Need suggestion for feature fish in 6ft planted tank

[vinz]

After the demise of my arowana, I'm thinking of what feature fish to put in my 6ft planted tank.

As I'm likely to have to move house in the next 2 to 3 years, I've decided to postpone getting another arowana until I move to my new home and set up a hopefully bigger arowana planted tank.

My current choices:
* Altums
* Discus
* Pearl gouramis
* Large school of smaller fishes like:
- Rasboras
- Tiger barbs

Any suggestions? Or opinions about the top list?

Was thinking pencil fish too, but I have an impression they don't really school... might get some as background fishes. Definitely considering some Rocket pencils as background fishes.

The tank is chilled, so... temperature is not an issue, except for Discus perhaps (unless that's a myth).

Preferably something easy to feed and not require special foods like beef heart, etc.

Do not suggest Neon or Cardinal tetras, please.

[ranmasatome]

Buy all the rasbora caudimaculata from Gratiola loh.. orange tail quite nice what..

[Simon]

Wild discus with tetra (cardinal, rummynose & etc), discus easier to get along with others.. compared to altums. my 2nd pick is altums with congo tetra. congo are too big for altums to swallow

[baranne]

After the demise of my arowana, I'm thinking of what feature fish to put in my 6ft planted tank.

6ft... how i wish i have my own 6ft tank...

Was thinking pencil fish too, but I have an impression they don't really school... might get some as background fishes. Definitely considering some Rocket pencils as background fishes.

For my dwarf and 3-lined pencils, they kinda school in the beginning when they first got introduced to the tanks. But once they got comfortable, they started staking territories. Quite interesting when you see them rub their bodies against each other in their show of aggression though.

[benny]

Vinz,

Is budget a consideration? What's the ceiling price per piece? How about some guppies? Rupert's tank looks really nice with them.

Cheers,

[lorba]

HOw about a Singapore Native fish collection.

Highlight :- T-Barbs
Big Schoolers :- Harlequin, Maculatus
Small Schoolers :- Six banded barbs

[wong1979]

Yes!..go for shoaling SEA fish. Can create natural biotope by getting Blyxa aubertii, your tank should be tall enough as they grow real tall.

[vinz]

Thanks for the suggestions, so far.

Wild discus with tetra (cardinal, rummynose & etc), discus easier to get along with others.. compared to altums. my 2nd pick is altums with congo tetra. congo are too big for altums to swallow

Ehhh... still having second thoughts about discus and altums.

Discus may be a little too shy for my taste. What about feeding? Must they be fed with special foods like beef heart? Or is that mainly a breeder or a "lets pump up the fish" practice?

Altums... somehow doesn't really hold any appeal to me.

Call me fussy.

Vinz,

Is budget a consideration? What's the ceiling price per piece? How about some guppies? Rupert's tank looks really nice with them.

Cheers,

Guppies is another no-no for me.

Budget is always a consideration. The lower the better of course, but some of the fishes in consideration can aleady add up to quite a bit.

HOw about a Singapore Native fish collection.

Highlight :- T-Barbs
Big Schoolers :- Harlequin, Maculatus
Small Schoolers :- Six banded barbs

Hmmm... 6-banded sounds interesting... forgot about those.

What do you mean by big schoolers and small schoolers? The barbs and rasboras are about the same size.

Yes!..go for shoaling SEA fish. Can create natural biotope by getting Blyxa aubertii, your tank should be tall enough as they grow real tall.

Tank already planted...

[vinz]

I got a funny feeling I'm going to end up with too many kinds of fish.

[lorba]

I mean keeping a bigger school and a small school.

Barbs at around 20 forms a nice neat school. Whereelse the rasboras can bigger in number.

[Simon]

becoz its a 6ft, yr feature fish got to be distinctive or large .. how about african pike?

Discus can eat other food, no need for beefheart. If you worry about stunned discus, you can always search for adult discus

[juggler]

Maybe a school of Bosemani Rainbows or other rainbows?
They are plant-safe. Size is close to Altums and not as big as discus. Not fussy eaters but they eat very fast. Swims fast too when excited over food -- not sure if you like that.

See some in my 5ft tank in my home page.

Other consideration of feature fish can be Congo Tetra since they grow as big as Bosemani Rainbows.

There are so many types of smaller shoaling fish to choose from. Select one that complements or contrasts the colour of the plants?

[|squee|]

A school of the larger species of Rasbora. I like

[ranmasatome]

ya...go see or i think you've already seen the fishes in teh main tank at gratiola.. get them rasboras loh...anyway..downsizing mah.. good buy..

[Justikanz]

Suggestion: Altums, Discus and Festivums. They look great together and are meant to be together.

Keep with bigger tetras/rasboras or rainbows. The orange scissor-tailed rasboras at Gratiola is perfect.

Now, how's that?

[celticfish]

vinz,

as simon suggests, if you are getting discus buy adults then you need not worry about having fish of different sizes. i feed my pair dry food (tetrabits) and bloodworms.

you're right about the pump 'em up with beefheart. btw current theory is too much beefheart causes indigestion for the fish. so if you do feed it, once a week will do. helps keep them full-bodied and round.

the wild discus season is just round the corner, about October. Gan should have some coming in then. am looking to get some myself too! probably nahmunda or madeira red blue faced heckels and red spotted royal tefe, if stocks are avialable... you can check out this german supplier for pictures of wild caught stuff and maybe put in an order from Gan?
http://www.wildcaught-discus.com/Gallery.htm

[vinz]

Thanks for more ideas and comments.

Cleaned out Azmi's stock of 29 juvenile N. eques last night. Somehow still a favourite of mine.

I've decided on 20 or so 6-banded barbs for a secondary school.

I'm thinking of getting R. espei as the feature fish. Azmi was suggesting 100 of them. Still wondering if there's any other fish I should consider. I'll really hate to order or buy the R. espeis and then see something else I rather get. Anyway, it'll be a while yet, since I have to populate the tank slowly.

Maybe a school of Puntius denisonii (red-lined torpedos, Denison's flying fox)? But I already have them in the smaller planted tank.

I also want to get:
- A few (normal, i.e. not ballooned) rams
- Some three-lined pencilfish, or maybe I'll reserve this guys for another tank...

Right now the tank has a few otos, a cigar fish and a trio of sparkling gouramis.

Anymore ideas or comments?

[BFG]

A few species of apisto? Checkerboard are unique!

[Gratiola]

Rasbora caudimaculata want?