Nano Fish with personality

[CuriousAmerican]

For color it is hard to beat cardinal tetras, but they lack personality. Most schooling fish are like this.

You can't beat dwarf puffers for personality, but they are messy and ferocious

Scarlet Badis have color and personality, but are extraordinarily difficult to feed. I don't want to have to buy live food for them all the time.

Corys have personality, but no color.

So what are good nano fish (10 gallon or less) with color and personality for a nano.

[MiniFishRoom]

Scarlet Badis. Lol.

Apistos are cool.

[rozdaboff]

I have a 10 g setup with a few species - Microdevario nana, Celestial Pearl Danios and Rosy loaches (Yunnanilus sp.).

The loaches are a lot of fun to watch. They are very small (1.5") - and inhabit the bottom primarily but jet all around and interact with each other. I wouldn't do them in much less than a 10g - as they like to be in a small group - but for 8-10g I think they are a great candidate. I also really like the CPDs - but in the context of the whole tank. If it were just them, I probably wouldn't enjoy them as much as they are often in the background amongst the plants. The M. nana are great schoolers with subtle iridescence.

[Knotyoureality]

Have you looked into endlers as an option yet? Hard to beat the males for color, they'll do well as an all male school if you don't want to deal with constant fry, and they're active little buggers. Endlessly curious, constantly displaying.

[Smitty06]

Scarlet badis are not that hard to feed, you can use frozen no problem as long a s they see other fish eating it. My scarlet badis seem to love frozen bbs and mysis shrimp.

[Couesfanatic]

Originally Posted by Smitty06

Scarlet badis are not that hard to feed, you can use frozen no problem as long a s they see other fish eating it. My scarlet badis seem to love frozen bbs and mysis shrimp.

Some scarlet badis will eat frozen, most will not.

They are a totally awesome fish though, the feeding is worth the effort.

[Noahma]

Sparkling gourami have tons of personality

Sent from my RM-820_nam_att_100 using Board Express

[Silmarwen]

Bettas are surprisingly interactive when they're happy, if you're interested in that route. Other than that, I've heard plenty about sparkling gouramis as well.

[okapizebra]

No matter how common they are, I still love Bettas. Beautiful and packed with personality.

[CPDzeke]

By nano fish, what do you mean...?
I could recommend reticulated hillstream loaches, they get about two inches.
Ember tetras,chili rasboras.

[R.sok]

bettas. If you take a frozen bloodworm & put it on a toothpick, holding it above the water, the betta will jump for it.

dwarf pea puffers, they aren't really messy

[Margo]

Pea puffers are great- the way they come up to the glass and look you in the eye
Badis are fine
Bettas have lotsa personality
I like the bumble bee gobies too- but they need worms (frozen or live)

[Newman]

short fin bettas. females and plakat females and plakat males are the best. active, fast, and always moving around. not like the classic longfins that stay put. There are tons of great color breeds. my favorites are dragons. copper dragons, black dragons, and many other amazing patterns.

[Smitty06]

Full grown reticulated hillstream loach, if you see them in person get to 3"- 3.5" long and since they have high O2 requirements, it makes them lousy nano tank fish.

[golfer_d]

my tequilla sunrise guppies are always having fun in my tank....and they always come to the glass to look at me when I am around the tank

I have a couple of them in my 8 gallon and they always seem to be interacting with each other