Surface Dwelling Fish for CRS setup

[Savant]

Not quite sure which sub-forum this thread should belong to, but I'm sure I dont have to worry too much about that on my own.

I am considering a surface dwelling fish as tankmates for CRS in a CRS setup... the theory is that these guys never travel down to the bottom for food... and thus my shrimplets if any would be safe...

Any comments or suggestions? I am thinking hatchetfishes but I worry about them jumping...

[antitrust]

why don't you try Boraras brigittae?

I have 20-30 over shrimplets with about 10 of them... they do not disturb the shrimplets at all. not even one bit(e)!

how about African Butterfly Fish? they're true surface dwellers, though I'm not sure if you're willing to take the risk with your CRSs since they're pretty carnivorous.. and you'd definitely need a tank cover for them..

[illumnae]

African Butterfly Fish are predators. don't even think about them

shrimplet safe fish are few and far between. i'd say try boraras, but your mileage may vary. some have reported boraras to eat even apisto fry, though in my personal experience they are fry safe and have never eaten my shrimp

[ZANE]

African Butterfly fish will swim to the bottom once the lights are off and will gulp down anything that fits in their mouth - and it's quite a large one! I've had a few over the years and remember my first instance of seeing them dive to the deeper ends of the tank - 2.5 feet deep to chase after some of my tetras! On a side note the irony of seeing these fish swim under water reminds me of birds flapping their wings underwater (chasing fish) LOL.

how about African Butterfly Fish? they're true surface dwellers, though I'm not sure if you're willing to take the risk with your CRSs since they're pretty carnivorous.. and you'd definitely need a tank cover for them..

[johannes]

hatchet fish
clown killies
endlers

[antitrust]

African Butterfly fish will swim to the bottom once the lights are off and will gulp down anything that fits in their mouth - and it's quite a large one! I've had a few over the years and remember my first instance of seeing them dive to the deeper ends of the tank - 2.5 feet deep to chase after some of my tetras! On a side note the irony of seeing these fish swim under water reminds me of birds flapping their wings underwater (chasing fish) LOL.

that's interesting. i should youtube them... quite curious to see how they dive...

[hwchoy]

halfbeaks.

[Savant]

Interesting... I know clown killies go down pretty deep at times and can be a terror in shrimp tanks... I have never seen hatchet fishes go deep although their tendency to jump would be a big problem for me...

Now I have never considered halfbeaks... Do they ever swim to the bottom? Note that this will be for a 1.5ft cube, a pretty tall tank and the CRS tankmates will reside predominantly at the bottom...

[illumnae]

i've seen hatchet fishes go down frequently. they also seem to pose more of a threat to apisto fries and thus probably shrimplets too (as viewed by my apisto female) than sparkling gouramis

[Savant]

Guess I should stick to Zebra Otos at the end of the day...

[barmby]

HAHAHA! African Butterfly Fish! They look innocence indeed. But they eat eat eat fishes. Love guppy and tetra till no end.

Btw, I am good with Hatchet fishes. I strongly recommend that. Try to buy the marbled hatchet or black wing hatchet. They stay small and easy once they acclimatize. If a hatchet fish goes down for food frequently, it means the fish is very stable and congratz!...

[Savant]

I guess I will just stick to zebra otos for now... My new shrimp setup will not be the recommended shrimp setup for mass breeding (i.e. moss only), so I hope to keep what shrimplets I get alive...

Now I note from my last purchase of Zebra Otos that their pattens vary a fair bit... So I guess I'll choose and pick those with more exotic patterns...

[d2sign]

My normal oto sometime can be quite aggressive, rush from one side to another side, quite disturbing when shrimplets just around him.