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My first zebs are coming at the weekend and i was just wondering what you guys reckon would be a good choice of "dither fish". As i work at a LFS i can choose from quite a selection, i wanted to go for somthing relitively interesting. Fish i was thinking about maybe introducing are bleeding heart tetra's, columbian tetra's, congo tetra, danios, neons, dwarf pencils, or dwarf neon rainbows. Are these fish all suitable and do you have any other recomendations.
Cheers
Rich

I've kept Cardinals with no probs and at the moment have got 5 Torpedo Barbs which are great tank mates IMO. But its up to you really as long as the fish can stand the high temps and water movement.

rich1988oxford wrote: do you have any other recomendations.

Yes i have, none of the above, as you mention in your other thread you want to breed them in the near future so i should go for a species only tank.

I agree with john to some extent....

however mid swimmers can help to provide confidence. We've tried phantom tetras and endlers in the past but didnt have any success and they kept dying... why was a differnet question... it may well have been the higher temps the zebs are kept at.

I remember reading somwhere that rummy nose tetras are good with discus at higher temps...

I certainly wouldnt go for anything 'large' (eg bleeding heart tetra's, columbian tetra's, congo tetras) they will out compete the zebs for food and will eat fry.

Yep overall I'm a species only tank person as well but sometimes it would be nice to add a bit of life to the tank,...it always looks so quiet in there lol.

Plastic Mac

Cheers for the help. I can see what you meen by species only being the best option, but i just think that having a small shoal of peacefull fish will reasure the zebs that no predators are about so there are under no threat if they do decide to breed. I spoke to my boss at work today and ended up taking some black neons as they are relitively small and will not ravanously eat every thing that enters the tank. Cheers for the help and i will definatly keep a check on how the black neons are affecting the zebs, and remove them if required.
Cheers again
Rich

Here is what I see as the central issue. Zebs are expensive fish, tetras etc are cheap fish. Fish diseases and parasites can be spread between species. So when your two dollar tetra is sick and its something that is caught by your zebra which is worth 125-300 (depending on size) exactly how happy will you be about that? How happy will you be it the dither fish starts something necessitating the treatment of the whole tank?

I have had torpedo barbs for a few years, they tend to be a fish found in cooler waters. If you keep them at discus/zeb temps that is far from ideal for them, I wonder what effect is this having on their metabolisn and lifespan.

As for seeing zebras, I have two in my small discus tank that i see 24/7 because of how I have the tank set up rather than describe here are a couple pics:





In a 30 gal breeder I have a dozen adult breeders plua fry which range in number from 20-50 at any given time. I really have to work to see them because of all the cover provided. But I believe that cover is what makes it all work.

my vote would be for none of the above as well.