Purple Fish?

[Courtney8526]

I'm setting up an LSU themed tank and I want the fish that will be in there to go with the theme a little bit. I thought about tiger barbs, since the mascot is a tiger but I would rather purple fish and maybe some gold colored fish (not goldfish). My purple & yellow acei would be perfect but it's only a 10 gallon. Does anyone know of any fish that I can try to find?

 

[meegosh]

Gold barbs, gold mollies, gold tetras would work. Other than a betta or certain guppies... I'm drawing a blank on purple fish that are FW. Others will chime in I'm sure.

 

[Courtney8526]

I saw some really awesome looking purple guppies on aquabid. The only thing is that they were $50 for 3 and that was before shipping. I don't have that much to spend on 3 guppies. Maybe I can find some a little cheaper. I have a purple betta but I don't think I want him in there. Thanks for the suggestions!

 

[Acer]

what about male ruby barbs? they get a purplish color when fed properly however 10 gal wouldnt be gib enough for a good size school....

 

[Courtney8526]

I've never heard of ruby barbs before. I'll have to look them up. Thanks!
Oh, Does the Boeseman's rainbow fish ever get more of a purple color rather than blue? I read that somewhere I was just wondering if anyone knows from experience since every time I see a picture, they are blue. If it was purple and not blue that would be the perfect fish. I've seen them in stores but they are always dull not like the pictures online.

 

[Courtney8526]

Scratch the Boeseman's Rainbow idea. I looked them up and they get too big to have a school in a 10 gallon.

 

[JustOneMore20]

I wouldn't keep Barbs in a 10g. Most of them are pretty active and wouldn't be happy in such confined space.

I think having a larger tank (if possible) would open up more options, but I understand if the 10g is all you have to work with for this idea.

I think you should continue the search for some purple-ish guppies. Keep looking on AB and maybe you will find a much better deal. Go to the LFS and see if you can find some purple-ish fancy guppies.

Then you could get a school of 7-8 Gold Tetras.

Most Rainbows are definitely out.

 

[Courtney8526]

Thanks justonemore! I would love to do a bigger tank but this is going to be my 5th tank and it's been sitting in the garage for a while and I couldn't stand it. I'm going to go look at my LFS tomorrow and see if they have anything. There is only one within 45 minutes that's not petsmart or petco. And there's one of each of those also 45 minutes away. Hopefully I can find something. I'm sure the guy at my lfs will help me since he likes the idea of this themed tank. He is also a fan.

OOOO I just got an idea! I could put some yellow shrimp in there also. I would love to put those purple shrimp in there too but they are a little too rare.

 

[Courtney8526]

I went to my LFS today and I found a purple guppy. So I got him but that's all I have so far. They had some gold tetras but I didn't really like them too much. I'll have to keep looking, it will probably just take some time to find what I'm looking for. Thanks for all your help.

 

[Courtney8526]

What about gold pristella tetras. Does anybody have any experience with them? I saw some at petco today and thought they were pretty neat looking.

 

[rich311k]

I have them. They school well and are pretty peaceful little fish. They do not bother their tankmates and are quite active.

 

[Loachie]

I know you already have lots of options for gold-colored fish, but I couldn't help but mention my favorite - the golden dojo loach. They're grow a little large for a 10 gallon, but I've kept one in that size tank before and he did just fine. They're unusual shape makes a good contrast to guppies and other such fish, and they have very interesting behavior, often resting on the tank ornaments and occasionally even propping themselves up at odd angles, for a little while.

 

[Loachie]

You could also try gold-colored fish on solid purple substrate. The fish would stand out really well.

 

[Courtney8526]

I have been looking at kribs and I think that they are really pretty. So I was looking up info on them. Can these not be kept by themselves (just one)? All of the info that I find on them says to keep a pair in at least 15-20 gallons. Well, even if I had 15-20 gallons, I wouldn't want a pair because I wouldn't want babies. Can just one be kept in a smaller tank, like 10 gallons? I couldn't find too much info about them that wasn't geared towards breeding so I would appreciate any other info.

I may decide what kind of fish I want by the time this thing is finished!

 

[JohnPaul]

Many bettas come in purple. You could get several female bettas and they would do fine in a "community" setting. Avoid getting two, as the more dominant one will pick on the other (though nowhere near "to the death" like the males fight!), but if you get 3-4 of them they will take a week or two of bickering with each other while they establish their pecking order, and then will be fine. And I never had problems with female bettas in any of the community tanks I have kept them in.

 

[black hills tj]

If it weren't a 10 gallon tank, I would suggest Emperor Tetras for purple. Yellow...silver tipped tetras, pristella tetras.

 

[chris127]

purple and yellow guppies! petstores everywhere have yellow. even walmart. you may have to do some shopping for the purple ones though. oh german and bolivian rams. theyre tiny community cichlids and sometimes have a yellow and purple color to em.

 

[Courtney8526]

Thanks everyone! I have decided to get some yellow apistogramma cichlids. Probably the umbrella cichlid. I'm going to put a purple background on it so they will really pop with a purple background. If anyone thinks that this is a bad idea (a pair in a 10 gallon), please let me know because I can't find too much info about them buy my LFS said they should do good in a 10 gallon.

 

[removedastars]

10 gallons should be alright for just a pair of apisto. cichlids

 

[Courtney8526]

Thanks, removedaststars! I think I'll be happy with these, I think they are very pretty.