Any Ideas On Middle Swimmers

[BINKSY]

Hello to everyone,

I am looking to add some fairly easy to keep mid swimmers to my community tank, of a size when fully grown to about 4 to 6 inches and maybe a pair, my tank is about 240 litres, there are the following fish in there, also the tank is planted, so non eating plant fish required,




4 Platys
5 Gold Zebra Danios
4 Zebra Danios
6 white Cloud Minnows
3 Zebra Loaches
2 Black Neons

Many thanks for all replies in advance


Gordon

 

[KimA]

Hi,

I've recently bought some Rainbowfish - Boseman's and Blue's - great colours, midswimmers, always on the move.

 

[nmonks]

I'd second rainbows. While a little expensive, they are hardy and very long-lived, so they represent quite good value over the long term.

There are some nice mid-sized barbs and tetras, too. Bleeding heart tetras (around 5 cm or so) are very hardy and extremely active fish that constantly display to one another in a very charming way. The golden barb (Puntius semifasciolatus) is a nicely coloured and very robust fish that gets to about 10 cm. Silver hatchetfish swim about 15 cm below the surface and are lively, and though slightly delicate, they aren't especially difficult to keep. Glassfish are nice, too, and despite what many books say, they don't need salt. Swordtails are good midwater fish, though males can be aggressive. The larger halfbeaks are midwater fish, and while a bit more delicate than the average livebearer, they are certainly good-looking and active fish.

You might also consider something less active to use as specimen fish against which the schooling fish would form a sort of background. Specimen fish are usually easier to tame and have more "personality". Gouramis would be ideal for your tank. Avoid blue or yellow gouramis (males are very aggressive) and instead consider pearl and moonlight gouramis, which are usually quite tolerant (especially in bit tanks). At 12-15 cm, these will be impressive fish. Thick-lipped gouramis are larger and hardier cousins of the dwarf gouramis, and a better bet in my opinion. Kissing gouramis are lovely beasts, though at 15-20 cm they are rather big, and being herbivores, they will damage soft plants. None of these are predatory, and so can be safely kept with smaller fish, something that cannot be said for angelfish.

Cheers,

Neale

 

[Miss Wiggle]

my first thought was gourami's too, yeah rainbows would be another nice option, or what about a group of congo tetra's, i think they're lovely and a shoal of larger fish would stand out from the shoals of smaller ones.

as far as blue gourami's go, I've had a pair (1m 1f) of opaline gourami's in community set up's for about 5 years now, i've never had problems with other inhabitants, they've been with everything from neon's to angels. There is some agression between the two of them but nothing to be concerned with. I'm quite willing to accept this is the exception not the rule but just thought I'd say that it can be done.

 

[SugarQube]

I have 2 Rainbows and they are always playing middle of the tank Have a dwarf gourami also but find he is the only aggressive one in my community tank had a female too but think the male killed her

 

[CAC]

Id aggree that bleeding hearts would be a good choice
Shoals of 6+ are large and impressive, and they look 'simple' and effective IMO. Rainbows would be good too...
Theres so many options, id just have a look at the species mentioned, and see which you can both get hold of, and also like...

Mikey

 

[dwarfgourami]

Pearl gouramis would be my choice; that's what I'm planning to put in my 240 eventually- if I ever manage to stop buying livebearers. A nice trio (1 male, 2 females) would look good.

Or if you want tetras, black phantoms are also nice and do a lot of displaying.

I would also up the numbers of black neons to at least 6. (funnily enough that's the other fish I'm thinking of getting for this tank).

 

[Fat Boy]

Pearl Gouramis were what popped into my head as well, but if it were my choice I'd go for Keyhole Cichlids. I love these fish, they're also not at all agressive (unlike most Cichlids) and very easy to look after.

 

[Callum]

harlequins would make a great addition and also i saw some stunning rainbows in a shop yesterday they were front half blue back half yellow but were £11 each so i decided against them (also what where these rainbows?)

 

[BINKSY]

Hi Everyone
Thanks for all your replies very helpfull, i now will have a look, going to the fish festival at the weekend, so this will be a good chance to take a look at the fish you guys have recommended and then see what my lfs has in when i get a chance to go there again, i did have six black neons at one time but lost 4 for some reason, have added some of the other fish since, and every thing is fine now


Cheers Gordon

 

[DarkEntity]

Hi Everyone
Thanks for all your replies very helpfull, i now will have a look, going to the fish festival at the weekend, so this will be a good chance to take a look at the fish you guys have recommended and then see what my lfs has in when i get a chance to go there again, i did have six black neons at one time but lost 4 for some reason, have added some of the other fish since, and every thing is fine now


Cheers Gordon

Bosemans Raibows are imo far better value than Gouramis...far more active fish and well lovely to look at

 

[nmonks]

Those sound like Melanotaenia boesmani rainbows. The thing with rainbows is that as juveniles they are not very colourful. They only become colourful when they are adults. So lots of people see them in the shops when they are small and overlook them, and then see them as adults but can't afford them because they are expensive. So with rainbows you have to buy them small and understand that you won't get your money's worth for 6-12 months. Having said that, because they are immune to things like neon tetra disease and very hardy with regard to whitespot, fungus, and the like, once you've bought them, you can expect 5+ years of pleasure (dwarf species maybe not so long).

Neale

i saw some stunning rainbows in a shop yesterday they were front half blue back half yellow but were £11 each so i decided against them (also what where these rainbows?)

 

[Callum]

Those sound like Melanotaenia boesmani rainbows. The thing with rainbows is that as juveniles they are not very colourful. They only become colourful when they are adults. So lots of people see them in the shops when they are small and overlook them, and then see them as adults but can't afford them because they are expensive. So with rainbows you have to buy them small and understand that you won't get your money's worth for 6-12 months. Having said that, because they are immune to things like neon tetra disease and very hardy with regard to whitespot, fungus, and the like, once you've bought them, you can expect 5+ years of pleasure (dwarf species maybe not so long).

Neale

i saw some stunning rainbows in a shop yesterday they were front half blue back half yellow but were £11 each so i decided against them (also what where these rainbows?)

similar to those but it was labelled as a blue rainbow but it clearly wasnt it was about 5cm but the colouring was so strong it made marine fish look like £%&^ and the colours were a bit darker as well