Mississippi fish guy Posted September 24 Share Posted September 24 My brother is now once again undecided about what fish he wants. He has a 20 long right now but seems to think that limits his options to much since a lot of the fish he is interested would need at least a 30 or 29 gallon. As of now he wants to keep a paradise fish as the centerpiece and he wants some sort of surface dweller. Other suggestions will be welcomed since he changes his mind a lot and I won’t be surprised if he changes his mind again before he actually gets the tank set up. He has never kept an aquarium before so beginner friendly options would be best though I can help him with some more intermediate fish if he chooses them as long as I know something about them. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Martin Posted September 24 Share Posted September 24 First and foremost, gotta love the "exasperated sibling" vibe you're giving off; it's hilarious. Second, can you narrow down what "surface dweller" might mean? Is he going for some paludarium sort of setup? If so, a 20 long might be challenging to maintain without either: a terrestrial critter escaping, or running out of space due to using a tank lid. Regardless, I personally like to stock each of my tanks with one livebearer species as they help keep the population lively, but that's me. If he wants the paradise fish to be the start and "pop" so to speak, then maybe a more uniform looking type like mollies. If he doesn't care and want's some extra color; then guppies or platies have my vote. I love shrimp as well, but a fully grown paradise fish might snack on them. Add a few mystery snails! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mississippi fish guy Posted September 24 Author Share Posted September 24 On 9/24/2024 at 2:00 PM, Martin said: surface dweller A fish that primarily lives at the surface such as hatchet fish or top minnows. also it will not be a paludarium or riparium so not terrestrial species will be in this tank. On 9/24/2024 at 2:00 PM, Martin said: livebearer species He is concerned that livebearers would over populate. Would that be an issue with a paradise fish? also would a pair of paradise fish be best or just a one? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pwnedn00b Posted September 24 Share Posted September 24 (edited) With a paradise fish, he has the opportunity to make an unheated setup, which is obviously great for many reasons. Since they do have long fins, he'll want to avoid fin nippers. I'd probably go with a group of white clouds or medaka on top, and kuhli loaches or peppered coys for the bottom. Edit: I've seen 30g as a good minimum for a paradise fish, so I hope he likes plants and water changes. Edited September 24 by Pwnedn00b adding info Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mississippi fish guy Posted September 24 Author Share Posted September 24 On 9/24/2024 at 2:15 PM, Pwnedn00b said: so I hope he likes plants and water changes. Plants definitely, water changes I don’t expect him to like. On 9/24/2024 at 2:15 PM, Pwnedn00b said: and kuhli loaches I didn’t know they could be kept in an unheated aquarium. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pwnedn00b Posted September 24 Share Posted September 24 On 9/24/2024 at 3:29 PM, Mississippi fish guy said: I didn’t know they could be kept in an unheated aquarium. I guess it depends on how cold the room would get, but some online sources say they can go into the low 60's. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MWilk Posted September 24 Share Posted September 24 Paradise fish are/can be real jerks. Fits perfect in a 20L though. Exactly what I did with my 20L, a plant grow out cold water tank. 1 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Martin Posted September 25 Share Posted September 25 @MWilk My. God. That snail on the right wall. 😲 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mississippi fish guy Posted September 25 Author Share Posted September 25 What are some other schooling fish that would work? Would CPDs work? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guppysnail Posted September 25 Share Posted September 25 CpD would be fine unheated however in my experience paradise fish are jerks. Think aggressive betta. It’s hit or miss if it will tolerate tank mates. If he skips the paradise fish he has so many cool options Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mississippi fish guy Posted September 25 Author Share Posted September 25 On 9/25/2024 at 12:17 PM, Guppysnail said: CpD would be fine unheated however in my experience paradise fish are jerks. Think aggressive betta. It’s hit or miss if it will tolerate tank mates. If he skips the paradise fish he has so many cool options I doubt he will skip the paradise fish, but if paradise fish can be like bettas will probably not do CPDs since if the paradise fish turned to be a mean one the CPDs wouldn’t do well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MWilk Posted September 25 Share Posted September 25 On 9/25/2024 at 10:24 AM, Martin said: @MWilk My. God. That snail on the right wall. 