suggestions for blue fish

[cinnamaldehyde]

I'm looking for suggestions for a blue (or maybe purple) fish that likes the top part of a tank.

The fish in my 55gal are mostly all red and orange. My water is pH 7.5 and fairly hard, 77*. Black gravel, black background. Other fish are mostly barbs (roseline sharks, rosy barbs, cherry barbs). I'd really like an blue barb, but I can't seem to find any in my search.

So I'm thinking swordtails - I saw some montezuma swords the other day. Are there any other blueish sword varieties I should look for?

(I'm not interested in guppies for this tank.)

Thanks!

 

[mfdrookie516]

kerri tetras. I have some and love them. They're more of an all over the tank fish, but mine spend a lot of time in the top 1/3 of the tank. They're gorgeous fish too

 

[cinnamaldehyde]

Ooooh I love kerri tetras. I'm a bit nervous as I had them a while ago in a tank with 2 dwarf gouramis (yeah I know, not the best mix) and they were very aggressive and were like little piranhas, hunting and killing my gouramis in a pack.

I also had a thought of black neon tetras... my LFS has some right now that are quite large and have a nice black and blue line.

Auction in Edmonton on Sunday... so I want to get a few ideas before then.

 

[beepboop]

I used to have some neon rainbow fish. They have a light blue iridescent body and red fins. They only get 2.5 inches (6cm) and you'll need a school of them, but I've seen them school with other small fish when the only rainbow fish in the tank. Other blue freshwater fish that come to mind are some guppies (which you don't want), some killifish (like the top, but are hard to find and short life spans), bettas (which might get shredded by the barbs), some cichlids (a blue ram would work in a community tank, but they aren't very active and don't like the top of the tank). Discus can be blue, but wouldn't work with the barbs I think. I've seen some nice big blue gourami, or maybe you'd want a dwarf gourami. Of course, neons have a nice blue, but they need diminished lighting and they aren't top dwellers.

I haven't seen blue sword tails, but I've seen white/yellow swordtails.

There are also some zebra danios called purple passion zebra danios. They're pretty and purple/blue, but not dramatically. It's more of a faint purple/blue, but that may depend on lighting. They're also active top dwellers, but will also explore a tank somewhat.

Overall, the kerri tetras, neon rainbowfish, purple passion zebra danios or a blue gourami or dwarf gourami sound like your best bets depending on whether you want small schooling fish or large centerpiece fish.