suggestions for a small centerpiece?

[PlantedRookie]

I have a somewhat Southeast Asian jungle tank that I'd like some advice on. It's a 29 gallon that I guess would be considered moderately planted. The current residents are pond snails, MTS, chili rasboras, and Yunnanilus cruciatus. The fish just arrived yesterday from Msjinkzd so this is more of a planning for the future post than anything else. I'm not sure what else I will want to add to the tank, but I do want to think of a smallish centerpiece type fish.

Everything I've looked into seems to have a drawback or require something my tank doesn't have. Scarlet badis females are hard to find. All the licorice gourami species need tannins and caves to spawn in. Sparkling gouramis get aggressive when breeding. The smaller wild Betta species either need tannins and really low ph or aren't very good in a community. I've even looked into pygmy sunfish, despite them not being Asian. The seem to need wall to wall plants though

Any thoughts or suggestions from anyone that has kept any of these or something else similar? I'm willing to entertain any ideas aside from cichlids, since I have another tank I would rather put dwarf cichlids in.

[LeonBright]

One honey gourami?

[Trickerie]

How about a paradise fish?

[PlantedRookie]

Honey gourami is a bit bigger than I was thinking. No idea if that would be a problem or not. Worth at least looking into more. Thanks.

Not going to lie, I know next to nothing about paradise fish. First source I looked at said they get four inches and will eat small fish. Those are out then, unless there's more than one species of paradise fish. Thanks for giving me something to look up though.

[rainbuilder]

You could pick a wild type betta species. Betta albimarginata is a nice choice.

[PlantedRookie]

Originally Posted by rainbuilder

You could pick a wild type betta species. Betta albimarginata is a nice choice.

Have you kept them before? I had looked into them and they are both nice looking and seem peaceful. I didn't know about the temperature though, since the tank is upper 70s.

[rainbuilder]

I haven't kept them myself. I want to sometime soon, though. They don't seem too hard too keep, and the upper 70's sounds like it would work fine. I've always noticed that my fish don't really care all that much what the temperature is, as long as it's around 80 degrees.

[fusiongt]

Apistogrammas! Any type of them. Some have really gorgeous colors. Here's an Apistogramma Agassizii. They have good personalities and you can see they're thinking and not just floating around swimming and darting like most schooling fish do.




You did suggest asian (I read that late) and apistos are south america so might not work but just throwing it out there.

[VivaDaWolf]

Maybe a plakat betta splendens with wild colours

[Snowflake311]

Sparkeling gourami? They are small swim all other the place and are very pretty they even make sounds.

I had a pair in a 20 gal long the temp was 70-73 they spawned for me. They got kind of mean to tank mates when spawning. But in a 29gal with lots of plants i dont thing there aggression will effect many. There will places for other fish to hide. Besides that they were very entertaining and so cute.

[PlantedRookie]

rainbuilder- Betta albimarginata seems like it would be the best choice if I'm getting a Betta, especially if I can manage to find two males and a female. B. channoides might work well too. I really liked B. rutilans, but know it won't work since they like really low ph.

fusiongt-I'm getting a dwarf cichlid, but just not for this tank. I have a South American tank that's just desperate for one. Way too many choices though which is why I haven't gotten any yet lol.

VivaDaWolf-lol I had no idea what a plakat actually was. I saw the name before but for some reason thought they were a super sized Betta splendens.

Snowflake311-If it wasn't for that breeding aggression than sparkling gouramis would be on the top of my list. They actually were until I found out about that. Much heartbreak ensued because they are really pretty fish. The only place online that I've seen them for sale makes you buy six.

[e.lambert]

Im not sure about the look you're going for but you could do a dimple fish like a platy or something along those lines. The sunburst platys are neat. And they have alot of different kinds.

[Snowflake311]

Why not keep one dwarf gourami. They are pretty cool.

[Indian fern]

A group of mollies such as baloon can look great, about 3 to 4. Or 5 to 6 neon tetras.

[HybridHerp]

I second the notion for a wild type betta. I mean, you already said your tank has an asian feel, why not go along that path?