# Species advice needed!



## Mischa0218 (Nov 19, 2015)

Need some stock advice! I'm currently running a 60 gallon aquarium with 5 filament barbs, 4 rainbows and 2 midnight cats (all about 2-3 inches). They were dithers to my very old blood parrot that I recently lost.  Anywho; I'd like to restock, but I'm having a terrible time finding larger species that are compatible with these guys.
Things I like: Any Severum (although I prefer the rotkeil), Leopard ctenopoma, and the Dwarf freshwater puffer. 
I've heard enthusiastic yes' and no's almost equally to putting these with my current stock and I'm not sure who to believe. The barbs are extremely fast and have a tendency to bully, the rainbows are more mellow, but acclimated to the barbs quickly and mimic their behavior at times. 
I've considered getting another small aquarium solely for dwarf puffers because they're so unusual. So if that's my only option, cool. 

Anyway, any advice on the species I'm considering and other big, colorful and oddball options would be greatly appreciated!!!


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## Chillwill007 (Aug 20, 2010)

I used to be a mod on the old dwarf puffer forum. They are cute and pretty cool fish. But messy and aggressive. They should have about 5g a puffer in a heavily planted and decorated tank to each have there hiding spots. So if you could do a species only tank that would be better. Any tank mates would be hit or miss with them. And another plus with a heavily planted tank u could leave that going for a while so the snails that come in on the plants can breed and establish a good amount of snails before you get the puffers in the tank. 


As for original tank not to sure about the mix but a small school of Congo tetras would be real nice and maybe a pair of angels or German blue rams. A nice shark of some kinda like a red tailed or rainbow.


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## henningc (Apr 17, 2013)

Puffs belong in a species only tank. I is just how they are hardwired and seem to hunt down tankmaes for fun and excitement.


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## junebug (Jun 17, 2015)

What is your tank's pH and temp?


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## Mischa0218 (Nov 19, 2015)

Yeah I just started a 10 gallon tank for a puffer. 60 gallon temp is around 78-80, pH 7.3. 10 gallon is around 85 degrees for cycling with a 7.5 pH.


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## junebug (Jun 17, 2015)

In those temps and pH almost any of the tetras, barbs, and catfish of suitable size would do well as tankmates. Even some rasboras would work.


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## henningc (Apr 17, 2013)

If you want to go with a moderate size cichlid then Meekis-Firemouth-would be a good choice. They are not very aggressive compared to most of the Central Americans.

If you want to go with slightly smaller fish a nice group of Odessa Barbs would be a start. I'll P.M. you with a great source for those. The same source has llyodon Furcidens or the Basslet Goodied. These guys grow to 4" and are not aggressive with fish close to their size. They can also take care of themselves if needed. You could go with a few nice Sailfin Mollys, I'd do all males. I noted that you don't have any antabantoids so my preferance order a trio Leeri-Pearl, Lavender or Moonlight Gouramis would look nice and once full size can hold their own. You could consider 3 Paradise fish 1-blue, 1-red and 1 albino. You might even consider a group of 6-8 different color female bettas. If you get them from a reputable breeder they look tons more colorful than the LFS. My female bettas top out at just about 3" and a lot of people think they are males due to the extreme colors. They are a product of my hard work and feeding routine.

You never said it the tank had plants of any kind. If you have surface cover, and you'll need it for the bush fish, then you have a few options to supply live food. I'd get either 8-12 Least Killies or stock in 4-6 pre-hit femaleEndlers. Between the barbs, catfish and the rainbows it is lights out for the fry. If you don't have real plants on the bottom then a Charex maybe a pair of them depending on type is a must have oddball. A pair of Aprocot or zebras would look really awesome. Those two top out at 4 1/2". There are several other types that get 2"-3" larger. All Cherax have a really hard time catching fish mine don't even try. With Cherax you may have to drop the temp to 75f.


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