Fish that like flow

[zayackylepga]

Looking for some fresh water fish that like flow. I have a power head on the right side of the tank position to blow across the top to create surface tension because I had a hard time getting the canister filter outlet to do so. Any suggestions?? Also looking for something that likes to much on small snails. Some plants I had for another tank had some eggs and we have a little bit of a snail outbreak. Thanks!

[MAC]

What is the tank size? Its hard to tell from the picture and that would influence what would be recommended. 

White Cloud minnows always come to mind when thinking of a fish for a tank with some flow. But I have congo tetras and medium sized barbs in my higher flow 75 gallon. There are some loach species that apparently eat snails and should do fine with flow but again, it really depends on tank size. 

[zayackylepga]

On 9/4/2022 at 12:42 PM, MAC said:

What is the tank size? Its hard to tell from the picture and that would influence what would be recommended. 

White Cloud minnows always come to mind when thinking of a fish for a tank with some flow. But I have congo tetras and medium sized barbs in my higher flow 75 gallon. There are some loach species that apparently eat snails and should do fine with flow but again, it really depends on tank size. 

It's a 75 gallon tank

[OutBout]

Body characteristics can be indicative of where a fish lives. High flow loving fish can be elongated, flattened (vertically or horizontally), large caudal fin, lack of swim bladder, and have strategically placed mouths. Some examples are certain danios, rasboras, rainbowfish, catfish, loaches, shiners, gobies, etc. There's lots to choose from.

What specifics are you looking for (look-wise, behavior-wise)?

For snail control, have you checked out assassin snails?

[Lots Of Loaches]

Striata Botia, golden zebra loach, yo-yo loach, Dario loach, red fin botia, and Tiger botia all enjoy water current and snails. Depending on what other fish you have or are planning to get will dictate which ones listed above you should look into. Striata botia are my favorite for community tanks as they don’t get huge, are usually outgoing  if kept in groups of 6 or more, don’t fight with each other, and love to eat snails. There are a lot of tetras that enjoy water flow as well and will provide you fish towards the top of your aquarium to balance out the loaches on the bottom. Thank goodness the hobby provides so many options of fish to make all of us happy. Happy fish keeping!

[anewbie]

Lots but not all species of pleco. L204 loves flow. SAE loves flow. Many catfishes like flow. Some geo like flow. Angels HATE flow. I HATE flow 'cept when i like flow.

[nabokovfan87]

On 9/4/2022 at 8:24 AM, zayackylepga said:

Looking for some fresh water fish that like flow. I have a power head on the right side of the tank position to blow across the top to create surface tension because I had a hard time getting the canister filter outlet to do so. Any suggestions?? Also looking for something that likes to much on small snails. Some plants I had for another tank had some eggs and we have a little bit of a snail outbreak. Thanks!

I'm working on this on my end....

Pumphead is usually a 12mm outlet. The fluval 407 spraybar kit is a 16mm kit and then all you need is an adapter and a piece of 12mm tubing.  PVC elbow or they sell other stuff that will work on amazon.  I am still piecing it together. Eheim also sells a "medium" spraybar kit designed for 12mm, but I do not have my hands on that one directly.  Spraybar across the surface, made or purchased is going to be the best way to get surface movement. 

Flow is very different than surface movement and oxygenation.  There are some species that need high oxygenation, river species specifically and cooler water species tend to gravitate to this region.  In terms of movement / flow there are some fish that are designed for that type of a setup.  I would think rainbowfish, danios, and barbs are an example of a fish body shape that likes to have movement.  The way to get this to work is to ensure that you have a good amount of places with lower flow (typically under hardscape) where the fish can regain some strength and escape to if they need to.  Hillstream or Borneo loaches are fish that love this type of a setup.  Some like bamboo shrimp will find high flow spots in the tank and the use that to gather food.  It's an awesome ecosystem when you find the right inhabitants for it.  White clouds I have found also don't hate a good amount of flow.  They fall into the group that likes cooler water and high oxygenation, but my WC would literally sit on the output of a 75G filter all day.

When it comes to surface agitation and movement, you can have a lot of that from the spraybar, but underneath you can tweak things so you don't have intense flow.  This would increase gas exchange and off gassing of things in the water.   If you can get the spraybar to move the water across the top and bottom of the whole tank it's one of my favorite ways to setup a tank. 

[rockfisher]

L333 plecos and L134

[drewzero1]

Rainbow shiners and hillstream loaches are both on my list for a high flow, lower temp setup. I don't think either of them care about snails though.

[anitstuk]

I think X ray tetras/ Pristella Tetras could work well or Hill stream loaches. 

[_Eric_]

If you just have a power head and canister filter, I’m not sure you have an extremely high flow setup.   Probably good with most species as long as they  don’t  require low flow.

that said roseline sharks, corydoras, and cherry barbs will do fine with higher flow.

Edited September 6, 2022 by _Eric_

[Patrick_G]

Gold bards and Dennison barbs would look nice in the middle of the water column and some Gobies would work down on the bottom.