It's Been A While, But Looking For A Bit Of Help...

[BFG]

Hi all,

It's been a while since I was active on here unfortunately (change of job etc etc)

My tank is a Juwel Rio 180 with internal & external filter and my stocking level is as follows:
3 bristlenose, 2 small platies, 5 neons, 2 female flag fish & 6 cories.

Apart from the flag fish (which are quite placid), there's basically no movement at the top of the tank.

Any suggestions for additions? Was thinking danios or barbs. Any fish with a bit of character that spring to mind?

Thanks for any help. I did have some pearl gouramis that were absolutely brilliant (interactive, great characters) , but after a long struggle I lost them to HITH (thus the UV). I was absolutley gutted and not sure I could have more as a result.

 

[waterdrop]

Hi Big Friendly Giant,

I know these may be considered sort of boring beginner fish but I always like plain zebra danios for movement at the top. If you have a large enough group of them they tend to weave in and out with each other and their speed at all this can make them interesting. Never liked the new long fin ones.

Another simple fish is the marble hatchet. These tend to hang higher up in the tank IME. They are much slower than danios, sometimes just sitting and flitting their fins, but they can move quickly when they want to. If you can find specimins with high contrast black against silver, they can be quite striking.

~~waterdrop~~

 

[BFG]

Waterdrop - I hadn't thought about Hatchets - that's a good call & will look into it - thanks.

 

[Tokis-Phoenix]

Danio's will definitely spend a lot of time actively shoaling around the top of the tank and are easy hardy fish to look after .
I have to warn you though about the hatchets though, they're very sensitive to water quality and i've heard of people somtimes having difficulty feeding them (they seem to prefer frozen and live foods over dried ones, and don't always eat dried foods)- however hatchets are beautiful fish and a lot of people have a lot of success with them .
Gourami's will also certainly hang around the surface of the tank, but you probably won't see much action from them (when i used to keep them, they just hung around all day in the plants) and the males (and sometimes females too) of certain varieties can be territorial/aggressive. If you get hatchet fish or gourami's its very important to make sure there is plenty of tall or floating plants in the tank for the fish to hang about in . Danio's don't really need planting though and won't be bothered about any lack of plants in the tank etc.
I really don't know much on flag fish though so can't say how well any of these fish suggestions will mix with your flag fish- i would advise getting a couple more neons and 1-2 more female platys (what genders are your platys?) if you are going fish shopping though .

 

[Corleone]

Since zebras were mentioned, I have to say I love my pearl danios. When you see them at the LFS, they're probably a pale boring pink, but once they settle in, they're a blaze of reds. If you have good light over them, they flash blue under it, too. They act like zebras, but I think they put on a better show doing it.

 

[Tokis-Phoenix]

Yeah i agree, pearl danio's are great and always show their colors a lot better once settled down into your tank and given a good diet etc, they also grow a bit bigger than zebra/leopard danio's too and are just as hardy and easy to look after .

 

[BFG]

Danios are looking like the favourite as I think Hatchets might freak out the Mrs now that I think about it (don't ask!!). I'm going to avoid the extra platies as I've already had a few livebearer population explosions!! (They're both male and don't fight so probably best to leave as they are)

There's a really good fish shop near me in Cheltenham so I'll drop by there on saturday and see if they've got pearl/zebra danios.

Cheers for the advice all.