Harlequins

[boc]

morning guys,

i've now cycled my tank with some mature media for over two weeks and all my levels appear to be alright,
i was wandering around my local lfs the other day and really liked the look of the little harlequins,
would these be alright to use as a first fish? or would it be better getting a 'hardier' type of fish in there first, just in case?

if so, if you could give me some suggestions on what would be good,
the tank isn't too big (only 41L - not sure what that is in US Gallons!)

cheers for the help
x

 

[jonnyf84]

harlequin rasbora's are pretty hardy little fish + you like them so IMO perfect choice for you.

 

[Mr Bliss]

Do you know your pH and KH? Harlequins prefer softer, acidic water and while they can thrive in other kinds of water they'll be more sensitive to disease. If your pH isn't any higher than ~7.2 I'd definitely go for it, though.

But keep in mind that harlequins grow to ~1.5 inches. You don't really have room for more than 6 of them, and since they're schooling fish you should get those 6, meaning that'd be all you'd have in the tank. There are two very similar-looking but smaller rasboras that would give you more stocking options: Narrow-wedge Harlequin (aka. Lambchop rasbora, Espe's rasbora; Trichonostigma espei) and Glowlight Rasbora (aka. porkchop rasbora, slender harlequin; Trichonostigma hengeli). These two are commonly confused with each other in stores.

With these, you could have a slightly bigger shoal or room for some other, small fish.

 

[boc]

thanks for the advice, i didn't realise they grew that much, i like the look of the glowlight rasboras so i will see if the lfs has them,
as the tank is small i could only have another couple (at most) of small fish, are there any i should avoid putting with the rasboras, or any that would get on particularly well?

x

 

[Mr Bliss]

Small gouramis would make a nice combination with the rasboras. How about:

5 - 6 glowlight rasbora (or other schooling fish of similar size, ie. just a bit over 1" max)

and

Three sparkling gourami (one male + 2 females, about 1" each), or a pair of Honey gourami (1.5" each).

Or just one male gourami and a couple more rasboras to have a more impressive-looking shoal.

 

[Miss Wiggle]

yeah i like the sparkling gourami and harlequin suggestion, that's be a nice combination

 

[waterdrop]

While its true I happen to have softer water, I've got a shoal of harlequins in as one of my first fish and they've been doing great, a really beautiful little fish.

~~waterdrop~~

 

[boc]

Small gouramis would make a nice combination with the rasboras. How about:

5 - 6 glowlight rasbora (or other schooling fish of similar size, ie. just a bit over 1" max)

and

Three sparkling gourami (one male + 2 females, about 1" each), or a pair of Honey gourami (1.5" each).

Or just one male gourami and a couple more rasboras to have a more impressive-looking shoal.

i was hoping you'd say gourami, would dwarf gourami be too large for the tank? i've read they can get up to 5cm,
but i've seen a couple with the same colouration in my local lfs that are, according to the keeper, fully grown at about 1.5"

thanks for all the advice, i'm hoping to pick them up in a few hours!
x

 

[Miss Wiggle]

They're either a different species or he's lying to you!

People often try to pass off young fish as dwarf species because they know they get too big for people's tanks

i would steer clear of the normal dwarf's, they're very disease prone, will find you a link in a sec with more info.

go for the honey or the sparkling gourami's which are much hardier and at least equally attractive if not more!



link

http/www.fishforums.net/content/Gouramis...ami-Mini-F-A-Q/

 

[nosoup4you]

I love the coloration of the Dwarf Gouramis but don't really want to get into the problems detailed in the above link. Could you give me some types of similarly colored non-dwarf Gouramis to look for?

 

[Miss Wiggle]

ummmm sadly no, there's nothing that looks like them really, the sparkling gourami's are very pretty but a bit more subtle or the honey dwarves come in a lovely shade of red.

it's a real shame that the DG's are so weak as they are a very attractive fish, but i just can't bring myself to recommend them to anyone as I know several experienced members (myself included) who have tried and failed to keep them alive.

 

[boc]

They're either a different species or he's lying to you!

People often try to pass off young fish as dwarf species because they know they get too big for people's tanks

i would steer clear of the normal dwarf's, they're very disease prone, will find you a link in a sec with more info.

go for the honey or the sparkling gourami's which are much hardier and at least equally attractive if not more!



link

[URL="http/www.fishforums.net/content/Gouramis...ami-Mini-F-A-Q/"]http/www.fishforums.net/content/Gouramis...ami-Mini-F-A-Q/[/URL]

thanks for the info miss wiggle,
i think i'll avoid the dwarfs,
i quite like the look of the honeys so hopefully the lfs will have a few in, i'm guessing the pair will need to be one male one female?
x

 

[nosoup4you]

I've done Three-spots and Pearls before with great luck. My Powder Blue only lasted a couple of months before he died unexpectedly...perhaps due to the problems detailed in nmonks' post. *sigh*

 

[Miss Wiggle]

if you like the bright blue and red colours why not have a look at apistogramma, there's a lot of different colour morphs, they're a similar size to the DG's much hardier and personally i prefer the temprements.

kribs or rams could be another similar choice...... it's certainly a stretch of the imagination from DG's but similar sized and attractivley coloured.

 

[nosoup4you]

Good recommendations, I've had a trio of Rams before (I love their personalities) and I've always admired Apisto's. Are the Apisto's similar in temperament to Rams?

P.S. Sorry about the thread hijacking.