the tank with fish so its sensible to see f i'm actually going to need anymore. I will however keep looking for possibilities and exploring the aipisto species in more detail just in case (the tank will be very heavily planted so it might work out ok).