Suggested Dither Fish

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MRE

MRE

Plecostomus
MFK Member
Oct 19, 2008
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Parrish, FL
So I am looking to add some dither fish to my 150 gallon. I have tried using Giant Danios but they tend to get eaten and only swim at the surface. I am looking for something that will be able to survive with a clown knife, an aro, small pike and a malawi eye biter. I was thinking of going with a shoal of silver dollars. Is that a good fit and if so how many would you suggest I get?
 
With an arowana and a clown knife in that small of a tank you would be hard pressed for space, how big are they?

You may need to grow out any dithers you get.

Have you thought about some of the larger barbs? Filament, yellow fin, tin foil, etc?
 
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SD's and tin foil barbs and Bala Sharks are good.
 
celebrist said:
With an arowana and a clown knife in that small of a tank you would be hard pressed for space, how big are they?

You may need to grow out any dithers you get.

Have you thought about some of the larger barbs? Filament, yellow fin, tin foil, etc?
Click to expand...
agreed.
 
The clown knife is around 17" and the arowana is only around 8". The arowana and the pike are actually still in my grow out tank but I'll be adding the aro in this week. I figured it wouldn't hurt to add some dithers before adding him to the main tank. Good advice on growing out the dithers before adding them. The only tricky part is making sure the pike in my grow out tank doesn't eat them first. I'll have to try and find some decent sized ones.

I love the look of the filaments but I worry they don't get large enough with that elongated body to survive. The tinfoil barbs are cool but I think a school of them would take up too much space once they are grown out. Six or seven foot long fish would leave me way overcrowded which I'm already pushing with the couple big guys I've got in there.
 
T barbs maybe another option. SD's, tin foils, larger barbs and Bala Sharks can be replaced if they don't make it. But it's the likely options out there. Get them at larger sizes or grow them out as mentioned.
 
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MRE said:
The clown knife is around 17" and the arowana is only around 8". The arowana and the pike are actually still in my grow out tank but I'll be adding the aro in this week. I figured it wouldn't hurt to add some dithers before adding him to the main tank. Good advice on growing out the dithers before adding them. The only tricky part is making sure the pike in my grow out tank doesn't eat them first. I'll have to try and find some decent sized ones.

I love the look of the filaments but I worry they don't get large enough with that elongated body to survive. The tinfoil barbs are cool but I think a school of them would take up too much space once they are grown out. Six or seven foot long fish would leave me way overcrowded which I'm already pushing with the couple big guys I've got in there.
Click to expand...

Yeah, both your clown and aro are going to get cramped in there. This might cause some aggression issues, especially adding a pike to the mix. I have never kept pike cichlids so I don't know how they react to close quarters and large tank mates I am just pondering
 
Yeah, eventually the clown knife and the aro will outgrow this tank. I should be able to move into a house and get a bigger tank in about a year. I've had a pike before and they are fine as long as they have somewhere to hide. They get decent size and are quick so I'm not too worried about him. Part of the reason I'm adding some dither fish is to fend off any aggression from having the two big guys in there together. Aros tend to stay in the top part of the water column anyway so hopefully they'll play nice.
 
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