Dither Fish

[Nymox]

Ok so Ive finally got my 100 ltr set up and looking sharp, but its very empty, 1 plec, krib pair and a fire eel.

Those are all bottom dwellers with the exception of the kribs who might venture into mid level on the odd occasion.

What Im looking for now is some nice dither fish so the kribs dont take things out on each other or my precious fire eel, Not a big fan on tetra's and guppies are too slow. And perhaps a couple of something that sits near the top.

I love fish with quirky characters and interesting habbits.

Ive done a fair bit of searchin on google but all suggestions dont appeal much, so here I am, once again asking for suggestions.

Thanks, Matt

[ryanjury]

I use guppies as dither fish in all of my dwarf breeding tanks with no problems. Sometimes one of the males get a little bite taken out of his tail but generally they are in perfect condition and fast enough to get out of the way.

But if you weren't sold on guppies then maybe some killies, swordtails, platties, rainbow fish or danios?

[Nymox]

Yeah my guppies got a lil bit too nipped for my liking. Killies could be fun, they're cute lil guys and Ive always wanted some. Never seen them at LFS tho.

[ryanjury]

I am sure if you joined the killie club or talked to someone who keeps them you could find some reasonably priced ones. I have seen them go on here really cheap recently.

[Nymox]

Cool well thanks a bunch for ya help Ryan

[Morcs]

Fire eels get huugggggge

Just be prepared that any dither fish will be also wearing the cap of 'feeder fish'

[Nymox]

Yup Im well aware of his potential size, its only a lil guy at the moment so Ive got a fair bit of time up my sleeve, as with the pleco. About the only fish that fit in his mouth at the moment are fry I get on occasion. I have a tank twice the size Im working on getting running within the next few months, and then Ill look at an even bigger one when the time comes. Fire eel and pleco are both about 10cm long at the moment

[Nymox]

Thanks for the concern too, good to know the fishies best interests are at heart

[Caryl]

I too would suggest rainbows.

[Nymox]

Some rainbows grow to 20cm? what are the smaller species? about 2 - 3 cm ideally. Pseudomugil signifer look real nice, Ive never looked into these and there appears to be alot of different types. What ones are more commonly availible in NZ?

[Caryl]

Dwarf neon rainbows, Melanotaenia praecox, can get to about 6cm. Featherfin rainbows reach 5cm but are very fine and delicate looking.

[Nymox]

Those featherfins do look quite delicate but very pretty. As long as they are fast enough to escape the kribs, they can get a faily short tempered when they spawn.

[David R]

Yup Im well aware of his potential size, its only a lil guy at the moment so Ive got a fair bit of time up my sleeve

Depends if you want a stunted fish or not. Assuming its 4" at the least, I would want to upgrade within 12 months. They can (and should) grow quickly if fed and housed properly.

[Nymox]

I hope it doesnt take 12 months, I got a birthday coming up too so im sticking canister filter on the list (id be friggen lucky!) Getting my truck fixed next week, then the week later Im building the stand. Id say Id have the 220 ltr up and running end of april at the latest. And, when the fire eel is big enough, im donating him to LA

[Jennifer]

There are some very nice danios out there at the moment. Giant danios might be nice as they would be a bit larger to prevent them becoming a meal too soon.

[stillnzcookie]

Dwarf neon rainbows, Melanotaenia praecox, can get to about 6cm.

I second this idea - we only have three, but their colours are amazing, and they are really confident and curious, always at the front of the tank, watching what's going on outside! As a bonus, they have made our other fish more confident, so there is a lot more action in our tank now. I'd love to have a tank big enough for a large school of these (not to mention a bigger house to put it in...). Just make sure you get the right ratio of males to females.

[Caryl]

They look stunning in a larger group. Always on the move and they catch the light beautifully.

[Nymox]

Hmm all these fish sound good lol, maybe I should sell all my non fishy assets and invest everything into aquariums!

Those dwarf neons are becoming more and more interesting the more I read about them though.

Didnt see anything on male to female ratio though, just that I should have at least 3

[Brennos]

Gourami?

[Nymox]

Ok so one website says 3 males to 1 female, another says school of 5 or less all same sex, school of 6, 3 males 3 females. Would prefer mixed sex due to potential breeding and colouration.

This is confusing me, why so many different variations, I guess due to personal experiences but doesnt make things very easy lol

[stillnzcookie]

Ok so one website says 3 males to 1 female, another says school of 5 or less all same sex, school of 6, 3 males 3 females

We were told to get one male and two females, which seems to work well - one female gets a rest, while the other one is being harrassed! I think you want more females than males, however many you get, and the number of males will partly depend on the size of the tank. There's obviously no hard and fast rules, but I think if you have two, three or four females, you only want one male, five or six females to two males and so on.

[phoenix44]

if you mean dwarf gourami, then you wont have to worry about females, cause there is a long wait list for them. they are usually a plain silver colour, and the males are the bright flame coloured, blue or blue/red ones.

pearl gouramis are peaceful but I would not put them in a very small tank, 100L should be ok though.

[Nymox]

Gunna go and hunt down some dwarf neon rainbows at lfs today, going for 3F 1M.

Thanks for all the help and suggestions team,

[Nymox]

Managed to get some of Dwarf Neon Rainbowfish, bought 2f 1m but plan to go back and get another 6f and 1 more male, they look so nice schooling.

These were an excellent suggestion, they're always active and almost love being chased by the other fish, Im sure I even caught the male provoking one of the kribs to chase it, very cute.

Just wanted to say thanks, so..

Thanks