dither fish

[newshound]

I currently (hahaha...cause it is a semi river tank ie a good cross flow) have in my grrr tank eos, mods, robusta, sae and yoyos.
I want a dither fish that will not go after the sinking food and will survive the evil eos.
any ideas folks?
upper level of tank.

[Graeme Robson]

I keep these Devario assamensis in my Grrr Tank. Larger specimens of the Danios and Devarios should be fine.

http://www.danios.info/Contents/species/danio32.asp

[Emma Turner]

Many of the medium-sized barb species would make excellent tankmates, but the only downside is their greediness.

Emma

[revhead]

I have a pair of puntius filamentosus (i see some in Emma's pics too) & they are lovely fish. Any of the medium sized barbs make great fish to keep with loaches. Not too small or too big, hardy, boisterious & not fussy. How could you go wrong...lol.
Really, there are so many you could chose from. Are you keeping plants ?

[newshound]

plants yes (although the eos do rip them apart).
I have had barbs and they go after the sinking food too much.

[revhead]

What is an 'eos' ?

Barbs...out.
Plant eaters...out.

Have you thought about some of the many tetras available ? One that comes to mind is the rummynose (hemigrammas). These are medium sized, shoal very nicely & really are an amazing looking mid level swimmer. They won't nibble your plants and are not greedy feeders.

[Emma Turner]

What is an 'eos' ?

Here you go, revhead: http://www.loaches.com/species-index/yasuhikotakia-eos

A very beautiful, but aggressive Botiine species, which, unfortunately, would make quick work of small peaceful tetras such as the Rummynoses.

Emma

[revhead]

Ty Emma.

What a beauty !!

Here's the answer to your dither fish dilemna: Send the Eos to me, it will live happily with my syncrossus. Then you can keep whatever dithers you want !!

J/K...

On a more serious note...you are quite limited in your choice of tankmates as am I with my 'tigers'. You will have to consider some of the medium sized, more robust fishes to keep with your loach.
Thought about any of the South american cichlids ?

[blossom]

How about some nice Firemouths (SA cichlid) if u keep 3-4 of them they will chase each other, also possilby Congo tetras, Giant Danios, Black Skirt tetras? Just some possiblities, maybe even some kilifish....although i dont know a great deal about them....

[Graeme Robson]

Keeping South American cichlids who are opportunistic carnivores or piscivores will just create the same problem as with the Barbs when feeding. Newshound is asking for upper level fish and personally the Danios and Devarios i mentioned above are primarily upper level fish who also appreciate the fast currant. They are also biotope friendly fish.

[Tinman]

I have five full grown Silver Dollars as dithers in one tank,They are spectacular but eat ALOT They stay up and in formation.They are never picked on for they are large,nor do they pick on others for they dont care.This in a 6 foot tank with my Blue Botine and some others so space /tank size matters for dither selections.I also use 12 Albino Rosy Barbs for dithers and I have 5 Albino Rainbow Sharks in another. I have 7 Leoporicus but they can be eye biters so are in a specie tank now for fear of damage to my prize fish. Pink tailed Chalceus are excellent to if you can find them but also grow to about 8" and stay high in the tank. I only have one but wish for a shoal of PTC......A Synodontis really keeps things stirred too as they must touch everybody with the whiskers,makes some upset,some run and some mad but always livens things up.....Tinman

The Chalceus will not go down past half tank to eat anything nor feed off the bottom EVER,The Sydodontis will eat everything on the bottom as a bottom dweller