Badis badis as centerpiece fish?

[Mandy411]

I have a 29 gallon planted tank with clown killies and pseudomugil luminatus along with various snails. I also plan on putting blue dream culls in when I rescape their tank. Would a blue badis make a good single centerpiece fish for this tank? I expect the shrimp babies to be fish food, but I dont want to see the adults harrassed/hunted down.

[Native Keeper]

yeah, I think a fish of that size would likely kill all the shrimp; my mother had a female betta that killed off an entire colony, and she was only 2 1/2 inches.

I would recommend Sphaerichthys osphromenoides, a smaller but still uncommon fish.

[anewbie]

On 1/16/2022 at 11:00 AM, HydraSlayer said:

yeah, I think a fish of that size would likely kill all the shrimp; my mother had a female betta that killed off an entire colony, and she was only 2 1/2 inches.

I would recommend Sphaerichthys osphromenoides, a smaller but still uncommon fish.

Doesn't the chocolate gourami require black water ?

[Mandy411]

Thank you for your reply HydraSlayer. My other idea is a scarlet badis but I wanted a slightly larger single bottom dwelling fish. My tank isn't suitable for a chocolate gourami. I keep it unheated ranging from 70-74 in winter and 74-78 in summer. It has a screen top in summer to allow evaporative cooling with a fan, so the humidity may not be high enough for a gourami's labrynth organ. I'm looking for something more at home in my 7.2ph hard water.

[Native Keeper]

@anewbie My sources do mention a more acidic tank is required, so in a sense yes. 

Though there are other ways to get acidic water.

[anewbie]

On 1/17/2022 at 9:16 AM, HydraSlayer said:

@anewbie My sources do mention a more acidic tank is required, so in a sense yes. 

Though there are other ways to get acidic water.

It needs more than just acidic water; it needs live or frozen food and water changes have to be done very carefully to not disturb the environment; there are some lovely articles on keeping these fishes. While the fish is not quite as delicate as licorice Gourami; they are pretty close...