Filament Barbs

[BlueLineAquaticsSC]

I’ve been looking for dithers for a while for my cichlids and my LFS had just got in some 5” filament barbs from a trade in. Unfortunately they only had 2 left when I got there (and one looks in poor health) but I did snatch them up. I want to get at least 2 more to school with them but it will be hard finding more barbs that are big enough to go with my other fish. To try and broaden my options can anyone recommend other barbs that would school with filaments?

[ScottieB]

I was hoping someone with more Barb experience would chime in but seeing you're not getting help, lets unpack this a little and work through it.

What cichlids are you trying to provide dither for and what size is the tank? Let's get this figured out.

[BlueLineAquaticsSC]

It’s a 90g tank with 2 Nicaraguans, a flier, myrnae, firmouth, and Venezuelan pike. Also a Senegal bichir. 

[Colu]

I would be worried about your Venezuelan pike cichlids they will eat anything that fits in there mouths with a max size of 14in I think they will eventually become food  as I have never kept this combination I can't say for sure that will happen 

[BlueLineAquaticsSC]

On 6/15/2022 at 9:12 PM, Colu said:

I would be worried about your Venezuelan pike cichlids they will eat anything that fits in there mouths with a max size of 14in I think they will eventually become food  as I have never kept this combination I can't say for sure that will happen 

Ya I’m aware of that, I’m hoping to get a 6ft tank to put him in and if I can’t I’ll work on rejoining him once he hits 8”. I wouldn’t want to keep a 14” fish in a 4’ tank anyway