O.K., so what WON'T eat my plants

[tlynde]

Hi all,
I have a ten gallon what can type of fish can I keep that won't shred my plants.
I currently have a small school of 6 neon and 1 otto.

any suggestions

thanks

T

[John P.]

The list of what WILL eat your plants is much shorter. Are you getting rid of your neons & oto?

[tlynde]

no,
I have had no propblems with them munching on my greens but
I would like to add another fish or 2 and it needs to be small and hopefully colourful.
they also need to play well with others (not beat the crap out of my neons)

will guppies eat plants? I have heard that Platy's will

T

[Ibn]

Both guppies and platies would work in a planted aquarium (not sure where you heard about platies eating plants - they were probably just munching on the algae).

With 6 neons and an oto, that tank is about right in terms of fish numbers. I'd opt out of adding any extra ones into it.

[Inzeos]

If you can find them you could consider maybe a few dwarf rasboras. They are size wise like 1" long when adults have the coloring of rasboras but a body shapped more closely to a neon.

[Ibn]

Boraras brigittae don't even get that large, topping out at 0.75". Definitely has some very nice coloration on them also. I'm gonna check these guys out this weekend, since my buddy got some in. He told me that they were tiny though, more along the lines of 0.5" right now.

[Aquabobo]

I have platties that don't eat plants. But I tend to agree with IBN....the limit is close if not there. Possibly you could toss in 2 or 3 black neons or glolights for variety.

[Momotaro]

Rasbora brigittae are very small! Pretty red color, too. Nice fish!

If you have the chance to get some...YOU BETTER!


Mike

[Ibn]

I do have that opportunity...just don't know where to house them. I also have the opportunity to pick up a large school of Puntius denisonii, roseline sharks (total of 36 total, of which 8 have been spoken for). Can't house them w/the altums or the roselines, due to their small size...

Might have to set up a small tank just to house them.

[DJ.net]

how about endlers? there exactly like guppies but smaller. my endles love to follow the school of tetras around, trying to find some female endlers amognst the tetras. they look neat too! it seems like tehy have alot more of a metalic shine to them, unlike most guppies ive keept.


https://www.liveaquaria.com/product/...fm?pCatId=1584
theres a link to the little guys. ive herd of people finding them with teh "wild" feeder gupies.

EDIT: endlers can cross with gupies but i dont sugest it. so makeshure you dont have any female gupps or you might get some realy strange guplers.

[mrk442]

Please don't cross endlers and Guppies. There is some debate if endlers are just a Guppy morph of sorts but i do know that they are supposedly endangered or extinct in there wild ranges.

[Ibn]

I wouldn't buy endler's from any tanks which houses guppies either. The chance that you pick up a hybrid is very high, which doesn't justify the costs.

I saw those mosquito rasboras, Boraras brigittae on Saturday. He had 11 of them in a 20G and they were tiny. Those guys were smaller than male endlers and were only half as deep. Literally have to put all of them into a 5G to be able to see them and appreciate them.

[DJ.net]

I saw those mosquito rasboras, Boraras brigittae on Saturday. He had 11 of them in a 20G and they were tiny. Those guys were smaller than male endlers and were only half as deep. Literally have to put all of them into a 5G to be able to see them and appreciate them.

WOW! i thought endlers where small i might have to look for some of those rasboras.
aside from some fry, endlers where the smallest fish i have ever seen around here.
i wondre how big the rasbora fry are? they must be tiny!

[Ibn]

I dunno how big the frys are, but I'm guessing really small, especially if the adults are tiny. Also, being egg scatterers, the frys are naturally smaller than those of livebearers. I'm guessing they're a tad smaller than neon frys.

[corigan]

Originally Posted by Ibn

I wouldn't buy endler's from any tanks which houses guppies either. The chance that you pick up a hybrid is very high, which doesn't justify the costs.

I agree with this statement and will take it a step further. I wouldn't buy endlers from anywhere but a reputable source. I wouldn't even classify your favorite LFS as a reputable source. I would get them from a hobbyist that knows exactly what strain they are and that they haven't been crossbred. You can find many hobbyists that have big colonies that they know are pure. Of course this statement isn't directed at Ibn as he already knows this, but just general advice to anybody that might be shopping for endlers. There are many hobbyists on this board alone that know they have un-crossbread endlers.

Matt