Surface Lovers

[Seed]

I'm looking for ideas on small, non-aggressive, agile surface loving fish. By surface loving I mean fish that spend most or all of their time near the surface, if indeed such creatures exist. They'd also need to be able to thrive in slightly basic water (7.6-7.8 ), and have a maximum adult size of no larger than three inches. All of my aquarium experience thus far has been with mbuna cichlids, so any other advice on keeping a small community tank would be appreciated.


EDIT
This interface turned .8 into a smiley lol

 

[purplekaz]

Mollies, Honey Gourami, Guppies are a few I know of that hang around the top half of the tank.
They're also all peaceful fish, and they'd all be happy at your pH.

I quite like this site: http/www.thinkfish.co.uk/fishdata.html

Browse the fish you like, take a look if the pH is suitable, and also the area of the tank they prefer.
There's also an option to create a tank with all your desired fish to see if your tank size is suitable, plus it raises any issues such as imcompatibilty.

 

[BigC]

Small panchax (not golden wonders) ideally Epiplatys dageti monrovia
Hatchetfish
Regards
BigC

 

[Seed]

Thanks to the both of you!

By the way, that website is an excellent resource. I wish there was a sticky somewhere that contained an organized list of such links.

 

[Seed]

Anyone else have any ideas on this? I've got a good 3-6 weeks to decide, the more choices I have the better. Plus I just like looking things up and reading about them

 

[Davo86]

Anyone else have any ideas on this? I've got a good 3-6 weeks to decide, the more choices I have the better. Plus I just like looking things up and reading about them

I think your best option has already been said by BigC

IME Marbled Hatchetfish will spend nearly their entire lives at the surface of the tank. they are a very 'agile' fish that will grow to around 1.5" to 2"

 

[Seed]

Ya I looked them up. I'm worried about availability in the States with those guys. Since I'm looking for something so specific in this case, the more options I have the better, it increases my odds of actually coming across the organisms in a store. They may be common but I can't recall seeing anything like them in any of the stores in my area, but I could make a day of it and go search them out.

Unless you know of a good mail order site in the States, that would be a great option.

 

[Snooks1!]

Are butterfly fish agile?

I don't know too entirely much about them, but I do know that they are surface dwellers...I'll try to do some research and get back to you on this.

 

[Davo86]

They are agile surface dwellers but aren't suitable for small community tanks as they are predatory and will eat small fish

 

[Seed]

Got a scientific name for butterfly fish?

 

[LolaLouie]

I wanted some surface fish for my 200l tank so invested in 2 angelfish. They stay mostly at the top and are really beautiful and suprisingly my very territorial dwarf gourami doesn't even mind them!

 

[Seed]

Thanks for the replies. If it's not against the forum rules, I wouldn't mind bumping this thread once a day just to see if I can get any more replies.

 

[mrbudgie]

wrestling half beaks, and they never leave the surface or even some celebes Half Beaks

 

[Davo86]

Got a scientific name for butterfly fish?

Pantodon buchholzi

 

[Seed]

Ahh thanks for that. Still open to any ideas/suggestions. I located hatchetfish and they seemed cool. Are they social fish naturally, or do they prefer to be alone?