Good fish for top half of tank?

Harq rasboras

Nice, thanks. I'll look into some rasboras

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Hatchets. They're awesome additions to any tank

Hatch fish, but you MUST have a tight fitting lid, NO gaps.

*Granted in working in my store in 5 years, we have lost 2 hatchs to jumping, and that was over night when no one was around.. We dont keep a lid on it. We have lost more koi, and mollies to jumping then hatchs*

I would do a centerpiece fish.. Something like a dwarf or pearl Guarami. They generally stay closer to the surface. I also think that might be a bit heavy on the ghost shrimp. For one they can turn sort of aggressive and actually take down smaller fish. IMO, a centerpiece fish adds so much to a tank when you have smaller schoolers throughout.

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pencilfish are always a nice addition.

pantherspawn said:

I would do a centerpiece fish.. Something like a dwarf or pearl Guarami. They generally stay closer to the surface. I also think that might be a bit heavy on the ghost shrimp. For one they can turn sort of aggressive and actually take down smaller fish. IMO, a centerpiece fish adds so much to a tank when you have smaller schoolers throughout.

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I don't really have a want for a larger fish. If the fish isn't flushable, I don't want it. 6 Corys, 10 Neons, and maybe 6 of a top swimmer, and I think I'm done with fish. The rest will be bottom dwelling inverts.

I would like to add 5 amano shrimp and 10 RCS just to see how the mixed shrimp species get along (Survival of the fittest). My snail population is finally rising, so I will be adding a few assassin snails soon. So far my favorite thing in my tank is the ghost shrimp. They are so active. I actually saw one ride a cory cat like a bronco, but I admit it may have been accidental.

I am leaning towards Rasboras since they are nice looking, they are small, and fairly hardy in a well maintained tank. Price is right also. Hatchetfish are a no, since I like my tank open on top.

thanks for all the recommendations!

I've got some red arc pencilfish mixed in with my espei rasboras. The pencilfish tend to hang out among the roots of the duckweed, occasionally a bit lower. The rasboras prefer to swim roughly 1/3 of the way down with occasional forays to the top or lower levels. The two species will loosely school together where their preferred levels overlap. The rasboras seem more inclined to school than the pencilfish do. I suspect the rasboras are the ones who are actively maintaining the schools, and the pencilfish just drop in when they feel nervous. Not sure how the pencilfish would behave without floating plants.

Assassin's will eat all of your snails unless they are nerites or Apple snails. Dwarf Gourami only reach about 3 or 4 inches at most. Rcs don't always do well with ghost shrimp. Ghost shrimp can and will kill them. Harlequin Raspboras will reach 2 inches each and are great fish, though they aren't really a top of the tank fish, more mid to top just like the neon. If you like Raspboras you may also look into pearl danio or celestials. They are great schoolers, change colors and are very active towards the top of the tank.

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you could try a golden wonder killie. they stay fairly small, are coloful (males are at least) and peaceful. they are always at the surface or close to it at the shop i work at

i have zebra's danio's and they zoom around all over the place. Leopards are the same. The rest of my fish kinda chill at the bottom.

pantherspawn said:

Assassin's will eat all of your snails unless they are nerites or Apple snails. Dwarf Gourami only reach about 3 or 4 inches at most. Rcs don't always do well with ghost shrimp. Ghost shrimp can and will kill them. Harlequin Raspboras will reach 2 inches each and are great fish, though they aren't really a top of the tank fish, more mid to top just like the neon. If you like Raspboras you may also look into pearl danio or celestials. They are great schoolers, change colors and are very active towards the top of the tank.

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Pearl Danios are interesting. As for the Assassins, the whole point of me welcoming snails into my tank was to let the assassins have a field day. I think If I add three assassins they may be able to take out my medium sized Nerites. If the ghost shrimp kill the RCS, I will be okay with that. I think adding the Amano along with the RCS may have a neutralizing affect or maybe not. It may be anarchy, but it's okay as long as I have a front row seat. If my RCS die off, I will try adding a larger population and see if they can win with ant like numbers. I will definitely check out some Danio's. Just watched a few videos, and I really like them.

Once I have my stock finished for this tank, I'm going to get a 40B. This stuff is addictive.

GuppyGuppyGuppyGuppyGuppy said:

I enjoy guppies personally...

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I would have never guessed

Assassin's don't take down nerites, none that I've seen anyways and I breed assassin's in a tank with nerites. Also, if the numbers of pond snails or ramshorn or whatever you have is large enough, your assassin's will breed just as prolific and soon have many numbers. I started with 3 assassin's in a 55. Have well over 500 within two years. And I don't even feed them snails anymore, they just eat the pellets I feed my cories. I have to remove them every few months just to keep their numbers down.

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pantherspawn said:

Assassin's don't take down nerites, none that I've seen anyways and I breed assassin's in a tank with nerites. Also, if the numbers of pond snails or ramshorn or whatever you have is large enough, your assassin's will breed just as prolific and soon have many numbers. I started with 3 assassin's in a 55. Have well over 500 within two years. And I don't even feed them snails anymore, they just eat the pellets I feed my cories. I have to remove them every few months just to keep their numbers down.

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Wow, that's a ton of Assassins. I think I have 50 or so random pond/rams snails. Not too many, but enough to serve a purpose.

I will remove the assassins once they do their job. They are not something I want to hang on to. I just want to experience them once. As for the Nerites, if the assassins don't eat them, I will get rid of them. They are too high of a bio-load. Not worth it to me.

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EDIT::::
I think I am going to get rid of my ghost shrimp. They have been harassing one of my neon tetras who now has a tattered fin because of all the aggression from the ghost shrimp. The ghosts are swimming up the glass and bouncing off to nip at the tail of the same neon tetra over and over again. I think in a short amount of time, they will immobilize it and eat it. Not all the Ghosts are aggressive, just the ones that are over 1 inch in size. I think I will introduce them to my neighbors Oscar tank. They probably look like crickets to Oscars.

I picked up 6 some .75 inch Zebra Danios today for $.36 each. The price made my decision clear and they were fresh stock that arrived this morning. nice looking fish.

Zebra danio are fun little fish. And the ghost shrimp I had killed many guppy and platy before I figured ou it was them.

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pantherspawn said:

Zebra danio are fun little fish. And the ghost shrimp I had killed many guppy and platy before I figured ou it was them.

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Seriously. Ghost shrimp are murderous ninjas. I had someone pick up all 12 this morning via craigslist free ad. I hope there wasn't a 13th I missed since I just added 25 juvenile RCS.