Need fish recommendation

ShadowMac

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Hello everyone,

I'm looking for some recommendations on small lively fish that would do well in a planted 30cm cube. The cube has CO2 injection, LED lights which would qualify as medium light, lots of filtration/flow ( a small eheim canister and an HOB)

Substrate is sand with a center "island" of stones aquasoil and plants (blyxxa, scarlet temple, hygrophila pinnatifida, and baby tears (HM))

I have been keeping some dwarf emerald rasboras (http://www.seriouslyfish.com/profile.php?genus=Danio&species=erythromicron&id=1344) who are neat little fish, but much too shy for the tank. I never see them. They duck behind the plants any time I walk by. The tank is in a high traffic spot, so they spend much of their time hiding well.

The tank also has some shrimp in there, RCS fire variety that may have hybridized with some blue pearls. Thats a whole other story....

Anyways, some recommendations would be very nice. I like to use the seriouslyfish website, but if we followed all of their recommendations all of our tanks would be biotopes with only sand or gravel for substrate...

The dwarf emerald rasboras will be going to a more densely planted 12 gallon in which I plan to add a number of dario dario's as well.

What should go into the 7.5 gallon 30cm cube?
 

Gerryd

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How about the espei rasbora? Looks much like a harlequin rasbora, but smaller. I had them and they were active, healthy, and good schoolers.

A dozen or so (15 max) would do ya fine...
 

ShadowMac

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I have read that the galaxy rasboras can be just as shy as the fish I am replacing.

What do you guys think of this little fish, Axelrodi reisei “Ruby Tetra”?

shadowmac-albums-pictures-posting-threads-picture932-axelrodia-riesei-01-az.jpg
 

nipat

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I think all Tetras are very bold fish for their size.

Seen Boraras urophthalmoides in small tanks, looks very nice.
Not sure about shyness though.
 

DukeNJ

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My CPDs are shy in that they live among the plants and hardscape generally. They do come out on occassion. They come right out to feed though.
 

ShadowMac

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that is similar behavior to the dwarf emerald rasboras, I have. They are cautious when coming out to feed and I have to keep pretty still to observe them.
 

Biollante

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Ruby Tetras About As Bold As "They" Get

Hi Shawn,

The Axelrodia riesei are not a bad choice, but I think you are going to find it is the nature of most small fish to be nervous.:cower:
They seem to live by some variation on the pilot’s credo.[SUP]1[/SUP]

I think Nipat is right and these little tetras are about as good as it is going to get.

Biollante
[SUP]1[/SUP]“There are old pilots and there are bold pilots, but there are no old, bold, pilots."
 

ShadowMac

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I figured it was wise for such small creatures to be skiddish...if everything can swallow you it would be best to not be seen.

I think I will go with the Ruby tetras. They will look very nice in there and the others will look good in the 12 gallon.

I was also looking at some Betta unimaculatas for my low tech 20 gallon, however I may wait a while and go for a tank purely dedicated to an interesting species of betta. I have never given breeding fish a true effort and think it might be a fun addition to the hobby. My wife will take away my fish tank priveleges if I add another tank to our town home at the moment. Afterall, my totally new 90P has only been running for a month...But there is always something new and intriguing to do!
 

ShadowMac

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On that last note, Wet Spot Tropical Fish has some Betta macrastoma (Brunei Beauty) pairs for sale, only $180 a pair, very rare. I thought of the B. unimaculatas because it was a similar fish but less picky on water conditions. The macrastoma's required low pH and low hardness. A small tank with RO would be doable, especially a low tech with minimal water changes. Maybe one day...