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Display fish for community tank


Pennyleigh17

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Hi all,

I was wondering what sort of fish would be great as a display for my 165L community tank.

I feel my current fish get lost in the tank as they are quite small so would like to add something that you are still able to see from across the room.

I'm wanting a group of fish with some colour and preferably larger in size but not too large to be a threat to my other fish.

My current fish are:

6 neon tetras

5 panda corys

8 dwarf chain loaches

5 male guppies

The guppies can go into another tank of mine if the "display" fish are or could be fin nippers so we don't need to worry about that.

I was thinking either some dwarf gourami as I like the size but they don't have a variety of colour or a group of female betta since I love the bright colours but I feel they are quite small.

Any other ideas on what I could add or opinions on the fish I have mentioned above would be great. 

Thanks :)

 

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I'm thinking of adding some rainbowfish in my tank and they seem to be a really good size and have a variety of different colours, plus they are mid level and very active fish. Makes them easily noticeable from across the room. Also, if you have good lighting, some of these rainbowfish show different colours depending on the side from which the light hits them, so they'll change colour as they swim around the tank.

I haven't done all the homework researching about these, but from what I've read it looks like a lot of people disregard these fish cause they don't have all the vibrant colours when they are young (and in the fish shop), however they get lots of colour once they reach adulthood.

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Hiya

I have 3 165 ltr community tanks. All have one type of primary display fish, two type of smaller fish, plus one type of cory and one type of loach for bottom scrounging, and either plecos or bristlenose for algae duty.

One has Golden Rams, which are gorgeous, with an almost orange head fading back to a yellow body. They are fin nippers though, so no guppies. 

The next tank has Koi angels. They are yellow, black, and white. I have seen some gorgeous black and silver marble angels too. Angels come in a good  variety these days. They are  fin nippers also, so no guppies, but all your other fish would be fine with them.

The third tank has Honey Gourami. They are a lovely deep orange colour. Dwarf Gourami are also quite beautiful. The Honey Gourami and Dwarf Gourami are around the same size, so you could mix and match with them. And they aren't fin nippers, so the guppies could stay.

Edited by zombieworm
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Koi and Marble Angelfish don't get as big as the standard stripey ones, but you are right about the Neons - I keep forgetting Neons are slow for a small fish, lol. I have my Koi angels with a group of danios. Danios are big enough, and way to fast for angels. My angels don't even give the danios a second look. I also have panda corys, ottocinclus, khuli loaches, plecos, upside down catfish, and a Siamese algae eater in with them.

I keep Cardinals and Black Neons with my Gold Rams, no problem.

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Edited by zombieworm
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So are both panda corys and dwarf chain loaches safe to keep with angels?

Do angels grow pretty quickly? Because I could possibly move my neon tetras to another tank where the guppies will be when the angels grow larger.

Has anyone had any experience with keeping a group of say 5 female betta together in a community tank?

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Yes, definitely. Corys and small loaches of all kinds are fine with angels, in my experience. 

Angels do grow very quickly, especially if there is one or more large ones. I had three large koi angels, and bought a small one to add. That was all the pet shop had - only one, and small. It literally tripled in size in just over a week to get to the same size as the others! Same when I got the next one to bring their numbers up to 5.

Female Bettas aren't my area. I have one female blue crown betta, I bought to breed with my male blue crown betta. She didn't just nip his fins, she tore off long strips and ATE them! Cannibalistic little snot! Needless to say, Reggie wasn't too interested in her after that. She now lives in the discus tank. I have heard that the females do quite well in a group, though. 

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These neon tetras started off with as a group of 11 about four years ago and these are the old guys that are still left. Have been thinking of adding some more but not sure yet. I don't think I'll go for any angels, although they are pretty and I would love to have some, I dont think they are suited to my tank.

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I had 22 neons in my 200lt community set up, now I have two ,fragile wimps just kept geting knocked off. Wish I could afford cardinals!

I do so like the Dwarf chain loaches ! Just added half a dozen blue rams as a " feature " fish , they are too small as yet to really stand out. 

The angels are the main fish . 

 

Edited by OCD
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I have my rams (golden rams) in with cardinals, black neon, bristlenose, striata loaches, chain loaches, and yoyo loaches. The males are territorial and can be aggressive towards each other if their territory is encroached on. I have 4 males though (too young to sex when I bought them), and even though they 'face off' every so often, they have never injured each other, not even nipped or ragged fins. 

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They did actually. I think the reason was that the Honey gourami were one of the first two fish I added to the tank, so they had established themselves in there by the time I added rams. Unfortunately the rams didn't last very long though, they both died after 6-7 months from unexplained reasons...

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Were they gold rams or electric blue? My local won't stock electric blues because they are expensive but die so readily. Apparently they are a hybrid, and are susceptible to pretty much everything including being looked at the wrong way.

When I do the shuffle, I will put the rams into the gourami tank then rather than the other way around.

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They were German Blue rams.

I'd still be cautious about putting the rams in with the gourami and would remove them if they get too aggressive. I've got a 215L tank and had only one pair of gourami and one pair of rams, so quite enough space for them all. Also have some angelfish, so the rams were on the quiet side cause the angels were a lot bigger and bossier.

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I had never even heard of rainbow fish until you mentioned them, gligor. I don't remember ever seeing them for sale either. But I have kept my eyes open ever since, and yesterday I found some Boesemani Rainbow for sale, and bought 6. I  think they will be great once they get their colours. And at only 3 inches when full grown, they are big enough to see from across the room, but small enough that you can keep a nice number in a community tank :)

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Niceeee! Yeah, I never even considered them before because when they are young they are not as flashy and people just don't look at them at the LFS because of that. But they are a really good addition to any community tank as they are peaceful, however quite active so you'd need to make sure they are not in a tank with some fish that don't like that much activity in the tank. 

I've got 5 yoyo loaches and will get 5 of the boesmani rainbows, that will be one manic fish tank

Glad I could provide some other options for you

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I'm not sure if you are financial members and if not, if you can see the magazine link on the tool bar above - and open it to see the content.  I wrote an article for one of the Aquarium World magazines on rainbowfish and pretty much dedicated it to the ones we have in NZ.  The magazine is the one with the rainbowfish on the cover.  Have a look and see if you can see it, then have a read if you wish.  :)

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