Restocking A Slightly Acidic, Softer Water Planted Tank

Fantastic little fish. I hope they settle well in your tank.

I think they may have started colouring up even before I took them out of the bag! But with the lights off and the bag floating next to green Vallis, it was difficult to tell.

But they are definitely neon now. Mr Helen asked if they are bred to be that colour. 

So my tank is now fully stocked because I also bought another 6 each of harlequin and espeii rasboras.

I phoned the fish shop this morning to ask about kuhli loaches and was told that they didn't know when they'd get more in, but they weren't planning to soon. (When I was buying the fish, I chatted some more to the lady and she explained that the way they have the tanks set up, the kuhlis keep escaping through the weir into the giant sump tanks. They can't be treated for any diseases there and getting them out is so stressful it exacerbates the problem. So before she can get any kuhlis in, she has to rearrange the tank pipework and take a tank off the system).

The last couple of days I've been reading up on tank capacity calculations and the effects of plants (as well as the conversations on this forum) and it has been playing on my mind about only having 6 harlies. The harlies and the espeiis shoal together, but I get the impression that the hierarchy is determined a lot by size - which puts all the espeii at the bottom. I introduced 6 harlies and 6 espeiis to my tank when I had one harlie from the previous shoal left. Within a couple weeks one of the large harlies disappeared. I now believe he was the loser of a battle for top spot. So I wanted to increase my shoal, but was worried about doing it. And I didn't want to increase the number of harlies without increasing the espeiis.

So, when I saw that they were all in the fish shop and the harlies seemed rather small, I thought that numbers would be the best way to introduce more and do it at the same time as the microdevario kubotai.

I went into the fish shop on the way to my son's swimming lesson, so I knew it was just for looking. And then he had a snooze in the car so I had a chance to do some number crunching. I realised that I could get the 24 fish if I gave up on getting more kuhlis (and the kribensis).

The m. kubotai are all about 10-15mm with the espeiis being a similar size and the harlies probably about 20mm. So I think I've added about 40cm of fish today (I had calculated I could have up to 60cm, but I think that calc was flawed).

Anyway, adding the new inhabitants has done some very interesting things to the dynamics in the tank. Two or three of the existing harlies were chasing everyone else around - even the rainbows and barbs that are bigger than them and they've not seemed to bother before. So much so that I didn't dare turn on the second light until they all seemed to have calmed down a bit. I am just glad that my tank is so well planted because there doesn't seem to be a shortage of hiding spots. And the large bits of anubias that I cut off the other day and can't yet bring myself to throw away are doing a great job as floating plants breaking up the line of sight. They'll be staying longer!

Are microdevario kubotai considered to be dither fish? I ask because the barbs and the kuhlis seem to have come out more into the open with all the mayhem going on in the top half of the tank.

I don't know how this will all change over the next few days as things settle down, but it is certainly making for interesting watching (and a little unnerving at times). I'm wondering if I'm going to have to get my QT out of the shed tomorrow.

A quick Google brought up this definition:
"Dither fish are schooling, mid-water swimming fish that are used to bring hiding fishes out into the open."

I have selected the definition that best fits my understanding of a dither fish. But there were variations on the theme. And something I didn't realise, that it seems to be used a lot in relation to cichlids (as the hiding fish).

You'll have to be patient for photos. It's not easy taking a photo of a 4' tank with small fish where you can see both. Especially when half the inhabitants are experts at camouflage (and there's plenty of opportunity). Also, my phone isn't doing photos at the moment, so I have to be more organised and get a proper digital camera out, hook it up... etc etc

I hope to do a video at some point because the most interesting thing about my tank (imho) is the fish behaviours and interactions. But that requires me to also come to terms with YouTube.

If they have had this effect on your other fish then I would agree they are acting as a dither fish for them. I don't think there are specific dither fish as such. Any fish can act as a dither fish for another fish. There are some like hatchets which make very good dither fish... though this is mainly because they are always at the surface.

Change in dynamics in a tank are always fascinating. I hope that everyone settles down to a happy community.
I'm looking forward to seeing pics. 

I don't really have space for another shoal in my tank. I'd love to get more Microdevario Kubotai or something of a similar size, but seeing as they were probably the shortest lived species I've had, they clearly weren't suited to my tank and  I don't think it's fair to get more.

So, after a bit of aspirational fish research (for after my espie rasboras have gone) I found this fish profile on seriously fish.

https://www.seriouslyfish.com/species/puntius-lineatus

I am struggling to find it on the other sites I've looked at (admittedly not loads yet). It is smaller than all the other lined barbs I've seen and wondered if anyone else has come across it?