Top Dwelling Fish

[The Noob Fish Shepherd]

Hey guys, I'm looking to get some top dwelling fish for my 37galUS aquarium to make it look more alive.

At the moment it has 5 Ghost Catfish, 4 Zebra Loaches, 3 Bristlenose Plecos and 2 Keyhole Cichlids. Anyone got any ideas??

 

[jacko32]

Hey guys, I'm looking to get some top dwelling fish for my 37galUS aquarium to make it look more alive.

At the moment it has 5 Ghost Catfish, 4 Zebra Loaches, 3 Bristlenose Plecos and 2 Keyhole Cichlids. Anyone got any ideas??

if you have a lid on the tank and you want fish for the top zone you could go for 6 marbled hatchet fish they are really cool and different
or you could go for 1 african butterfly fish which are awsome

 

[england]

haha you got the keyholes quick dint ya....agreed the hatchets would be nice, i just brought 6 odessa barbs for one tank and 3 colombian tetra and 1 buenos aires tetra was thrown in as it stayed with the colombians so thought why not,,,

 

[ian]

If the tanks big enough, get some halfbeaks. Check out the rare livebearer section and there is loads about em. They are great fish and something a bit different, they have gottoen the center piece roll in my tank.

 

[The Noob Fish Shepherd]

Hey soz for the late reply guys!

Yea man, I totally got those Keyhole Cichlids! I'm pretty sure I got a breeding pair too... theyre pretty inquisitive little fella's and seem confident in their new home!

I looked around the interwebs, and the three species you guys mentioned seem to sum up my options... I'm tossing up between Half-Beaks and Butterfly fish, but I can't choose!!

 

[jacko32]

Hey soz for the late reply guys!

Yea man, I totally got those Keyhole Cichlids! I'm pretty sure I got a breeding pair too... theyre pretty inquisitive little fella's and seem confident in their new home!

I looked around the interwebs, and the three species you guys mentioned seem to sum up my options... I'm tossing up between Half-Beaks and Butterfly fish, but I can't choose!!

it is a tough choice both great fish

 

[snowflake311]

Butter fly fish look awesome but are boring. They don't do much and stay at the top only.

My X Ray tetras are active and stay top mid. My red eye and emperor tetra all stay active in the top mid section of the tank.

The Half-Beaks would be my pick out of what you like.

 

[The Noob Fish Shepherd]

I'm after fish that are quite shy, but won't stay hidden for too long, so when you look into the aquarium it looks like theres no movement inside. But after a few moments you notice all the fishes modestly going about their business. This is why I really like the Keyholes Nelly recommended!

Out of curiosity, do you guys know if you can keep Butterfly fish in pairs or trios? And also, is it possible to have floating wood in your tank as cover for the top dwelling fish, or does it inevitably sink?...

 

[jacko32]

african butterfly fish need to be kept either single or in groups
i think you can use cork bark but im not 100% sure

 

[england]

Most if not all wood i beleive will sink in the end, but what i do in my tanks is place plastic plants at the top of tank, dangling downward, in my snakehead tank ive tied them around the struts with fishing line to keep in place, could do that with wood id say aswell...

Also get floating plants work a treat but for butterflys<Pantodon buchholz> you will need open space up top for the guys as there total top dwellers...they prefer stagnant rather than moving water, to achive this aim the filter away from the surface,

those Puntius ticto i recently brought seem quite the addition to the tank but highly active, all over the place,wizzing round and chasing each other all day long, "ants in pants spring to mind"