Loaches Online Forum

I'm setting up a 55 gallon tank and planning to get 5-6 zebra loaches to put in it after I get it fully set up and get my dither fish established. I've got pool sand, some smooth rocks, and some driftwood in it now, with plans to add live plants soon. I want to get some kind of dither fish that will be active in the top part of the tank, but have not fully decided what yet. I'm thinking about zebra danios, but I'm not sure if they're big enough.

What do you have for dither fish, if anything, for your loaches?

Danios would be fine, as would white clouds or Vietnamese white clouds. You could also look at small barbs (octozona or hexazonas) or dwarf rainbows. I even kept dennisoni barbs with zebra loachs.

bottom oriented fish are better kept with dithers - in nature there is Always the risk of being eaten by a bvird, but bottom oriented fish are not really suited to watching overflying birds.

They let others do the watching, and only appear when it is safe. That is, when other fishes show themselves. A tank without these will bve a tank with rather shy loaches.

Adding 10 Brachydanios, for instance, will do wonders.

Two pieces of advice from me.

Firstly, when choosing dithers make sure you consider temperature compatibility. I keep Clown Loaches in a 110 gal and these like warmer temperatures than some dithers.

Secondly, when choosing upper level fish realise that even many of these will not prefer to stay battling against a strong surface current all their lives and may seek calmer waters below. Some compromise can often be found however.

I keep Congo Tetras with my Clown Loaches as they also provide movement and interest when the Clown Loaches are in hiding. They are also very reliable, peaceful, robust and easy to keep fish in my experience. Although it is helpful to have twice the number of females to males to spread out the demands of the males, the latter are not so aggressive that they cause serious damage and mortality in their rivals.

The best fish I kept for this purpose was Arnold’s Red-eyed Tetra Arnoldichthys spilopterus which had all the good qualities of the Congo Tetra plus even more advantages. It proved to be very long-lived, the oldest being 16 years and five months when it expired. Mine also stuck more rigidly to the upper surface than my Congo Tetras.

I hope your new aquarium is a great success.