Dither Fish

[strohl71]

I am considering adding some dither fish to my 38 gal apisto tank. What dither species comes most recommended? How many at a minimum? I have recently seen a tank with zebra danios as the dither species and they seemed way too busy.

 

[crimsonrain]

i like neon tetras and someone told me that hatchet fish are good also. I even use guppies in my ram tank, they work great.

 

[farm41]

Rummynose and cardinals are great, and unlike guppies, they like softwater.

 

[2la]

My favorite dithers are pencilfish.

 

[mervin]

in one tank, i have "fire red" pencilfish while the other tanks i have Boraras Brigittae.

 

[skwelch]

ive got a shoal of lamp eye killifish
i decided to try these as they are tiny and shoul have minimal effect on water quality, but they seem to be diminishing in numbers quite rapidly, just wondering if they are on the snack menu for my aggies!

 

[strohl71]

OK....I went ahead an added 6 pristella tetras to my 38 gal apisto tank. My cichlids have never had dither fish in their tank before and things have not gone as well as they could have.

Within the first hour, one tetra was killed outright. 24 hours later, I noticed another that looked a little battered. The other four look fine.

I did not witness any of the aggression and do not know exactly which apisto or apistos are the culprits (I doubt it was the keyhole or blue ram). I am suspicious of the male cac or female aggie, who are the most aggressive apistos in the tank.

Can anybody tell me if this is normal behavior? Will the apistos relax now that the introduction period is over. The tetras are not overly small, so I do not think that they should be seen as feeders.

 

[2la]

Didn't realize you were keeping multiple dwarfs in the tank--would've been good to know! :wink: I'm wondering if their hyperaggressiveness is the product of being kept exclusively with other fish? In any case, I think the best thing to do is to remove the tetras and replace them with hatchetfish instead, which should remain well away from the apistos' potential attacks.

Alternatively, it could be that the tetras aren't exactly healthy, and its illness rather than aggression that's the proximal cause of death. Oh, and please tell me your quarantining your new fish prior to introduction?

 

[strohl71]

No, I do not beleive the tetras to be sick. They look perfectly healthy and I purchased them from a reputable LFS. And the one that died was definitely was killed. Beleive me, there was no problem in identifying cause of death.

Quarantine is really not an option for me as I only own the single 38 gal. I do visually inspect fish before purchase and follow proper acclimation procedures. As I said, all six tetras looked perfectly healthy upon purchase and four still do. Of the remaining two, one is dead and the other looks a little rough from some aggression.

I have been watching all the fish carefully today have witnessed no aggression. The dwarfs seem to be ignoring the tetras for the most part. Do you still advise taking the tetras out? I can live without dither fish. I just thought they would make the dwarfs more comfortable and add some visual beauty to my planted tank.

 

[2la]

Up to you whether you want to leave them in there or not. By your description, it sounded like they were being actively hunted down and killed, in which case removing them would of course prevent more death.

And don't be fooled into relying on visual signs as a means of preventing disease introduction into your tank. It's playing Russian roulette, at best. A quarantine setup can be put together for under $50, considerably less if you're creative about it, and represents one of the best investments you can make. Take it from someone who's been there...and was once like you--don't let it take a tank full of dying fish to realize its importance!

 

[Leipo]

I must agree with 2la: I also learned the hard way

 

[strohl71]

2la -

You mentioned hatchetfish as an alternative dither species. I do not know much about this group of fish but have been researching them online. Can you please tell me why hatchetfish would be better able to avoid confrontations with my dwarfs?

 

[cootwarm]

Hatchetfish stay near the top of the tank while the apistos hang out on the bottom.

Michael

 

[Xanathos]

Pencil fishes are IMO the best dither fish:

- calm and not agressive
- occpy the upper space of the aquarium
- they do not eat the apisto's fries, like cardinals and tetras do.

Phil

 

[fideltagamma]

Hi,

some people like to say I overstock, but I definitely think keeping most schooling tetras in groups smaller than 10 is a way of letting them die. Especially when introducing to a new tank. I would say the minimum is 15 but one must comprimise. And I must admit, that I definitely have 6 hemmigrammus bleheri (or rhodostomus hard to tell) in my 83 G apisto tank, but they are the remains of a group of 30 (not quarantining 2 years ago). I am very sorry as they were wild, and I can't get any now.

So I would say pencils are very very attractive in great numbers, so try that, or rummy nose, as they are fine swimmers. Well better than me .

Dániel

 

[Mike Wise]

One of the additional advantages of pencilfishes is that they are not true schooling fish. 1 - 3 as dithers in a tank is no problem for them. A school of characins usually is too many fish for dwarf cichlids to keep away from their fry. Pencilfishes are also fast when they need to be.

 

[farm41]

Yea, but, the 30 cardinals in my planted 75g looks great. Not trying to get any fry from my colony of hoignei, they do have a few make it though.

 

[2la]

I would contend that pencilfish are indeed schoolers depending on the species. N. espei, N. marginatus, N. eques, etc., are shy fish and would not do well in groups of three or less. They'd end up needing dithers themselves!