What are some rare and pretty fish for a planted tank?

[Wookii]

It's not confirmed yet, but the owner really liked the rio amaya pencilfish View attachment 220995
And the honey blue eye rainbowfish
View attachment 220996

Interesting - they’re not a Pencil I’ve come across before. They are tiny though - an inch long, same size as Marginatus (personally I think I prefer the marginatus colouration) - is your client going to be able to see them once they’re in the tank (especially given they hang out in the top 6 inches of water typically)?

Those Rainbows do look pretty too - I have a shoal of Neon Blue Eye rainbows, and they are beautiful little fish, I love they way they move too, like little Hummingbirds.

Not my picture, but mine have this exact colouration:

 

[Conort2]

Those Rio Amaya pencilfish are from a pretty specialised habitat, black water, shallow fast flowing streams. I’m not sure how they’d fare in a large high tech planted tank.

Check out Below water on YouTube, Oliver has a video about these pencils and other fish from the same habitat.

Cheers

 

[Courtneybst]

For a while, my favourite rare fish has been Phenacogrammus aurantiacus (Blue Eyed Congo Tetra). They're relatively rare, beautiful and most definitely expensive!

If my current tank was bigger I'd get a big school of them.

 

[SamTheMan]

For a while, my favourite rare fish has been Phenacogrammus aurantiacus (Blue Eyed Congo Tetra). They're relatively rare, beautiful and most definitely expensive!

If my current tank was bigger I'd get a big school of them.

Are they available in the uk at all? I've been looking for some rare African tetras to breed.

 

[Conort2]

Are they available in the uk at all? I've been looking for some rare African tetras to breed.

They’re often available now, Ruinemans have them in stock quite often and they supply a lot of the uk shops.

 

[Courtneybst]

Are they available in the uk at all? I've been looking for some rare African tetras to breed.

Yep! I got mine from Wildwoods Enfield. I also got a single one from Maidenhead Aquatics Ashtead. There about for sure.

 

[Conort2]

It's not confirmed yet, but the owner really liked the rio amaya pencilfish

Just to make you aware, that picture shows two different species. The top fish which is pure red is a Rio Amaya pencilfish, the one at the bottom is known as a red Cenepa pencil.