😲 lol that’s the big daddy snail, he has a few dozen babies in this tank but the paradise fish likes to pick at them. On 9/25/2024 at 12:30 PM, Mississippi fish guy said: I doubt he will skip the paradise fish, but if paradise fish can be like bettas will probably not do CPDs since if the paradise fish turned to be a mean one the CPDs wouldn’t do well. I wouldn’t mix them unless it is very heavily planted. If you get an aggressive paradise fish it will go after them. They’re territorial and CPD’s aren’t fast enough. Mine has killed a Pygmy cory or two and I don’t think I’d mix them again. The white clouds are left completely alone though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mississippi fish guy Posted September 25 Author Share Posted September 25 On 9/25/2024 at 12:44 PM, MWilk said: wouldn’t mix them unless it is very heavily planted. If you get an aggressive paradise fish it will go after them. They’re territorial and CPD’s aren’t fast enough. Mine has killed a Pygmy cory or two and I don’t think I’d mix them again. The white clouds are left completely alone though. Do you have any other schooling fish ideas? Rice fish seem to be out of his budget and he is not to interested in WCMMs (I’m not sure why since they are very pretty fish) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MWilk Posted September 25 Share Posted September 25 CPD’s are very expensive. Cherry barbs? I’m floating some right now, so they came to mind lol 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mississippi fish guy Posted September 25 Author Share Posted September 25 On 9/25/2024 at 12:53 PM, MWilk said: Cherry barbs? Can those go unheated? If so those could work since once I get my pigmy sunfish out of my breeding tank and I clean the planeria out I will be breeding some. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MWilk Posted September 25 Share Posted September 25 Depends on the room temp, I wouldn’t ‘recommend’ keeping them at 70 but pretty much everyone says 72+. they say the same about Pygmy cories and mine do just fine. the barbs will spawn at higher temps. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Drew Schmidt Posted September 26 Share Posted September 26 I would recommend some danios or barbs. Lots of movement and good eaters. Maybe even some of the smaller pseudomogil rainbows like the fork tail. Good luck with the tank. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mississippi fish guy Posted September 26 Author Share Posted September 26 (edited) On 9/25/2024 at 8:39 PM, Drew Schmidt said: I would recommend some danios or barbs. Lots of movement and good eaters. Maybe even some of the smaller pseudomogil rainbows like the fork tail. Good luck with the tank. What kind of barbs or danios? I know that several can be fin nippers. also since he isn’t too interested in cherry barbs or WCMMs he is considering doing a heated tank. If he does this what are some options budget and beginner friendly options? Edited September 26 by Mississippi fish guy Typo Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tony s Posted September 26 Share Posted September 26 Since he’s a beginner, how about a very large batch of corys on the bottom. To maximize their goofy behavior. Pandas would Be good. Then a trio of honey gourami. Maximizing the yellow/orange color. Then some dwarf rainbows or killifish on top. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mississippi fish guy Posted September 26 Author Share Posted September 26 On 9/25/2024 at 11:22 PM, Tony s said: Then some dwarf rainbows or killifish on top. Could you elaborate more on these? Also if he doesn’t like that idea would any of these fish work with a paradise fish? Another question is what types of killifish or rainbow fish would you recommend? On 9/25/2024 at 11:22 PM, Tony s said: how about a very large batch of corys on the bottom How large do you mean? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tony s Posted September 26 Share Posted September 26 On 9/26/2024 at 10:18 AM, Mississippi fish guy said: what types of killifish or rainbow fish would you recommend? If you can get him to accept the honey gourami. You can basically do any of these. I have the dwarf neon rainbows, but they may be too big for the tank. But any of the psuedomugil would work great. What they call the blue eyed rainbows. Red neon blue eyes, signifer, regular neon blue eyes, forktail, Gertrude. Could do threadfin rainbow. I haven’t done killis yet. But go to Dans fish and look for the cheaper ones. Clown killis, Gardneri, lampeye. Prices can be very high for some. The cheapest will be the most common and the hardiest. if he’s really set on the paradise fish, things get harder. They’re basically a gourami with bad attitudes. It may be best to do a species only tank with one male and several females. Think of him kind of like a betta. His temper is going to vary from fish to fish. You can always try different kinds of fish. They may work or not depending on him. Fast fish could work. Something like a danio. Maybe something on the bottom. Like a bristlenose. Possibly even corys. But it’s going to be up to him what he accepts. So you’ll need a backup plan in case it doesn’t work. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tony s Posted September 26 Share Posted September 26 On 9/26/2024 at 10:18 AM, Mississippi fish guy said: How large do you mean? Possibly up to 12 pandas. I’d go more, but tank size. 6-8 of regular ones. Thinking of albino Cory size. for the danios. Maybe something like gold ring danio, zebra danios are cheap and common. But still very interesting. Could even do something like brilliant green rasboras. And those might work with a paradise fish as well. You’d want 8-10 of those, but the paradise fish would keep them in a tight ball. They’re very tight schoolers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mississippi fish guy Posted September 26 Author Share Posted September 26 On 9/26/2024 at 10:16 AM, Tony s said: danios. Maybe something like gold ring danio, zebra danios are cheap and common Can danios go unheated (around 70-74)? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tony s Posted September 26 Share Posted September 26 On 9/26/2024 at 12:07 PM, Mississippi fish guy said: Can danios go unheated (around 70-74 Can do normal room temperatures Panda corys would work there also Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mississippi fish guy Posted September 26 Author Share Posted September 26 Well my brother changed his mind about what he wants to keep again. Now he wants to know of a good centerpiece fish that could be kept with CPDs. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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