more fish pondering

[serenissima]

platy - Xiphophorus maculata

nice tetras
cardinal - Cheirodon or Paracheirodon axelrodi
black neon - Hyphessobrycon herbertaxelrodi
flame or Von Rio - Hyphessobrycon flammeus
lemon - Hyphessobrycon pulchripinnis
diamond - Moenkhausia pittieri
serpae or jewel- Hyphessobrycon callistus or eques
Congo - Phenacogrammus interruptus
pristella - Pristella maxillaris

nice danios
zebra - Danio or Brachydanio rerio
leopard - Danio or Brachydanio frankei
spotted or dwarf - Danio or Brachydanio nigrofasciatus

nice barbs
cherry - Barbus or Puntius titteya
rosy - Barbus or Puntius conchonius
gold - Barbus or Puntius sachsi (different from golden barb Barbus or Puntius gelius)
striped or banded - Puntius johorensis or Barbus eugrammus
black ruby - Barbus or Puntius nigrofasciatus

Am now thinking of getting gold and cherry barbs, but may just settle for platies and zebra danios.

Comments

[daisho.livejournal.com]

The thing about both platies and mollies is that they're live-bearers and thus produce a lot of young. If you don't have predators that eat young, like angel fish, you risk getting overrun fairly quickly.

We have cherry barbs in our larger tank at home, and they're good value, though for appearance, I prefer rummy nose tetra, personally. I also like cardinals, which usually swim in schools, offering a nicer image, and bring a lot of colour to the tank.

Zebras are a fairly ubiquitous in tropical tanks, but that shouldn't stop you if you like them. :)

[copperwolf.livejournal.com]

I was hoping that *all* fish will eat the babies. Originally I wanted to keep a Betta too, and Rhynyx said it would eat them, but I got an aquarium book that advises against keeping Bettas in a community tank.

I love the look of the cardinals. Apparently they prefer more acidic water than most other freshwater tropicals. I may still get them, perhaps paired with black neons. I don't particularly like zebras, but I want something that will contrast nicely with the red-orange platies.

I'm trying to choose just two species, and I want both to be highly colored, and one of the two to be reddish, ideally. When I first started reading up on fish, the white cloud mountain minnows sounded good, but when I saw them in the shop they looked rather drab.

[rhynyx.livejournal.com]

The thing about bettas is that they have different personalities, and you need to be watchful. For example, I had one who was so placid the snail could outrun him. On the other hand, the one I have now will KILKILLKILL anything in sight (I tried putting snails in there to keep the algae down - turns out he loveses the snailses). It's very difficult to tell when they're in the store, though, so if you go for a betta, you have to be prepared that it might need its own tank (1-2.5 gallons will do, though). If you're careful and add it last, AND get one that's more placid (which is more likely with females, incidentally, although still not assured), it can definitely work.

[daisho.livejournal.com]

In my experience, only the very smallest babies get eaten in a community tank without a dedicated live-birth vacuum cleaner. :) Once they get past a certain size, young platies will survive, and the mothers can be fairly prolific. Then again, get all females and you won't have a problem. They can be sexed relatively easily.

Mollies, as I've said, produce even more young, which is a shame, since the gold varieties could contrast nicely with the red platies. I also love our clown loaches, but while they're not aggressive, they can get quite large, which isn't good if you have only a small tank, or want everything of around the same size.

Tetras of some description are probably the way to go. :)

[purrzah.livejournal.com]

Bettas can be very parsnickity about being with other fish. Our office head of Client Service has a tank at her desk started when she picked up a Betta. She tried keeping it with other fish, but in the long run the only Betta who has survived more than a month lives with rams horn snails and a placastamous (I have no idea how to spell that!)

My father did breed Bettas. They require very special conditions to breed.