Centerpiece/strange fish for livebearer tank

[GallonsOfFun]

I like the pleco more than I like cories, so that will have to stay.

 

[ESeck]

Ok we'll go the other way. What about hatchet fish or sparkling gourami? They'll hang out more toward the top of the tank.

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[GallonsOfFun]

I was looking at hatchetfish but I read it's hard to introduce them to the tank, they need a quarantine tank first, and if you introduce them the wrong way they'll get disease and they just seemed a bit finicky. I could be wrong, do you have experience with them?

I was also thinking harlequin rasboras, cherry barbs, or red eye tetras.

 

[ESeck]

The only problem I see is that all of your fish with the exception of the pleco will be mid swimmers. So all of you fish will be mixed together and you'll have a similar problem as with the neons.

I don't have any experience with hatchets since I am more of a gourami guy, so I can't really speak to the hardiness of hatchets.

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[GallonsOfFun]

Ok so now I'm thinking:
8x hatchetfish
5x dalmatian molly
5x gold panda molly
5x guppy
5x platy
1x pleco

Would this work?

 

[ESeck]

Looks good to me.

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[cgthebeast]

Have a tight lid for hatchets, there the Olympians of jumping

 

[IllusionX]

I'm not sure why won't you get cories if you are getting a BN pleco.

Cories dont just eat algae. They are cat fishes, so they scavenge the bottom, eating left over food and they eat both veggies and meat... Top of that, they are active fishes, not like the pleco that you'd probably see once a day.

 

[RachelG]

I have a Bolivian ram with my endlers and they get along well. He might eat a few of the fry, but they breed a lot. So I would suggest some kind of ram.

 

[IllusionX]

Rams are bottom dwellers. I have suggested that earlier, but I don't seem to have made a difference. Lol

 

[RachelG]

Rams are bottom dwellers. I have suggested that earlier, but I don't seem to have made a difference. Lol

Ah, maybe it's because I have a short tank, but my ram seems to swim all over. I guess he'd stick to the lower part in a deeper tank, huh?

 

[IllusionX]

Ah, maybe it's because I have a short tank, but my ram seems to swim all over. I guess he'd stick to the lower part in a deeper tank, huh?

How short? They usually stick to the lower 3rd of the tank. At least, what I see..

Hmm.. I have GBR in a 48" x18" x18" tank together with tetras, discus and angels. About 65G.

My 20G, 30" long has my live bearers. Guppies, endlers and platties. About 10 of each. Then we put 3 Bolivian ram and a BN pleco.

 

[GallonsOfFun]

IllusionX, I can't do the rams because their temp requirements aren't compatible with platies. And I meant an actual bottom dweller, not bottom and middle, as the middle of my tank will be crowded as it is