Dither fish for carpintis tank

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slipshodman

slipshodman

Plecostomus
MFK Member
Oct 26, 2016
170
166
61
Australia
Hi all,

I have a 6x2x2 (160 gal) tank that currently is stocked with a family of carpintis, a sailfin pleco , half a dozen bristle nose cats and a convict
There was previously a dozen or so danio's and a dozen swordtails but as the texan's have gotten bigger adn every time I heard a splash the danio and swordtail population decreased to what is now zero

So what i am after is some dithers that would be quick enough to get out of the carpintis's way but might add some colour and movement to the tank

I dont want to add large dithers so there may be nothing that fits the bill but no harm in asking the question

Cheers

Sorry, i forgot i have a male Gold Severum in there as well, him and the large male Carpintis get on like a house on fire
 
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In the high pH (8ish), waters they inhabit in nature large sail fin mollies (and others of the genus Poecilia and Gambusia are common) as are Astyanax tetras.
I kept mine in unheated tanks, where temps hovered in the high 60s to low 70sF in winter, so I tried to keep them with high altitude (cold tolerant) live bearers like Xenatoca,
but 6 foot tanks don't really offer enough escape room, so they didn't last long.
Astyanax adults might (with their size, speed, and innate aggressiveness) be better.
 
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Might try Buenos Aires Tetras. I have 10 XL
B.A. Tetras in my 120, swimming with a large Red Texas, and several other aggressive new worlds. I do lose one every once in a while, but not too often.
 
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Gonna be tough to find anything large and tough enough but also small enough for a large group in your 180. Sounds like your carpintis are fairly predatory as well. Its gonna be even tougher since theyre accustomed to preying on other fish too.

I have a jd thats really predatory and ive tried a lot with no success (in a 75)--big tetras, mollies, giant danios, rainbowfish. The only thing i would think that might work are some kind of mid sized barb. Full grown Denisons or rosys maybe. I havent tried it yet so cant say for sure. Good luck though.
 
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Stephen St.Clair said:
Might try Buenos Aires Tetras. I have 10 XL
B.A. Tetras in my 120, swimming with a large Red Texas, and several other aggressive new worlds. I do lose one every once in a while, but not too often.
Click to expand...

Would recommend that as well, or a large group of quarantined farm raised fathead minnows, start with 2 hundred and replace as needed.
 
Anything that is similar in size to the danios and swordtails, will likely end up with the same fate as they did. If giant danios didn't make it, nothing of similar size will (danios are some of the fastest dithers available). It sounds to me like you have a good stock of fish in the tank, I would personally just let it be.
Another idea would be perhaps adding to the convict population. Small cichlids tend to be great dithers for other cichlids (in cases where the larger ones won't eat/kill them). I would do all of one sex if you go this route, so you don't get breeding pairs.
 
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