Looking For A Centrepiece Fish

[Thomas 2507]

okay, so just before rescaping my 20g and restocking, i'm thinking about what fish will eventually live in there.

i know that i definately want a shoal of around 10 cardinal tetras and maybe a few otos but that's it. i'm also thinking of a centrepiece fish.

this is what i'm thinking:

either:

a pair of rams ( i have them in another tank although i will probably buy a seperate pair for this tank if i choose )
a trio of gourami
a trio of bn plecs

i'm sort of leaning more towards the plecs although i've never kept them. my only worry is the rumours that i've heard - that they uproot and eat plants.

i'm also welcome to new suggestions of a centrepiece fish.

 

[koinukun]

A M/F/F trio of Pearl Gourami would look fantastic I think! They're such pretty fish once coloured up, especially the males.

 

[koinukun]

Oh! Or another idea could be some keyhole cichlids! But I'm a bit bias as I love them! Mine have loads of personality and always come to the front to say hello when I watch them. I've seen quite a few places say that they are a bit timid and scare easily, but mine are very outgoing and will even take bloodworms from my hand! That is if my Angelfish doesn't hog them all first! >_>

Just a thought!

~koinukun

 

[Thomas 2507]

i don't think keyholes are suitable for a 20g though?

 

[minxfishy]

Somewhat biased but Id go with the rams, only just got two myself and they are sooo beautiful.

Otherwise trio of gourami sounds good, trio of BN's may not be seen too much, cept in the evenings, depends some are shy others arent. Also plecs are somewhat messy, with 3 you may find yourself doing more cleaning up! Also 3 in a 20g would be too many I think, although they stay smallish for plecs, they still reach 6".

Never found mine to uproot plants, but they do a great job keeping them clean

 

[Thomas 2507]

yeah, the rams that i have in another tank at the moment are great - just wish they would hurry up and breed!

rams are great though. the pair i have at the moment aren't what i would call a 'good' pair really. i bought them seperately and the male is much bigger than the female, even though males are usually bigger he is just massive in comparison.

hopefully i'll get a nice pair for this tank if i decide to go with rams that will breed eventually.

any other suggestions? i'm still not convinced.

 

[koinukun]

i don't think keyholes are suitable for a 20g though?

They only grow to be about 5"or so, so that's only slightly bigger than a pearl gourami and about the same for something like a gold. Though I'm no expert! I'm not sure if that would be too large for a 20g, perhaps someone with more experiece could confirm that?

If they're too large Honey Gouramis are very pretty and cute and they are nice and little. Hardier than Rams too.

 

[ALW]

Id say A trio of Gouramis

1 Male
2 Female

 

[Thomas 2507]

Yeah, keyholes would probably be okay but they're a pretty large fish for me and i would prefer to keep them in a larger tank.

i'm sort of leaning more towards the gouramis. there was a beautiful gold one in a LFS near me. rams are still an option though. i'm not so keen on the plecs because they do grow quite large and are very messy.

i might just go for one gold gourami or maybe a trio of smaller gourami such as honey, although i've never been that much of a fan of gouramis.

any other ideas anyone?

 

[minxfishy]

How about 6 rainbows? Bosemani are lovely and colour up beautifully.

 

[Davo86]

Yeah, keyholes would probably be okay but they're a pretty large fish for me and i would prefer to keep them in a larger tank.

i'm sort of leaning more towards the gouramis. there was a beautiful gold one in a LFS near me. rams are still an option though. i'm not so keen on the plecs because they do grow quite large and are very messy.

i might just go for one gold gourami or maybe a trio of smaller gourami such as honey, although i've never been that much of a fan of gouramis.

any other ideas anyone?

Gold Gouramis would get bigger than keyholes,
I would stick to a South American biotype and as you already have rams i would go for something like apistos, Dwarf Cockatoos are probably the most common and can be kept as a pair of trio.

I would go with

10 cardinals
4 otocinclus
2 Apistogramma cacatuoides

and then possible a small group of pencilfish or hatchetfish for the top of the tank

 

[Thomas 2507]

i did think about rainbowfish but most need a shoal and grow quite large, like the ones reccommended above. a 20g isn't really suitable for them.

i have thought about cockatoo chichlids but have only seen them once in the 7 lfs that are around here. there was a tank containing about eight. all had red fins except for one that had yellow fins - would this be female?

cheers

 

[Davo86]

just google male or female cockatoo cichlid,

Females are much duller in colour and are usually slighly smaller so maybe,

 

[stormy78]

Hi Thomas, where are you based? There are at least 3 LFS in Birmingham that I know of that stock Dwarf Cichlids. I got 3 Apistogramma Cacatouides and 3 Apistogramma Borelli last weekend and they look superb in the tank with the Tetra's!

 

[Thomas 2507]

i'm in middlesex.