Fish choice for my scape

[Hanuman]

Probably someone who figured he could make some money on cheaper carbon...

Your tank looks really nice and healthy! And so do the fish. The Trigonostigma look a bit like T. espei to me.. but hard to see in the video.

I'm curious how the Gobiopterus will do, when they turn up in the European trade they are usually in very poor condition so I never kept them, despite the fact it think they are awesome little fish.

Thanks. I was sold the Trigonostigma as Harlequi Rasbora which makes it a T. heteromorpha. This said I don't know for sure. I will take a picture later today and post it here. It is possible that it is a T. espei though. This is what I have read about the differences:

Source: https://www.seriouslyfish.com/species/trigonostigma-espei/

As for the Gobiopterus it is indigenous to the region where I am so they are pretty fresh and can be caught pretty easily although these ones I was told were bread in tanks. They are very funny to watch. They can open their mouth pretty wide. They also swim in schools but since they are only two they swim in schools with the Trigonostigma

 

[sparkyweasel]

Purigen seems expensive, but if you bear in mind that you can recharge it and use it many times, it works out cheaper than carbon which you only use once.

 

[Hanuman]

I was able to source some Purigen locally. I will be receiving it today. I will however wait 1 or 2 more weeks before adding it to the filter. I want to remove as much tanins as possible manually from water changes. The substrate manufacturer said tanins should slowly disappear within a month of setup. If I added the Purigen now I might have to regenerate it soon. I guess patiente is a vertu!

 

[Hanuman]

Your tank looks really nice and healthy! And so do the fish. The Trigonostigma look a bit like T. espei to me.. but hard to see in the video.

And here is a slow-mo of the Trigonostigma in action.


Indeed they seem to be Trigonostigma espei and not the heteromorpha. I was fooled!

 

[Hanuman]

I'm curious how the Gobiopterus will do.

So far so good. They all seem healthy. Not sure if I lost 1 or 2 because they tend to hide sometimes in the plants so I am unable to count them all in one shot. Sometimes they like to school with the T. espei. Funny to see. They are somehow less proactive than other fish when it comes to feeding. They won't venture far for the food unless the food comes to them. I guess it's because of the other fishes in the tank that are faster and bigger than them or perhaps it's their nature. In nature they feed mainly on zooplankton. I noticed they do prefer live food like artemia or the like. They tend to disregard man made food.

 

[Hanuman]

And so the vallisneria flowered...