Rambunctious Sids seeking tankmates

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Zookeeper
Posts: 3
Joined: Thu Jun 04, 2015 11:22 pm
Location: Prescott, Arizona

Rambunctious Sids seeking tankmates

Post by Zookeeper » Fri Aug 04, 2017 12:48 pm

I'm hoping to get tank stocking suggestions here. I have a 20L that needs a top/mid dweller with some color. But they have to be able to put up with 8 frisky sids. I also have 8 Yunnanilus cruciatus loaches, and both groups often zip around like toddlers on caffeine. (The sids are bad influences.) They both like to do that shadowing thing. I had a betta in there, but the sids tormented him with fin nipping. So I'm looking for tankmates that won't be stressed out by the resident maniacs. Does anyone have experience with good mates for sids so I don't make anyone miserable? Obviously, no trailing fins. I would like a bit of color since everything in my tank is black and white, or brown. Could be one or two loners, or a small school. The tank is heavily planted with lots of hidey holes.

I was looking at Celestial Pearl Danios, but I think they might be too shy. Maybe Lambchop rasboras?

Currently in the tank:
8 sids
8 Yunnanilus cruciatus
6 black kuhlis
1 (very grumpy if disturbed in his cave) clown pleco
2 amano shrimp

Zookeeper
Posts: 3
Joined: Thu Jun 04, 2015 11:22 pm
Location: Prescott, Arizona

Re: Rambunctious Sids seeking tankmates

Post by Zookeeper » Tue Aug 08, 2017 2:30 am

An update:
I added 10 harlequin rasboras to the tank. It turns out it wasn't the sids I had to worry about, but rather the Y. cruciatus. They were holy terrors to the rasboras for the first couple of hours, constantly chasing and shadowing the rasboras. The sids did it it too, a few times. but, man, the Y. cruciatus were relentless. Which is odd since the rasboras are smaller than both loaches. It's been about six hours now, and the rasboras aren't being bothered as much. They're swimming more relaxed and are venturing lower. So, hopefully, all will be well and the Terrors will chill once they get used to their new tankmates.

My tank is really quite amazing right now. All my black kuhlis are out doing their loachy dance. The sids and Y. cruciatus are super active and shadowing each other like crazy. I'm seeing groups of up to four fish stuck together. Both are even shadowing the black kuhlis- I've never seen this before; they usually act as if the kuhlis don't exist. So the loaches are apparently happy. Not sure I can say the same for the rasboras, though, but at least there's no actual aggression.

Zookeeper
Posts: 3
Joined: Thu Jun 04, 2015 11:22 pm
Location: Prescott, Arizona

Re: Rambunctious Sids seeking tankmates

Post by Zookeeper » Tue Aug 08, 2017 12:49 pm

I'm updating this again in case anyone else is looking for good tankmates for the smaller, active, mid to bottom dwelling loaches.

This morning my loaches are their usual calm daytime selves. They are too busy chilling and searching for food in the substrate and on leaves to bother the rasboras. The rasboras are getting their red color back and seem to be doing well. I should also add that even when I first introduced them and the loaches were harassing the new guys like crazy, they were not tightly schooling. There were always some rasboras exploring on their own or in pairs. To me, this indicates that the rasboras didn't see the loaches as a threat, but rather just a giant pain in the butt.

If things take a turn for the worse, I will update again. But at this point it looks like the rasboras are a good fit.

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