Schooling Fish To Go With Acara/severums?

[Xcric]

so i've got some severums and blue acara in my tank, but it seems really empty, are there any schooling fish that would liven up the tank, and not be lunch?

i know silver dollars, bala sharks, and tinfoil barbs would work, but they get a bit too big

 

[diademhill]

so i've got some severums and blue acara in my tank, but it seems really empty, are there any schooling fish that would liven up the tank, and not be lunch?

i know silver dollars, bala sharks, and tinfoil barbs would work, but they get a bit too big

What size tank? - dimensions as well as volume please as shape makes a difference.

My first thoughs would lean towards clown barbs.

 

[Xcric]

so i've got some severums and blue acara in my tank, but it seems really empty, are there any schooling fish that would liven up the tank, and not be lunch?

i know silver dollars, bala sharks, and tinfoil barbs would work, but they get a bit too big

What size tank? - dimensions as well as volume please as shape makes a difference.

My first thoughs would lean towards clown barbs.

240g

2'x2'x8'

 

[vancouver]

I like silver dollars, but they don't seem to like being bothered much. 240g is quite big, so I'm sure a good school of 6-7 silver dollars would be cool. Giant danios are becoming more popular as ''dithers'' in cichlid tanks. They swim pretty fast and shouldn't end up being lunch. Bleeding heart tetra might work, if you can find large enough ones. I've seen good sized bleeding hearts that would be OK with large cichlids.

 

[freddyk]

Rainbow fish are fast and tough and very nice.

 

[Xcric]

curious, how would something like a cory work? would they be devoured, or harassed to death?

i'm still not a big fan of silver dollars, but they seem like the best bet probably...

what about some of the larger barbs? like rosy, or tigers?

and what about loaches?

 

[vancouver]

I would think the cories would have to be large to survive... tiger barbs could work, but get large ones .. I've had smaller ones killed by parrots... giant danios swim pretty fast - theyre long and sleek and might be cool.

I really like my silver dollars, theyre not a lot like tetras but they school, so I dig it.

 

[kubora666]

haha , i ahve a 1" sterbai corie and hes in with a 14" gar that has him in his mouth everyother day, but the corrie has survived ive found him to be suprisingly hardy.
what about " congo tetra " colourful larger and fast, only they are £10 here ouch.

 

[Xcric]

haha , i ahve a 1" sterbai corie and hes in with a 14" gar that has him in his mouth everyother day, but the corrie has survived ive found him to be suprisingly hardy.
what about " congo tetra " colourful larger and fast, only they are £10 here ouch.

haha, well, acaras are a bit smaller than gar's in the mouth department

i'd thought about congos too, but i can't find them around here, so that option is out even if it were to be a workable one

 

[kubora666]

well my gar could swallow something 50p sized lol his mouth extends its weird lol,
could you use silver dolars. depends on tank size i know, but they are very quik,
maybe a type of barb or rainbow fish ? they are like lightning when they are scared

 

[Spencer Pike]

Silver Dollars are Great schooling fish and there one of my favorites. I put htem in with my Severums and Firemouths.

 

[chrismr]

As suggsted previsouly, rainbow fish such as melanotaenia boesemani or melanotaenia lacustris or melanotaenia trifasciata would not only be colourful and fun fish to have, but they are quick and owuld probably be quite safe.

Do a google image search on them. Gorgeous fish.

 

[drw32]

Both of these cichlids are quite peaceful (compared to others). I have kept both severums and acaras with green corys. I have also kept them with larger tiger and rosy barbs and tifoil barbs. Remember, Severums get up to 12" (probably closer to 8"-10") amd acaras to 6" so your tank won't seem empty for too long.

 

[pieman]

Maybe one of the smaller eel/bichir species

 

[kubora666]

yeah maybe polypeterus senegalus ? that is about 12"-14 and is a good companion for cichlids.