Giant Danio Tankmates?

[WBAC88]

Due to a recent bacterial infection, I've lost most of my fish, leaving one swordtail (female), 4 giant danios and a bamboo shrimp. I have a 65g planted tank with natural rock and driftwood decorations and PFS as a substrate. Because my stock is so low, I thought I might change up my tank composition.

I've been in the hobby for about 8 months now, and one of the hardest things I've come across is actually choosing compatible tankmates. I wanted to ask for suggestions of fish to round out my tank that would get along well with what I have in there. From what I've read so far, nothing too big or slow-moving, since the danios could drive them crazy. I was going to stock 1-2 more of the danios since most places I've read have their ideal numbers at more than 4.

Would barbs be a good choice, tiger or otherwise? I would like a good variety in terms of color, swimming level and size. The danios tend to just race around the top of the tank while the swordtail and the shrimp (obviously) stick to the bottom. So, any suggestions? I'm open to almost any kind of fish, so just throw it out there. Thanks in advance.

 

[DragonFish71]

Rosy barbs, larger rainbows, larger tetras etc.

I keep mine with cichlids, so I can tell you they get along with almost anything. You just want to make sure they aren't with smaller fish.

 

[bruinsbro1997]

+1

I'd do congo tetras, emperor tetras, kerri tetras, etc.
Or praecox rainbows, australian rainbows, etc.
If you wanted something colorful you could look into cichlids.
All up to you

 

[WBAC88]

Thanks for the suggestions. My worry about cichlids is that I've read they don't tend to get along well with planted tanks and can be aggressive (thinking of my shrimp or swordtail here). Are there any types of cichlids that would work better than others off the top of your head? I've never really looked into rainbows before so I'll do that, too.

 

[WBAC88]

So I added two Bolivian rams to the mix, I love them, they're gorgeous and they seem to like the tank setup. Do people think that a school of a smaller fish, like a tetra, would work in there with the others? I was also intending on restocking the swords. I'm still thing about a couple more denizens, since the mid range of the tank is empty most of the time. As it stands now:

5 giant danios
2 rams
1 swordtail
1 bamboo shrimp