Dither and loach tankmates for clowns

[Holdstrong]

Hi all,

I'm thinking ahead a step or two to when I will be restocking a tank that recently lost its dither (and 1 clown) to an ich outbreak (we think).

The tank has since stabilized and I am - of course - looking forward to restocking it (with heavy quarantining this time). The question now is, with what?

Hoping to get some good suggestions from you experienced folks.

Tank Info:

75g
River tank manifold
sand bottom
lots of driftwood, lightly planted
4 clowns - between 2 and 3 inches - will be getting 1 more*
5 panda corys
6 rosy barbs
1 pleco
(also has 7 platties, but these will probably be moved)


Small loach species:

I'd like to add another small group of loaches to this tank. Would love to find a species that would appreciate the current setup and might interact with the clowns. Was thinking a group of 5 zebra loaches, since their size seems to fit this tank. Is this is a good addition, or would you recommend another species?

Dither:

Would like a schooling dither, and it needs to be able to handle decent water movement. The two that seem to be recommended often are Giant Danios and Congo Tetras. I know I can get the former, not sure about the latter. Would you suggest I look out for another species?


* I know the clowns will eventually outgrow this tank, they will be moved when that happens.

[OneWay]

Rainbow fish are excellent as well, but generally cost a bit more. I am currently switching over from giant danios to them, if a bit slowly

[Diana]

Rainbows. There are many species. Most tend to be in the open areas of the tank, and are highly active.
Melanotaenia praecox is a good one for soft, acidic, very warm water.
The males can be a bit pushy with each other and can harass the females to death. Get at least 2 females to each male.

Many Rainbows are fish for slightly harder water, with pH over 7, will handle a wide range of conditions.
Watch for temperature requirements, too.

The smallest ones such as Feather Fins are not for a large tank, and such large tank mates, but many Rainbows range from 3-4" and would work.

Congo Tetras are good.
Most Danios are slightly cooler water fish, and the overlap in temperature requirements leaves too small a safe range to keep both species in one tank.

[Alaskancorydoras]

Rainbows. When I can be arsed to do it I'll post some pictures of my various bows.

I run a 90 gallon with 5 clownies, FAR too many cories, and about 30 'bows. With the right lighting they're absolutely stunning.

I like the Praecox best, followed by the lucustra (Turquois rainbow).

[chefkeith]

I like Rainbowfish also. They're the only loach dither fish that I've been able to keep successfully. Tetras (Cardinal, Neon, Serpa) and Tiger Barbs haven't worked for me. I started out with 12 Boesemani Rainbowfish, about 6 of them have died over the last 4 years, but now I have about 30. They've been breeding quite well in my tanks and I'll soon need to start giving some away.


The only difficulty with rainbowfish is that they get columnaris disease easily if the water quality isn't excellent. A UV sterilizer can help prevent columnaris bacterial outbreaks in rainbowfish, but frequent partial water changes are the biggest must.

[Alaskancorydoras]

[IMG] http://i596.photobucket.com/albums/tt47 ... raecox.jpg [/IMG]
[IMG] http://i596.photobucket.com/albums/tt47 ... raecox.jpg [/IMG]
[IMG] http://i596.photobucket.com/albums/tt47 ... aecox2.jpg [/IMG]
[IMG] http://i596.photobucket.com/albums/tt47 ... raecox.jpg [/IMG]

Dwarf Neon rainbowfish.

[OneWay]

nice looking fish, i cant wait for mine to grow up a bit more

[Holdstrong]

I'm sold on the rainbow fish. Thank you all for the suggestion!

Regarding the other loach tank mates... does Zebra sound ok? I want a smaller species, but something big enough to handle the clowns. Only other I could think of is the Burmese Border loach.