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Fish suggestions from those that have been thru a few!

Bradders

Bradders

Member
Joined
11 Dec 2023
Messages
1,594
Location
United Kingdom
Hi All,

My Oase ScaperLine 100 (250L) needs some new fish. I currently have 8 Phantom Tetra which i love, but they like to hide a lot (until dinner time and they are all over me like a rash) so was looking for fish that are tough, visible, great personality and 2-3 inches in size.

My tank is well planted, 200 days mature, water is hard, and pH is 7.5 to 6.5 based on where the CO2 is.

What would people recommend as great / bold fish to add in an amount of 8-12. I would rather hear from your personal experiences than trust the sales driven store owner.

Cheers,
Brad
 
Do you have preference for more exotic fishes, or are the bread and butter ones acceptable?

Tricogaster leeri are interesting fishes, but suffer from being too common. Other tricogasters and dwarf gouramis are in the same category. I added them to may tank recently and I like their behavior, they are very curious, constantly interacting with the environment, and using their antena-fins to probe everything.

If you want larger tetras, you can look for congo tetras and diamond tetras. Congos are more agitated and probably won't be hiding away, preferring to swim in open waters. I've bought diamonds, but they are still in quarantine and I can't comment on their behavior.

I'm sure there are nice barbus in this size range, although I don't have personal experience with them.

There is also a multitude of melanotaenias that could meet your requirements. My brief experience with them is that, although they aren't shy, they don't have a remarkable personality. They shoal around.
 
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LMuhlen said:
Tricogaster leeri are interesting fishes, but suffer from being too common. Other tricogasters and dwarf gouramis are in the same category. I added them to may tank recently and I like their behavior, they are very curious, constantly interacting with the environment, and using their antena-fins to probe everything.
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I have been eyeing up Perl Gourami, and as I have not kept them before they are almost completely new for me! I don’t mind common - I just want interesting. And these could be a showpiece.

LMuhlen said:
If you want larger tetras, you can look for congo tetras and diamond tetras.
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Now, I have definitely been eyeing up the Congo Tetras. Something draws me to them. However, I have read they need at least a 120CM tank and 6 of them. My tank is only 100cm and heavily planted. I I am not sure that I should have them as a result.
 
Bradders said:
I have been eyeing up Perl Gourami, and as I have not kept them before they are almost completely new for me! I don’t mind common - I just want interesting. And these could be a showpiece.


Now, I have definitely been eyeing up the Congo Tetras. Something draws me to them. However, I have read they need at least a 120CM tank and 6 of them. My tank is only 100cm and heavily planted. I I am not sure that I should have them as a result.
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I recently added a small Harem of Pearl Gourami to my 200Litre and they are very inquisitive and engaging fish. They are currently juvenile's so looking forward to seeing them grow out but I love the little displays that they do towards each other.

When the light hits them just right with some Tannins in the water they look spectacular
 
Seems like Gourami are coming up as a great fish to add!
 
My favourite fish right now are dicrossus filamentosus, and I think in a tank your size you could easily get a group of 8. They're very sweet and clever fish, similar to an apistogramma but much more gentle. They'd mostly be in the bottom half so wouldn't compete for higher-up swimming space. They are especially great if kept with a few leafy botanicals, just to watch them occasionally flip them over and check underneath for food. Mine are the least shy fish I keep right now, they are always checking if I might feed them a little something and openly pander at this point.

These are smaller than the requested size, but my favourite schooling fish I've ever kept for personality were marginatus pencilfish - they school together and are quite active, have little spats and romances, very greedy and seemed to make other shyer schooling fish more bold. They're also very pretty when they colour up with a beautiful irridescent sheen.
 
Bradders said:
Seems like Gourami are coming up as a great fish to add!
Click to expand...

I haven’t kept that many fish compared to most of you. I have 3 Pearl Gourami in my 90cm, beautiful fish, I will be adding more females when my 120cm is setup as my male to female ratio is off. The pearlescent shimmers when the light hits them is awesome and I find Gouramis very interesting, like the fact that they have independently moving feelers!
 
Well, I bit the bullet and went with the Gourami as suggested by some of you. First one in about 25 years, I think! There are three (plus 2 Gold Honey Gourami) but thought you would appreciate a small video of one of them gracefully roaming around. (Sorry about the video, highly zoomed and not that great quality).

Thanks to everyone for their input - it's always great to get views from those with experience.

 
Cazza said:
Tank is looking great. Lovely PG!
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Thanks, Cazza - it is where it is because of @George Farmer and all the support from you guys as I went through my high-tech journey. Thank you, everyone.
 
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