Dithers

Curtis · Post by **Curtis** » Mon Jan 14, 2008 11:51 am

What would everyone suggest as dithers and upper level swimmers for a 7 foot x 2 ft x 30 in tank with 30-40 young clowns as the main attraction?

I've done tiger barbs but I don't think I want to go that direction with this tank.

chefkeith · Post by **chefkeith** » Mon Jan 14, 2008 12:15 pm

If it's a high flow tank, I think some hatchett fish might be cool. I've been thinking about getting some of those myself.

How much water flow will there be?

Curtis · Post by **Curtis** » Mon Jan 14, 2008 12:34 pm

I have two 2028 eheims, and roughly 1500-2000 gph in central filtration on the tank, and two Taam Seio 2600's...

So the tank is marketed as a 265 gallon with roughly 6000-7600GPH turnover, so over 20x turnover or so.

Mad Duff · Post by **Mad Duff** » Mon Jan 14, 2008 12:37 pm

A 7ft tank is ideal for the bigger Rasboras, I have groups of Rasbora rasbora, Rasbora caudimaculata, Rasbora paviei, Rasbora tornieri, Rasbora trilineata and Rasbora wilpita in my 7ft with my loaches and they look stunning.

Some good Barbs to try and get hold of for such a big tank are Puntius johorensis and Puntius everetti

Rainbows also make a very good choice

piggy4 · Post by **piggy4** » Mon Jan 14, 2008 1:25 pm

The choice is massive ! though i'd tend to agree with Marks selections as they are asian and can naturally occur with Clowns ! having said that there are tons more options ,and still in keeping with the asian theme !

jones57742 · Post by **jones57742** » Mon Jan 14, 2008 2:22 pm

Curtis wrote:What would everyone suggest as dithers and upper level swimmers for a 7 foot x 2 ft x 30 in tank with 30-40 young clowns as the main attraction?

I've done tiger barbs but I don't think I want to go that direction with this tank.

IMHO Tetra's, Tetra's, Tetra's.

I can recommend glowlights, cardinals and serpae (if you do not have a planted tank then several distinctively marked silver dollars also).

chefkeith wrote:If it's a high flow tank, I think some hatchett fish might be cool.

I have tried Marble Hatchets, Marthae Silver Hatchets and Silver Hatchets with no joy.

I have a 9X turnover with my wet/dry but have four 3D nozzles.

I aimed two nozzles such that the water's surface had areas of turbulent flow, some areas had mild flow and some areas had no turbulence.

All of these hatchet fish (and I spent a ton on each batch of species as they are not locally available in San Angelo) "hung together" principally at the surface of the area of mild flow but did not swim much.

All died.

I believe the cause was them jumping into the acrylic top of my tank (I actually observed this twice).

Curtis wrote:I have two 2028 eheims, and roughly 1500-2000 gph in central filtration on the tank, and two Taam Seio 2600's...

So the tank is marketed as a 265 gallon with roughly 6000-7600GPH turnover, so over 20x turnover or so.

Folks and Curtis:

As yall know I am very new to loach keeping except for my Yoyos.

I have never heard of a 20X turnover through filtration systems.

Is this typical for keeping loaches?

TR

Tinman · Post by **Tinman** » Mon Jan 14, 2008 6:00 pm

I have never heard of a 20X turnover through filtration systems.

Is this typical for keeping loaches?

Yes , or more. proportionally things change though. i.e. 20x is much easier to attain in a 55 which is 1100gph . I run 40 gallons a minute with my system through my 150 us gallon 4 foot tank which is 16 times an hour but a higher flow than 20x on a 55 or 18.3 gallons per minute.....or twice the flow

I then added a fluval 4s for an additional 260 per hour or surface aggitation plus a Rena filstar 3 cannister with spray rail for additional flow of 350 gph through my 36 watt UV and a large pump pointing straight up on a 4"pvc with an additional 1000us gph and I am saving for a Turbelle to add additional flow of 2250 us gallons per .
Now I am at 4010 per hour or 26.73 times an hour and will be approaching 6260 gph or 41.73 times an hour

if I leave the 1000gph head in also after the turbelle arrives.

In other words at 26 times an hour my fish want more

.....This is why most peoples Clowns and other loaches are lethargic in comparison

.

Tinman · Post by **Tinman** » Mon Jan 14, 2008 6:12 pm

What would everyone suggest as dithers and upper level swimmers for a 7 foot x 2 ft x 30 in tank with 30-40 young clowns as the main attraction?

To redirect your post back

Many Dithers grow faster than the Clowns but I prefer larger fish as Dithers but have been changing my mind somewhat and would fancy Cherry Barbs now maybe next time .Madd Duff as usual nailed it on the head with his suggestion. But, whatever your choice have them school and be very active. When my Clowns are with calm fish they are calm but as I have them now with 13 Albino Tinfoil Barbs they are out ,up front and very,very active.
They will get out and see what is going on in an active tank is my point no matter your preference of dither

an example is my Leporicus quickly outgrew the Clowns and had to be moved to a more mature loach tank with my Blues .The Leporicus attained 6" within a year easily outpacing the Clowns growth.Something to consider on your selections maybe,or not.....

chefkeith · Post by **chefkeith** » Mon Jan 14, 2008 9:17 pm

jones- You're probably right about hatchets for this tank. I mentioned them because I've been thinking about getting them. I think I have the perfect tank for them. The river tank I have is 8ft long and has a 6ft long island in the center of it. The water flows completely around the island at about 1 ft per second. It's not a turbulant flow either, it's a very smooth gentle flow and there is plenty space above the water for them to jump.

Curtis- My only other suggestion would be some Denison Barbs / Roseline Sharks. If you can find them cheap, grab them. I would get a dozen of them without a second thought if I could find them cheap. They sell for about $30 each at an LFS near me.

Laura · Post by **Laura** » Mon Jan 14, 2008 9:47 pm

I've been drooling over some of the puntius sp recently discussed in the freshwater forum!

With respect, I would look more into the puntius denisoni as most articles I've read on them indicates they are subtropical/tropical. I'm not sure they would be comfortable in the higher temps over the long term that the clowns enjoy. I have a shoal of 5 and agree that they are lovely fish.

Cup · Post by **Cup** » Mon Jan 14, 2008 11:56 pm

Inlecypris and other relatively large/colorful yet peaceful danioans might work.

jones57742 · Post by **jones57742** » Tue Jan 15, 2008 4:02 pm

chefkeith wrote:jones- You're probably right about hatchets for this tank. I mentioned them because I've been thinking about getting them. I think I have the perfect tank for them. The river tank I have is 8ft long and has a 6ft long island in the center of it. The water flows completely around the island at about 1 ft per second. It's not a turbulant flow either, it's a very smooth gentle flow and there is plenty space above the water for them to jump.

chefkeith

Do you have a photograph of this river tank?

I would very much enjoy viewing it.

TR

newshound · Post by **newshound** » Tue Jan 15, 2008 5:59 pm

I have had marble and common/silver hatchets and still have some marbles.
I wouldn't get them for a tank with much flow.
mine always hit the tank top jumping
they just aren't harty enoough for loaches.
a zebra (striata) took eyes out of at least 6 of them. It really doesn't look good to see a school of fish with half of them missing an eye!

shari2 · Post by **shari2** » Tue Jan 15, 2008 6:07 pm

Here's a link to chefkeith's river tank project:

http://forums.loaches.com/viewtopic.php ... &start=120

chefkeith · Post by **chefkeith** » Tue Jan 15, 2008 6:12 pm

jones57742 wrote: Do you have a photograph of this river tank?

Sure do.

There are some videos on my homepage link below.

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