Fish Recommendation

[DavidR]

I have a heavily planted 80 gallon aquascaped tank. I have some rainbowfish in there now, but would like to move them and add a decent size school of small colorful tetra or rasbora. Ideally the fish would be 1.5" or less with good schooling, I'd like 30-40 of them. My ph is around 7 and the temp is stable at 74.

There are also some shrimp in the tank, both amano and neocaradinia. 

Any recommendations? 

[FrozenFins]

You could do a large school of like (30, maybe more) cardinal tetras or neon tetras to add some more color. With maybe some congo tetras (8) and some cory catfish (12). With your shrimp. 

[KoolFish97]

Ember tetras would be amazing very small and brightly coloured and beautiful or if you wanted to spend the money Galaxy rasboras.

[Nataku]

Neon tetras would be my first choice for bright and colorful small schoolers that will be easily affordable and like the space and temp. Other considerations could be green neon tetras, dwarf emerald rasboras (celestichtys erythromi), lampchop rasboras, ember tetras, chili rasbora (boraras briggitae), zebra danios and even cherry barbs or pentazona barbs. Although, cherry and pentazona barbs aren't great schoolers. More like loose shoalers.  But pretty fish all the same

The dwarf emeralds, embers and chilis are particularly small fish, so if they were to be the only midwater fish in the tank you could probably go with a much larger school (60-70) if you wanted.

[RovingGinger]

When I add a species I try to visualize two things - color mix i want to end with, and size balance. You’ve honed in on size. Color, I’d cue into your existing rainbow fish, other and future animals,  and the plants, decor, background, and substrate colors of your tank. Look for colors that complement or are analogous to the colors already dominant in your overall aquarium setup from landscape to livestock. Of course now I am constantly on the search for vibrant blue fish to add to the orange and green mix. And of course you are limited by compatibility with your existing setup. This just helps me decide between multiple choices. 
 

What do your rainbow fish look like? What species? And what color are the shrimp? 

Edited November 6, 2020 by RovingGinger
Clarity

[DavidR]

9 hours ago, RovingGinger said:

When I add a species I try to visualize two things - color mix i want to end with, and size balance. You’ve honed in on size. Color, I’d cue into your existing rainbow fish, other and future animals,  and the plants, decor, background, and substrate colors of your tank. Look for colors that complement or are analogous to the colors already dominant in your overall aquarium setup from landscape to livestock. Of course now I am constantly on the search for vibrant blue fish to add to the orange and green mix. And of course you are limited by compatibility with your existing setup. This just helps me decide between multiple choices. 
 

What do your rainbow fish look like? What species? And what color are the shrimp? 

Yes, this is exactly what I'm trying to do.

The rainbowfish will be moving out, to a new home. The neo's are red. The dominate structure in the tank is a large root and another large piece of black and white marbled seiryu stone. The background if frosted.

I like several of the suggestions so far, as well as the green kubotai rasbora (microdevario kubotai). Will the celestial pearl rasbora come out more if they are in a large school? I really like that fish, and think it would fit in quite well, but not if it hides all of the time.

[IanB]

If it were me, I would try out a loose Myanmar/Lake Inle inspired stocking that I have been wanting to do for years. For schooling/shoaling fish, I would do 20 or so Sawbwa resplendens (Asian rummynose) and 40 or so Danio erythromicron (dwarf emerald rasbora). On the bottom, I would do 20 or so Rosy Loaches. They all like the same water parameters, are shrimp friendly, go really well in heavily planted tanks, and would give you a lot of color and activity.