I have a small school of these and with good food and a good light their colors are awesome. The blue reflects off the surface of the water and the red is vibrant. Kept with black phantom tetras, loaches and danios with no problems.
I just added a small school of 8 of these to my 90g over the weekend. I really like the coloration. They seem active and swim around the top 1/3 of the tank mostly, along with the h. rasboras and danios. They are also with cardinal & rummynose tetras, clown loaches, corys and a few others..no problems so far. I expect the colors to get even better over time.
The best thing about these fish is their behavior. School better than any other aquarium fish I've kept, and are quite lively - the water boils at feeding. Also extremely hardy, grow to 2.5-2.7" and get visible teeth. The arch in their back seems to increase as the fish develops.
I began with a school of 15 of these fish in my 135 gallon. They all schooled readily as the other comments state and seem to get along with my larger cichlids with no problem. All of my fish are now over 2 inches long and have great coloration.
My only problem with these fish is they develop black spots or lesions that get progressively worse over time. I have read others with the same issue and no one seems to know the cause or cure. Three of my fish succumbed to this strange ailment.
Out of the original fifteen I have eleven left. One was squashed under a rock, one jumped from the tank, and the other three died as a result of that strange skin disease. All of the others are almost two years old and as active as ever.
beautiful fish, I also have 4 of them, after 3 past away from that strange skin desease they get. the rest are strong and with amasing colors. very impressive fish!
