Fish to keep with loaches for upper half of tank

[bslindgren]

What fish would you recommend for a loach-biased community tank that would occupy the upper half of the tank? I have some black neons, and they tend to hang out in the middle, but I've never quite figured out what might be good for higher up. Any suggestions?

[starsplitter7]

I have 3 African Butterflies and 2 Orange Finned Halfbeaks (bonus -- the Halfbeaks are live bearers) at the top of my tanks. They never go down unless I scare them.

I really like the African Butterflies. They are beautiful and graceful, but they need an area of low flow to hang out. They also like fast flow. Mine line up in the current of my filter, and I drop food in front of them. I have three, and they like to be in a group of three or more. I don't notice any aggression in them, and they max out at 4 inches.

The biggest problem for both fish is that the food has to float. Not too much a problem for the Halfbeaks. They'll chase the blood worms and brine shrimp, and they will eat flake. The Africans like insect larve, so I float blood worms for them and give them krill. Tried freeze dried crickets, but they weren't impressed. They are super jumpers, so keep the lid tight.

The Halfbeaks need to be male/female or female/female, because the males fight.

I find both these fish to be excellent, and cause no problems for any of my loaches. The halfbeaks even live with fry and don't bother them. I wouldn't trust the butterflies though. Their mouth has a bottom jaw that opens wide. The mouth is deceptively big. I never see it open, but they snap up food surprisingly quickly. I have never seen them react aggressively towards any fish though, even fish in their territory.

[clownloachfan]

Hatchetfish- they are always at the top and dont shy away from it by more than an inch or two. They are jumpers though, thats their only fallback, i still like my silvers. i have one jumper about 3 times a year. They always survive though, because it always happens when i am feeding. they just get so excited.
Rainbows
zebra danios

[mistergreen]

rasboras

[starsplitter7]

I agree! I have Hatchet fish too, and they are great. Mine will travel lower in the tank, but they stay high much of the time. Mine have never jumped, but I keep an eye on them, because I know they will someday.

I have danios in my tank too: zebras, purples and leopards, and they stay within three inches of the top, and they are super active and hearty. Even though I have three types, they school together very well, and the purples are stunning, since they have the lavendar color and then golden "beads" along their spine. I also bought them "Buy 3, get three free." What a great deal.

[Mad Duff]

Rasboras

It is probably a good time for Rasboras at the moment, there have been a lot of different species on export list of late. Scissortails are nice either the normal or red, you could also try and see if your LFS could get hold of Rasbora rasbora or Rasbora pavei. Failing that Rasbora borapatensis, Rasbora dorsiocellatta and Rasbora einthoveni are usually easily obtainable.

[Blue]

Rainbowfish, danios, rasboras, tetras, hatchetfish, pencilfish, barbs and killifish will work.

[Diana]

Depends on the tank set up.
In a cooler tank with a lot of water movement I would look at Danios.
In a warmer tank, with calmer areas Gouramis may be the way to go.

[helen nightingale]

rasboras

they are nice and lively, and have beautifull colours, and can cope with the flow that the loachies like

[newshound]

I have had both common and marble hatchets.
My hatchets started to miss eyes. I saw a zebra (strata) take an eye once.
It is actually disturbing to see a school of fish that are all missing one eye.

[mickthefish]

i like my danios, two for a bit of colour and activity.
D meghaliensis and D sondhi pretty and active.

mick

[bslindgren]

Thanks for the tips - I'll look into the options!!

[Vancmann]

Here, I have had great fun and luck with these..
http://forums.loaches.com/viewtopic.php ... ght=dither

[bslindgren]

Here, I have had great fun and luck with these..
http://forums.loaches.com/viewtopic.php ... ght=dither

Beautiful, Vancmann! I've kept a bunch of Danios, but never giants. Your photos make them look a lot nicer than I've ever seen them. Good choice.

Your pictures tweaked my memory that when I was younger many moons ago, I used to keep redspotted tetras, Copeina guttata. Has anybody seen that species available? As I recall they are quite nice looking and stay high, but I haven't seen them in the trade for eons. Similarly, various Copella species used to be common. I know they tend to be jumpers, but they are interesting and nice looking fish so I wonder if anyone out there has any experience with them, particularly wrt loach community tanks?

[MoonPye]

I have danios (blue, leopard, zebra, and gold) and they all get along great and spawn constantly. I have white clouds and harlequin rasboras also. I would highly recommend any of these for ease of care, friendliness, and keeping the tank lively with their activities.