Help picking a weird, wacky, and wild centerpiece fish recommendations for my 50 gallon planted setup - newbie loving the hobby again

[walstadfanboy]

TL:DR - help me pick a super rare, weird, interesting and cool centerpiece fish for my planted 50 gallon community tank (shrimp, snails, pygmy cories, and tetra so far).

 

Hi all,

I wanted to first thank everyone here for providing a place for a newbie like me to learn so much! As the name says, I became re-obsessed with making planted ecosystems after reading Dr. Diana Walstad's book "Ecology of the Planted Aquarium." As such, I have taken the 50 gallon acrylic back from my dad who had it collecting dust in the garage, cleaned it up, and got to work about 8 weeks ago. 

It is a dirted bottom tank with organic miracle grow potting soil capped with about an inch or so of gravel. There is a sandy section as well for my pygmy cories to frolic. Although I did try to go full walstad method with heavy planting, turns out planting a 50 gallon "heavily" is way harder than I thought. Picture attached is from just after maintenance yesterday. I was religious about water testing for the first several weeks and now, not so much. Ammonium, and nitrite levels hang near zero now and nitrates stay pretty low as well. I know some people here may think this is more of a "walstad-ish" tank and I cannot argue with you. I am still pursuing that goal of a true walstad with few water changes, tons of plants, and low filtering. I attribute my filtering requirements so far and my need for water changes (managed to go 2 weeks though recently and only needed to because my floater plants needed...culling) to my own imperfection of the method. I am continuing to plant the tank up until I reach a point where I either see pearling with no CO2 or at least until I can run the filter completely submersed (no surface agitation) and I don't see any distress from the fish for oxygen needs).

Ok, all that gushing out of the way, here is what I have in the tank right now - a lot of these are estimates because good lord do critters breed

50 gallons

7 cory habrosus

8 neon tetra (mostly for cycling, but they are fun to watch dart around at feeding time)

6 ember tetra

4 mystery snails

~10 malaysian trumpet snails (needed them to help aerate my soil)

~20 ramshorn snails (pink, blue, leopard, red - love the little guys will be sharing with my wife's and anyone who wants to pay for shipping soon enough)

6 nerites

6 amano shrimp

~6 neocaridinashrimp

??? bladder snails - seriously who knows, I don't mind the little guys. They do good work.

tons of microfauna

 

I want something to really be fun and exciting to watch and learn about as my centerpiece. What put the thought in my mind was the recent unboxing vid that the co-op did on YouTube of the crocodile toothpicks! Oh man they were so cool!!! I thought about them as the ones and then I thought "I never knew about those, what else don't I know about???" I had been considering a super cool little bristlenose pleco, one of the fancy L numbers. So I thought I would hear from the true experts. What's out there for me? I have no limits other than maybe price (I don't trust myself quite yet to keep anything too expensive [maybe over 50$], still a newbie here). It doesn't have to be pretty, or small, or big, or ugly, just neat and fun! Knife fish? baby whale? stingray? what's the weirdest thing you got for me? Let me know your thoughts. Thank you all so much for any help you can provide for me here.

Edited March 2, 2021 by walstadfanboy

[FrozenFins]

Maybe not so much a center peice fish, but defentley an odball would be the Hatchetfish. Super neat and cool looking, they like to be in groups, need a lid, and will only eat floating foods.

 

 

[Jungle Fan]

The plecos likely would sooner or later tear up your very nice aquascape, and rays and knifefish tend to get very big. If you want something unusual you should try something like the Indian glass fish Kryptopterus bicirrhis that is definitely not of the ordinary but won't turn into a living wrecking ball.

 

[walstadfanboy]

4 minutes ago, James Black said:

Maybe not so much a center peice fish, but defentley an odball would be the Hatchetfish. Super neat and cool looking, they like to be in groups, need a lid, and will only eat floating foods.

 

 

So cool, thanks for the reply and the vid! Oh man, these guys could be my "school" in the pool. This tank, being acrylic, is sort of weird with the lid situation, but I think I can cover all the holes pretty well.

[walstadfanboy]

2 minutes ago, Jungle Fan said:

The plecos likely would sooner or later tear up your very nice aquascape, and rays and knifefish tend to get very big. If you want something unusual you should try something like the Indian glass fish Kryptopterus bicirrhis that is definitely not of the ordinary but won't turn into a living wrecking ball.

