Tropical Fish Forum

Tropical Fish Keeping Help and Advice => General Fishkeeping advice => Topic started by: chris213 on August 06, 2014, 11:38:08 AM

Title: shoaling fish
Post by: chris213 on August 06, 2014, 11:38:08 AM
hi all ,

iam after some suggestions for some top tank shoaling fish , i would like to add a decent size shoal of something to my tank for the surface area , my tank is 260 liters and 153 cm long . my water is very soft and kh is extremly low althow i have cured this with a tiny amount of crushed coral in the filters , ph is steady at 7,4 now and tank temp is 24 degree's , my list of other fish is below all liveing happily with each other just the odd chase fight from time to time.i would like to avoid live bearing fish as dont want to be over run and already have snakeskin gourmai babies .
Title: Re: shoaling fish
Post by: Rich_D on August 06, 2014, 01:02:47 PM
Why not try some pencilfish? I have some in my tank and they stay at the top of the tank and when not swimming fast swim at a 45 degree angle and are also stationary at that angle, a very interesting fish!
Title: Re: shoaling fish
Post by: chris213 on August 06, 2014, 02:23:40 PM
nice looking fish it could be a contender
Title: Re: shoaling fish
Post by: ColinB on August 06, 2014, 02:37:52 PM
A few thoughts...

Penguin Tetra (http://www.thinkfish.co.uk/fish/penguin-tetra.html).

Bloodfin Tetra (http://www.thinkfish.co.uk/fish/bloodfin-tetra.html).

Marbled Hatchetfish (http://www.thinkfish.co.uk/fish/marbled-hatchetfish.html).

Silver Hatchetfish (http://www.thinkfish.co.uk/fish/silver-hatchetfish.html).

...all I can think of at the mo'.
Title: Re: shoaling fish
Post by: chris213 on August 06, 2014, 03:06:03 PM
i like them all  :rotfl:  community creator says there not suitable due to size with my other fish but i am unsure as my babies have been in the same tank and the other fish dont bother with them at all.
Title: Re: shoaling fish
Post by: Sue on August 06, 2014, 05:14:24 PM
Don't forget there are lots of pencilfish species though there is only one in the fish profiles on here. Seriously fish has two pages of them  ;)
Title: Re: shoaling fish
Post by: Rich_D on August 06, 2014, 07:26:04 PM
Out of interest sue why is there a limited amount of fish for the community creator? Is there plans to add more?
Title: Re: shoaling fish
Post by: Sue on August 06, 2014, 07:52:05 PM
The site was set up by a chap called Peter many years ago. I first joined in 2006 and the site was well established then, including virtually all the fish currently in the fish profiles. Then in late 2011 the site got slower and slower and sometimes wouldn't load at all. Fast forward to April 2012, and Peter was told by the site host that the fish profiles and CC were causing the problems and he had a week to find a new host. It took 6 months for the site to get up an running again, though the old forum was lost which is why you won't find a post older than September 2012. I had a post count of over 4000 on the old forum!
I think some of the fish profiles vanished during this time. For instance, there are now just 2 cories (salt & peper and panda) but there used to a 'cory' profile containing almost all the 5cm cories under one heading.

I don't know why there aren't more fish in the profiles. As I say, the site in its original incarnation had been running for a lot longer than I've been a member. Perhaps the owner just wanted to include the more common species. As for whether there will be more, again I don't know. It has never been stated publicly on the forum but Peter told me privately that he had sold the site to Robert - and please correct me if I'm wrong, Rob. Robert is not a fish expert like Peter was, he's a forum/website expert.  Which I why I became a moderator shortly after Robert came on board - the site was unmoderated under Peter's ownership as he knew a lot about fish.
I doubt very much that Robert will add more fish to the profiles or add them to the CC. But it only really affects those of us who want different fish, most of the common fish are already there.
Title: Re: shoaling fish
Post by: Rich_D on August 06, 2014, 08:09:28 PM
Yeah I used the site in its first incarnation for my old 180 litre tank and the cc was quite helpful, I wasn't sure if it was just me but thought there was more profiles on that one. Thanks for the update though! Just a case of finding something that fits size wise for those of us that don't quite have the fish in the creator?
Title: Re: shoaling fish
Post by: Sue on August 06, 2014, 08:24:04 PM
That's what I do, find a similar fish and substitute it. So I have neon tetras instead of green neon tetras in the CC, but fewer of them as green neons are smaller; and celestial pearl danios instead of Microdevario kubotai. I try to match size, water conditions and behaviour.
Title: Re: shoaling fish
Post by: Rich_D on August 06, 2014, 08:44:58 PM
Thanks for the info sue.


