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Fish suggestions please . . .

Wookii

Wookii

Moderator/Committee Member
UKAPS Team
Joined
13 Nov 2019
Messages
4,474
Location
Nottingham
So guys, I'm after some suggestions for fish to add my my existing tank (journal here: Sandy Nook) - its an established and heavily planted tank, with lots of surface plant cover. Running on RO with soft water parameters. I did have a shoal of Kubotai Rasbora, which I had for well over a year, but sadly their numbers have dwindled to one remaining fish.

In the tank are also a decent shoal of Chilli's and a shoal of Embers, all of which are doing well, so I am looking for suggestions for new fish to add to replace the Kubotai.

Obviously I'd like peaceful community fish to complement the chilled out Chilli's and Embers, but perhaps a fish that is a little more active than my somewhat lazy Embers. Whilst I also appreciate most fish will predate on baby shrimp, I also don't want anything that will actively hunt them or bother the adults, so most cichlids are out I'd assume.

My local MA has a big stock of tiny little juvenile Honey Gourami's around 20-25mm long which look great, but never having kept them before I'm unsure of whether they will be appropriate for my 100 litre tank, or if they'll get too big? (even though I believe they max out at around 50mm all the other fish are probably below 30mm). I'm also unsure on quantities, as I read wildly differing reports with some people keeping pairs, and others recommending 6+? Seriously Fish recommends 4-6 individuals, and that would probably be the maximim I could add to my tank.

The same MA also has some nice Threadfin Rainbows which I like, but again I'm unsure how well suited they might be for my tank - I could do a shoal of 6-8 of those perhaps?

I'm obviously also open to any other suggestions?
 
For my kids tank I got him 6 Tanichthys micagemmae, very active and a lot of fun. Havent seen them bother shrimp or small fish fry. Might even consider them for my own tank as I'm getting bored by most tetra behaviour.
I've had honey gourami in much smaller tanks, they should fit in just fine. Their colouring and behaviour makes them fun but not obtrusive. I did keep them in a pair in my 55L tank.
 
Wolf6 said:
For my kids tank I got him 6 Tanichthys micagemmae, very active and a lot of fun. Havent seen them bother shrimp or small fish fry. Might even consider them for my own tank as I'm getting bored by most tetra behaviour.
I've had honey gourami in much smaller tanks, they should fit in just fine. Their colouring and behaviour makes them fun but not obtrusive. I did keep them in a pair in my 55L tank.
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Thanks for that @Wolf6 - Tanichthys micagemmae are not a fish I've come across before, I'll keep an eye out for those.
 
I'm also considering some Dwarf Pencil Fish (Nannostomus Marginatus) - but given I already have a shoal of Chilli's I don't want the tank to be too 'surface dweller' heavy.
 
I started with two honeys in my 100l, they bred and now I have five, they seem very happy.

My brother has a shoal of 15 threadfins in the same size tank and they also seem happy and are very active! They definitely prefer good surface cover but use the whole tank.
 
Seeing as you’re using RO already and have the boraras which like the same conditions why don’t you give chocolate gouramis a try? I think they’d suit what you’re after perfectly. Often noted for being difficult but I think that’s more due to people keeping them in the wrong water conditions.

cheers
 
Threadfins are very nice, don't show that well in the LFS. Don't bother shrimp at all.

I like the sundadanio axelrodi (fish in my profile picture) they are also too small to bother shrimp - about the same size as embers but a nice colour contrast. Not sure how easy they are to find, seem a bit seasonal when I've tried in past.
 
Conort2 said:
Seeing as you’re using RO already and have the boraras which like the same conditions why don’t you give chocolate gouramis a try? I think they’d suit what you’re after perfectly. Often noted for being difficult but I think that’s more due to people keeping them in the wrong water conditions.

cheers
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Thanks Conor, I did look at the Chocolate Gourami's as they are also in the local MA. Do they grow smaller than the Honey's, and how many should I be looking at? I'm also not confident in my (or the LFS staff's) ability to correctly sex them, does the mix of sexes matter?
 
Wookii said:
Thanks Conor, I did look at the Chocolate Gourami's as they are also in the local MA. Do they grow smaller than the Honey's, and how many should I be looking at? I'm also not confident in my (or the LFS staff's) ability to correctly sex them, does the mix of sexes matter?
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Probably a little bit smaller than a honey gourami but not by much. Think a smallish group of 6 or so may be ok.

I don’t think they’re the easiest to sex to be fair, males have pointed fins and are slightly larger but there is no obvious difference in the sexes.
 
Conort2 said:
Probably a little bit smaller than a honey gourami but not by much. Think a smallish group of 6 or so may be ok.

I don’t think they’re the easiest to sex to be fair, males have pointed fins and are slightly larger but there is no obvious difference in the sexes.
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Does the mix of sexes not matter too much then, or am I going to have issues if I have too many males for example?
 
A vote for Honey Gourami here. I kept a small group of 5 very happily. Always out and about and they coloured up beautifully after a short while in my tank. Also found that they used all areas of the tank, other than one chap who kept making bubble nests on the surface. Lovely little fish. 😊
 
Cherry barbs are small and gorgeous colour too. The lads will show off to each other a little but not aggressive, fairly active and I never found them shy. Again I kept just 6 of these in the same tank as my Honey’s.
 
Can anyone confirm whether the adult fish sizes shown on Seriously Fish and other sites represent the total length including fins, or just the length of the body excluding fins? For a fish like Threadfin Rainbows, the long fins can be 50% of their actual body length.
 
Wookii said:
Can anyone confirm whether the adult fish sizes shown on Seriously Fish and other sites represent the total length including fins, or just the length of the body excluding fins? For a fish like Threadfin Rainbows, the long fins can be 50% of their actual body length.
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Seriously Fish reports fish sizes in "standard lengths", so excludes the tail fins. Including tail fins would be "total length".
 
A bit bigger than butterfly barbs (much deeper bodied too) but with similar colouration, drape fin barbs are nice. I've not kept either and have only seen them in a shop once. I don't get to fish shops that often though so could be as common as guppies for all I know.
I think sparkling gouramis are quite underated but are beautiful when settled and especially in sun light. Plus the croaking is a bit different to a lot of fish.
I do like honey gouramis though, a group looks great. To me they look like autumn leaves floating in the tank. I've heard a few people say males can be a bit territorial though, so probably best to avoid multiples. They're easy to sex though so shouldn't be a problem.
 
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