 

Oh man these are awesome too, I love how they hang in the water column. And good tips there with the plecos and knife fish. I definitely don't want anything tearing up things. Back when I was a kid, I used to have a breeding pair of convicts in one tank, and a green terror in the other... the darn things could even tear apart silk plants.

[Jungle Fan]

@James Black@walstadfanboyI was thinking about the hatchetfish at first as well but then I remembered that you definitely need to have a lid from when I kept them because they are prone to committing Harakiri by leaping out of the tank, and  they stay pretty much at the upper level.

Edited March 2, 2021 by Jungle Fan

[Jungle Fan]

If  your tank is acrylic  and has a rim you could probably easily cover it by applying 4 little posts to the corners and getting either a sheet of clear acrylic, or glass (depending on how close your lights are) to cover the tank, that is provided you don't have a furry little acrobat who might try to jump on the tank because the sheet of course would be loose. 

[walstadfanboy]

4 minutes ago, Jungle Fan said:

@James Black@walstadfanboyI was thinking about the hatchetfish at first as well but then I remembered that you definitely need to have a lid from when I kept them because they are prone to committing Harakiri by leaping out of the tank, and  they stay pretty much at the upper level.

My only concern is the way this old tank is made, there is a large, long whole at the back for a HOB filter. We have a canister now so that whole is pretty much open at the moment. I do keep a thick mat of water lettuce, giant duckweed, and salvinia right there to try and deter my amanos and mystery snails from finding that space, but sounds like I'd better be safe then sorry and cover that guy up if I go with hatchets. Worth noting, I am not especially attached to the tetra either, no offense to the little guys, but my LFS would take them back if I wanted to trade for something else. 

[walstadfanboy]

Just now, Jungle Fan said:

If  your tank is acrylic  and has a rim you could probably easily cover it by applying 4 little posts to the corners and getting either a sheet of clear acrylic, or glass (depending on how close your lights are) to cover the tank, that is provided you don't have a furry little acrobat who might try to jump on the tank because the sheet of course would be loose. 

Hah! We do have that acrobat, but we already got a piece of glass cut to cover the opening and its thick enough to support him (although he hasn't actually tried to make it up there).

[FriendlyLoach]

I would say bolivian rams, they are pretty cool! Just get a largish group. Maybe 4-5. I am not sure if they will go after the corys. Anyone know? 

[Colu]

 

2 hours ago, FriendlyLoach said:

I would say bolivian rams, they are pretty cool! Just get a largish group. Maybe 4-5. I am not sure if they will go after the corys. Anyone know? 

I second Bolivian rams great fish 

[Jungle Fan]

Not weird, nor oddball but I can recommend the Bolivian Rams as well. They won't harass Corys and they'll even get along with your Tetras, mine don't even mess with my shrimp, Amano, or Blue Velvet; however, disclaimer: - heavy plant density, and I have several caves I built for them with roots.

Edited March 2, 2021 by Jungle Fan

[Trish]

1 hour ago, Colu said:

 

I second Bolivian rams great fish 

They really are gorgeous and have a friendly character!

[walstadfanboy]

3 hours ago, FriendlyLoach said:

I would say bolivian rams, they are pretty cool! Just get a largish group. Maybe 4-5. I am not sure if they will go after the corys. Anyone know? 

 

1 hour ago, Colu said:

 

I second Bolivian rams great fish 

 

11 minutes ago, Jungle Fan said:

Not weird, nor oddball but I can recommend the Bolivian Rams as well. They won't harass Corys and they'll even get along with your Tetras, mine don't even mess with my shrimp, Amano, or Blue Velvet; however, disclaimer: - heavy plant density, and I have several caves I built for them with roots.

 

1 minute ago, Trish said:

They really are gorgeous and have a friendly character!

Wow that is a lot of love for the little rams! They are adorable and I have always been interested to own a few. I am wondering though, could I maybe get away with something like three of them and still keep looking for that super weird fish to cap things off? Especially if I re-homed my tetra? I just have this itch for something really strange like an african butterfly fish or I don't even know. The rams are definitely on my short list though, they look so intelligent!

[Trish]

5 minutes ago, walstadfanboy said:

 

 

 

Wow that is a lot of love for the little rams! They are adorable and I have always been interested to own a few. I am wondering though, could I maybe get away with something like three of them and still keep looking for that super weird fish to cap things off? Especially if I re-homed my tetra? I just have this itch for something really strange like an african butterfly fish or I don't even know. The rams are definitely on my short list though, they look so intelligent!