Chris what about some danios? Or are you wanting something different to the usual suspects?
Title: Re: shoaling fish
Post by: chris213 on August 06, 2014, 09:15:35 PM
not sure about different i just know i would like something top end bright coloured maybe althow i have to admit i do like silver and blacks something active and a large shoal i like the pencil fish althow i never seen any of these in any of my lfs the danios look cute , dam to many choices  :rotfl:
Title: Re: shoaling fish
Post by: Rich_D on August 06, 2014, 09:22:42 PM
Where abouts do you live? Town wise?  Pencilfish are cute,  I also like the leopard version of the danios they do grow abit smaller than the normal zebra version, what about some hatchet fish? Although they are jumpers so you would need a good lid!
Title: Re: shoaling fish
Post by: chris213 on August 07, 2014, 06:27:58 AM
iam up in birmingham , i have 2 maidenhead aquatics  near and 2 other good quality fish shops so iam sure one of them can something for me , i do have good lids but of late they have been wide open cus of heat but iam not sure i fancy jumpers especially as the tank is right next to my bed i may not wake up alone  :rotfl:.
Title: Re: shoaling fish
Post by: Rich_D on August 07, 2014, 08:10:31 AM
Hahaha ooooo that would be a lovely feeling lol, i have mine next to my bed and when the room goes dark thats when the rainbows decide its time to start attacking the odd floting leaves from my plants to make a lovely splashing sound to keep me awake!
Im toying with having some danios in my tank to go with my pencilfish but im not sure if their fast movements will make the pencilfish stay around the sides and not move much, something else to think about for me lol.
Title: Re: shoaling fish
Post by: chris213 on August 07, 2014, 08:27:35 AM
Quote
i have mine next to my bed and when the room goes dark thats when the rainbows decide its time to start attacking the odd floting leaves from my plants to make a lovely splashing sound to keep me awake!

for me its my clown loaches if there is some cucumber or lettuce in the tank you can hear them crunching there way threw it normally about at about 5 am , the first time i wondered what the hell it was i never thought a fish eating could make so much noise.

Quote
Im toying with having some danios in my tank to go with my pencilfish but im not sure if their fast movements will make the pencilfish stay around the sides and not move much, something else to think about for me lol.
well for me i am more concerned about the size of my other fish but they all seem quite laid back. going to take the afternoon of work on friday and go do some fish shop noseing around :)
Title: Re: shoaling fish
Post by: Rich_D on August 07, 2014, 02:05:09 PM
Ah yeah i had clowns in my old tank years ago! I presume uve been subjected to the clicking noise they make?? At leased they are happy lol. Its fish shopping friday afternoon and sunday for me if i dont find anything. You'll
 have to let us know what u get!!!
Title: Re: shoaling fish
Post by: chris213 on August 07, 2014, 06:43:30 PM
yes the clicking sound is loud lol , i have 5 of them constantly up to mischief
Title: Re: shoaling fish
Post by: Rich_D on August 07, 2014, 09:09:14 PM
Yeah the clicking sound means they are very happy! Id hear it quite often if id put some small snails from my lfs the type you get on plants from most fish places anD all id hear for a fair few hours was that loud clicking noise.
Title: Re: shoaling fish
Post by: chris213 on August 11, 2014, 07:54:41 AM
Well no fish was bought over the weekend (  forgot road tax was due on my van this month  :vcross: )
but i did go and look at the danio fish and decided i like the leopard or zebra one's so will possibly go and purchase some this weekend unless the goverment decides it would like more of my money this week  :isay: