Loaches Online Forum

my never ending quest to find a good dither...
I want a smaller "schooling" mellow fish for my regular loach tank (kubs, dario, histies, striata).

Good colour too. For those ppl who when viewing my tank that don't like "bottom feeders." It has a pretty good cross flow to it. Not radical like a hillstream tank but a good flow. I find loaches are so busy that a dither needs to be mellow or the tank makes my head spin. I watch my tank to relax and unwind.
Any ideas?
Mid or upper level fish.
hatchets lose eyes to one loach.
neons die to quickly (life span two years)
dwarf neon rainbows (way to active)
thanks

Harlequins spring to mind. I love my cherry barbs but schooling fish they are not.

so far i have 5 harlequin rasboras in my 70g, thats all the LFS had in stock when i was there last, but hope to have a school of 15 soon.. the 5 i have now school together about 75% of the time, it looks wonderful, i cant wait to see when all 15 are schooling

they are hardy, dont nip, and get along well with most other fish

Praecox rainbows

Rasbora hengeli

I had a nice school of Harlequin Rasboras (26) and it was beautiful. Praecox rainbows are very nice too. I have 9 of them and they school about 80% of the time.

I plan on getting Danio-species myself. I always thought they were boring, but since I started doing research with them (D. rerio instead of C. carpio) they've really grown on me. In large enough groups they will school very nicely and their behavior can get pretty interesting. Plus, there are some stunningly beautiful Danio-species out there.
D. kyathit

Source: Danios.info
(Just noticed the familiar name! )

Check out the Danios.info site to see more species. (It's not the easiest site to browse, but well worth the trouble.)

I currently have Rasbora Trilineata and Danio Rerio as dither fish for my Loaches. I am toying with the idea of getting a small group of Puntius to complete the stock and that aren't speeding round at the speed of dark.

rasboras are a good suggestion, but remember that in the shops they dont always show very good colour. i think i have had some of mine about 4 years now (even ones smaller than neon tetras), so even the little ones live a good time when cared for properly. i would definately reccommend getting more than 5. i find that a mixture of species will shoal together, but you must have at least 5 of each species

what temperature is your tank at? i think some danios may prefer cooler water to some of the other dithers, so temperature requirements will be worth checking before you decide