Dither fish for my dither fish?

cubequeen

cubequeen

AC Members
Apr 28, 2007
145
3
18
Indiana
www.etsy.com
Real Name
Karen
Ok, here's my problem. I spent a lot of time setting up this 30-gal tank and now my fish hide all of the time so now I don't have anything to watch! :headshake2:

I've been reading about dither fish so I'm thinking of getting a small school of something to add to the tank as dither fish. Problem is, my tank is mostly red-eye tetras and they're the ones that hide all the time. I've read that red-eye tetras are themselves sometimes used as dither fish, so I need dither fish for my dither fish?

I've thought about cardinal tetras, but it seems they are pretty difficult to keep alive and red-eye tetras may not be trusted to not eat them.

My other thought is some danios. AZ Gardens has some danios called purple passion danios that are cool-looking.

Or maybe just get more red-eye tetras? The ones I have will either be more comfortable, or I'll just have more fish that hide. I already have 8, so that's a fairly decent size school already.

Suggestions?
 
It would help if your tank is planted, with hiding spots and somewhere with dimmer lighting (ex: driftwood overhang). You can try bumping up the number of red eyes to 12 or so, and get 2-3 more cories, or you can try getting some "dithers".

Just want to mention, there aren't many good AZgardens experiences. Take a look at these:

http://www.aquariacentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=128086&highlight=AZgardens

http://www.aquariacentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=9106&highlight=AZgardens

http://www.aquariacentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=98378&highlight=AZgardens
(Look to the AZgardens part)

I'll add that I emailed them several times when I placed an order. Over a week later they send me a nasty email about being "impatient" (Oh, yeah, just going to sit back and relax after I give my credit card number to a website that doesn't respond for a week), and tell me they don't ship to Canada (although it doesn't say it anywhere on their site).
 
Thanks for the heads-up on AZ Gardens. I've never ordered from them but was considering them because they have sparkling gouramis. Maybe I'll reconsider since I just found sparkling gouramis in stock at That Fish Place, but I'll have to check on That's Fish Place's rep, too.

Just so you'll know the sparkling gourami is not for the 30-gal. I found a really cool vase with a large round bottom that's clear on one side and white on the other, and as soon as I saw it my first thought was what a cool fish bowl it would make because the white side is like a built-in background. Like most here, I'm not a big fan of fish bowls (bad rep from people keeping goldfish in them, limited space for most fish, etc.). However, I set out to find the tiniest non-schooling fish that I thought would do well in this environment, and a sparkling gourami seems to fit the bill. Never gets over 1-1/2 inches long, non-schooling so it won't mind being alone, labyrinth fish so it will do well in low-oxygen less than ideal conditions (although I do plan to do very frequent cleaning and water changing, adding plants, etc. to keep the water in good condition).
 
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