what to get??

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fishyfishyfishy

Aquarium Advice Apprentice
Joined
Oct 27, 2004
Messages
48
Location
Massachusetts
I'm looking for a new fish for my 35 gallon. all the fish i have are small, so i'm thinking it might be nice to have one larger fish as something of a centerpiece for the tank- I just can't figure out what! My tank is pretty harmonious right now, and i'd hate to change that...

Right now I have:
5 serpae tetras
3 blackskirt tetras
4 ornate rainbowfish (used to have 5, but one jumped during tank move)
4 cories
1 clown pleco

The only thought I had had was to get a boesmani rainbowfish. These are the fish I had wanted originally, but couldn't afford a school. Would a boesmani school with the other rainbows? If not, how would it do on it's own?

I had thought about an angel, but i'm just unsure... any ideas or suggestions??
 
wow, beautiful fish! how big do they get?

I'd be worried tho, about those long fins. My rainbows and serpaes are all pretty zippy, and i can't guarantee they wouldn't be nippers if the opportunity were to arise... what is the temperament of paradise fish?
 
Three inches is typical, and they generally leave other nonspecifics alone, but can fend for themselves, if needed. On a trivial note, these hardy anabantoids were possibly the first tropical fish kept in bowls/aquaria, and have been grossly overlooked as aquarium fish in the past 15 years, despite being commonly available, inexpensive (I pay about $3 at my LFS), and easy to spawn.
 
Oh yeah, I saw some at my LFS for $2 and really wanted to get one. Those are beautiful! You say you have serpae tetras- I've never kept them before but I've heard they get pretty nippy. Do you think that might be a problem with the long fins of a paradise fish? :?
 
severum mama said:
serpae tetras- I've never kept them before but I've heard they get pretty nippy. Do you think that might be a problem with the long fins of a paradise fish? :?

Not really...an adult paradise fish is pretty good at looking after himself.
 
I love the look of boesmanis but they are too big for my aquarium so I can't get them. Not sure if they will school with the other rainbow fish though.

Anyone else know??
 
I just can't figure it all out!!

Just came home from a small pet + garden store in town that has a great stock of fish.

They had paradise fish, but they all looked very dull/muted colors- some more than others, but still not very showy. Will they become more colorful with age??

They also had some long-finned rosy barbs that were beautiful, but i've heard that can be aggressive if not in schools-- any experiences with them??

Finally, there were some mystery fish in a tank of miscellaneous fish. I know they were rainbow fish, but they were not labeled and I couldn't be sure what kind. They had the coloration of a boesmani, but were smaller than any boesmanis i've seen, so I couldn't tell. No one at the store could make a positive ID, but the sales girl told me that since they were unlabeled she would sell them to me for the price of the black phantom tetras in the same tank- $1.50!!! I had a hard time passing up that price, but I knew I couldn't buy a fish without knowing for sure what it was! (I'm pulling my hair out over this one)

Anyway, I would like to go back tomorrow if I can make this decision tonight. Any input would be great! I'm a terrible decision maker...
paradise fish? rosy barb? rainbowfish? HELP!
 
fishyfishyfishy said:
They had paradise fish, but they all looked very dull/muted colors- some more than others, but still not very showy. Will they become more colorful with age??

With a better environment, good food, and a bit of time, they will look fantastic.
 
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