Guppies

[Garret]

Just a question for some of the more experienced,would guppies make a good dither fish. The setup would be a 14 gal apisto tank, floating plants mostly with maybe some java ferns and java moss. Leaf litter too. My parents have a little guppy tank and are near the limits of there tank load. I figured they would be good because there not schooling and there small.
Any thoughts?

 

[slimbolen99]

Short term, they would probably work out ok, but most guppies are going to prefer a higher pH / harder water / higher temps than apistos. As far as them getting along, yes, it could probably work; although the guppies will probably prey on apisto fry.

 

[Garret]

I see, what are good. Fish to use in your opinion, I've heard a lot about pencil fish but Ive never seen any locally. Also would cories/ scavangers or algae eaters be needed?

 

[slimbolen99]

I think a 14 gallon would be too small to have any bottom dwelling fish; pencilfish are great; neon tetras work ok for me, but again, a 10 gallon doesn't give much room to anything wanting to escape the perils of apistos spawning.

 

[Garret]

Okay
Thank you so much!!

 

[Melanochromis]

I'm currently using both guppies and eques pencilfish as dithers.

Small male guppies are just perfect dither in term of behavior. They're small and lively, tend to hang out near the surface, don't try to eat fry, won't devour all the food in 5 seconds like female guppies would but will still clean up leftover. However, like slimbolen99 said, they don't like low pH. In tanks with RO water and very low pH, I found that they slowly wither. In more neutral water, they'll do fine.

eques pencilfish, on the other hand, can stand the same water as Apistogramma very well. However, I really hate their tendency to get scared so easily. Such a neurotic fish. They won't feel safe unless you put them with tons of plants floating near the surface.