@walstadfanboy They aren't so little when they are full grown, getting to be about 3 inches.  I've never kept them with small fish though, having kept my embers and pigmy copies in a nano tank.   Rams are like puppies, they beg for attention! 

Edited March 2, 2021 by Trish

[Jungle Fan]

They are very smart, mine remember the different spots I drop in pellets for them and go looking in the neighbors territory after they've scarfed up their portion. I had a friend who kept butterfly fish for a short while, everything I said about the hatchet fish applies doubly for the butterfly fish, they love to jump, they are bigger up to five inches total, their fins are bigger and they jump further and higher, they hang out mostly at the surface, anything that fits in their mouth is food, they need a heavily planted tank as they come from mostly quiet ponds, especially floaters, they seem to not have a terribly great immune system as I've read in a lot of places that they are prone to disease, at least in the aquarium. My friend lost two to disease and the other two must have damaged themselves when they tried to jump and hit their heads on the glass cover, at least that's what I was told. I have to admit they look cool, and obviously there must be folks who keep them successfully but for my part I'll pass.

Edited March 2, 2021 by Jungle Fan

[Jungle Fan]

Some info:

https://www.aquariumsource.com/african-butterfly-fish/

[walstadfanboy]

Well I know I won't ever have a problem with growing floater plants... I had to throw out literally a half pound of the stuff last night. Although it hurt me to do it, I just had to get some of my surface back! I gotta figure out something else to do with my excess floater.

[FrozenFins]

4 hours ago, walstadfanboy said:

My only concern is the way this old tank is made, there is a large, long whole at the back for a HOB filter. We have a canister now so that whole is pretty much open at the moment. I do keep a thick mat of water lettuce, giant duckweed, and salvinia right there to try and deter my amanos and mystery snails from finding that space, but sounds like I'd better be safe then sorry and cover that guy up if I go with hatchets. Worth noting, I am not especially attached to the tetra either, no offense to the little guys, but my LFS would take them back if I wanted to trade for something else. 

This could be an easy fix to cover it up. Something like thick cardboard, ducktape that to the hole or You could get flat carbonate sheet, or get some tiny amount of mesh netting and fasten it over the lid.

[Jungle Fan]

The butterfly fish do better in a long shallow tank because of their size and love to hang out at the surface and hide in between floaters like water hyacinth and water lettuce. That friend of mine in Germany had a custom made tank with a lid, it was about 5 ft long and a foot 18" tall and about 2.5 ft wide, I don't remember how many cm he said it was but I remember in relation to his living room. He also kept some Kribensis in the same tank.

[Celly Rasbora]

My ex had a butterfly fish. We came back from a weekend trip and it was dead on the floor. We were very young at the time and we didn’t know that was even possible for them to jump. I was horrified. I still shudder to think about it. 

[FriendlyLoach]

A loach, maybe a dojo loach! Oh, but they will dig up the dirt. 😞

[Will Billy]

1 hour ago, FriendlyLoach said:

A loach, maybe a dojo loach! Oh, but they will dig up the dirt. 😞

I went with the fun loving dojo loach as my centerpiece fish. They are amazing animals, full of energy, constantly moving, unique shape and face, they predict bad weather (hence their other name weather loach). Super friendly (mine lets me pet them from time to time during tank maintenance and i can feed them by hand like a koi)  will definitely dig up all substrate tho. Not recommended for root feeder plants. If you dont mind floaters and rhizome plants they are my favorite fish of all time. 

[walstadfanboy]

1 minute ago, Will Billy said:

I went with the fun loving dojo loach as my centerpiece fish. They are amazing animals, full of energy, constantly moving, unique shape and face, they predict bad weather (hence their other name weather loach). Super friendly (mine lets me pet them from time to time during tank maintenance and i can feed them by hand like a koi)  will definitely dig up all substrate tho. Not recommended for root feeder plants. If you dont mind floaters and rhizome plants they are my favorite fish of all time. 

They sound great, but I'm not sure I should try a loach with the dirted tank. Sounds like a mess and a half haha. That and my wife would kill me if I pulled up the tiger lotus growing in the corner of our tank.

[mountaintoppufferkeeper]

If you aren't too set on the snails and shrimp I would look at a few Amazon puffers