Best nano bottom dwellers

[beastie]

I got the itch to do some change to my tanks but I am unsure which way to go.

I have three tanks that could be mixed and matched in some way. 

A 60x30x30 cm tank now sitting at 25 degrees with 14 pseudomugil luminatus and so many rabbit snails. 40x40x40 cm tank with 10 pygmy corydoras and 10 least rasboras and a 55x40x30 cm tank with clown killifish sitting at 20 degrees.

I think i would like to move or trade my rabbit snails. While i enjoyed them i have had them for over two years and they prevent me from any bottom dwellers. I also am awaiting shipment of some dario hysgion trio but the supplier is unsure when they will arrive, it may be months.

I was thinking some hara jerdoni maybe. Or kuhli loaches. Or move the pygmy corydoras to the luminatus and add some more. I considered moving the least rasbora to my indostomus tank at some point in the future. Or maybe move some of the rabbit snails to the pygmy corydoras/least rasbora tank and do something for the luminatus? I am unsure about what i want...infuriating 🙂

[nabokovfan87]

Might be an unusual one, but I would think something like amano shrimp could work. The reason being is that the behavior is very different when they don't have predators or anything on the substrate. They are fun to watch and will go everywhere. It would be something that could be fun to add to your setup.

That said.... You have the corydoras, what about some darters or other fish like that? Gobies?

Clithon nerite snails would be another choice.

There are also some dwarf loaches if you don't have snails or shrimp in one tank.

[Lonkley]

I second Amano. They are hilarious creatures. Last night I fed the tank an algae wafer. While it was still floating at the surface, an Amano swam up to, grabbed hold of, then surfed it down to the bottom and tried to drag it to wherever they drag things to. Honestly I'm not sure if the fish were able to steal it back.

Edited December 28, 2023 by Lonkley

[PotatoFish]

While I totally vote for kuhli loaches, know that they will nom up all sorts of baby/small snails. I think the marsh snails I have in my tank just breed so mad crazy that the two kuhlis can't snap them all up. Also, I have found that since my large (near 5" from nose to the base of her tail) longfin rosy barb died, the kuhli loaches have been super active outside of their anubias garden base.

I think that Amanos are a great suggestion too. If you want shrimp, maybe consider putting ghost shrimp in there. They travel everywhere, are super cheap, and will breed for you too. You can feed them to other fish and know that what you're feeding your fish gets some high-quality food (maybe even gutload them if you wish).

[beastie]

Thank you guys. The trouble with me having so many tanks is that i most often usually have what you suggest 🙂 i hahave four amano shrimp in my largest tank and they are so large they don't even consider the bolivian rams as predators. For them i have to split the algae wafers into so many small pieces otherwise they take it all and don't let the fish have any :). I also have a cherry shrimp colony and recently got a bunch of no color/cull shrimps for my asian tank to manage all the moss.

I have nerites in every tank too, horned and zebra, they are priceless helpers. 

I will keep thinking. I really want the dario but the supplier said it may take months (already two months ago) so i have to be patient as i assume they are wild caught in spring or something. I also read about danionella but never even heard of having anyone keep them, and pygmy sunfish are not often in stock here either. I will do more goby reading though 

[Odd Duck]

What about other species of dwarf cory like hastatus?  Or exclamation point rasboras?  They tend to hang out down very low in my 14 G cube compared to the chilis that are mostly up top.  I haven’t had them in a species only tank or without the chili group, so I’m not certain if that behavior would carry over without the chilis there.  I’ve been trying to find more to put in my 6 G cube and move over the 2 accidental strays I ended up with.  But they seem to be a bit more robust and bolder than chilis.

[beastie]

I am considering replacing the 60x30x30cm with something slightly larger the table could still hold, like 70x35x30 or something cm and looking into some apistogramma or other small cichlids that could survive in a pair in such dimension

Ofcourse this is a rabbit hole, cause then I could replace the cube which is an old tank with this 54 liters and so on and so forth....

[PotatoFish]

On 12/28/2023 at 6:18 PM, beastie said:

Thank you guys. The trouble with me having so many tanks is that i most often usually have what you suggest 🙂

Hmmm, a different, maybe unusual kind of fish, eh?...What about putting in a "Panda Garra" (garra flavatra)?  You'll have to make sure to have a nice, tight-fitting lid to make sure they don't escape. I haven't kept them personally, but they look nice, and folks say they aren't aggressive with other fish.

[beastie]

On 12/28/2023 at 6:02 PM, PotatoFish said:

Hmmm, a different, maybe unusual kind of fish, eh?...What about putting in a "Panda Garra" (garra flavatra)?  You'll have to make sure to have a nice, tight-fitting lid to make sure they don't escape. I haven't kept them personally, but they look nice, and folks say they aren't aggressive with other fish.

I have seven of them in my asian tank, i don't feel like they need the lid that much, i have a hole where i feed and they hang under it but in the year that i have had them they never tried to jump out, unlike hatchetfish for example.

They are an adorable and fun fish!!!