Suitable Dither fish for a Clown Loach tank

[TUCCI]

Ok so, I rehomed the juvenile Oscar and have my 6pack of CLs that are quit active. The biggest is at the 2” size with the rest smaller and I need ideas for a non competing Dither fish (group) to give the tank some color and dimension. I want to leave things along for a few weeks to calm everything down from the hysteria of fishing the Oscar out which he didn’t go quietly.
I read that neon Tetras are too small and will get munched but what do the experts suggest……thank you in advance……

 

[MultipleTankSyndrome]

Glad to hear! You never know when an oscar may turn tail, so this is a great benefit to your loaches

Neon tetras are unlikely to be eaten, as chasing down small mid-water fish is not something clown loaches usually do. The real problem is that they need much cooler water (23 vs 27 Celsius) than the loaches.

For more peaceful Botia, in general, I have had good success with green neon and cardinal tetras as dithers. You may also consider tiger barbs (though not with small tetras), as these will even school with clown loaches.

 

[TUCCI]

Yeah, I watched the tank from upstairs with a pet-cam for awhile yesterday and the Oscar was hounding those poor CLs endlessly……can’t have that…let’s face it, it’s really all about the CLs and I need a dither while I can grow them up. Tiger barbs have the exact coloration as the CLs and although I haven’t ruled them out, I’m going to take the next few weeks to weight my options.

 

[jjohnwm]

Glad to hear! You never know when an oscar may turn tail, so this is a great benefit to your loaches

Neon tetras are unlikely to be eaten, as chasing down small mid-water fish is not something clown loaches usually do. The real problem is that they need much cooler water (23 vs 27 Celsius) than the loaches.

For more peaceful Botia, in general, I have had good success with green neon and cardinal tetras as dithers. You may also consider tiger barbs (though not with small tetras), as these will even school with clown loaches.

What a pleasant surprise: someone actually taking into account temperature preferences when tossing Neons around. I have gotten extremely weary of reading about Neons with Bettas, Neons with Discus, Neons with...well, just about anything. The problem is exacerbated when the "expert" in question rationalizes that the preferred temperature range for Neons tops out exactly where that of the intended tankmates bottoms out...so that one-degree overlap would ensure that everything would be fine!

I'm not a loach guy, but I admit to a certain fascination with the sight of Clown Loaches and Tiger Barbs schooling together.

 

[duanes]

If it were me, I'd do a Borneo/Maylasian biotope, using the myriad of shoaling species available from that part of the world.
I have been particularly interested in many of the wild type Anabantids of the area (I realize not dithers).

above Betta albimarginatta, below Betta edithae

But beautiful and geographically correct choices are endless
List of Freshwater Fishes reported from Malaysia - FishBasehttps://www.fishbase.se › country › CountryChecklist

 

[TUCCI]

Mine tend to like anything. What I have found entertaining about feeding them they like to argue and bicker over some random NLS alagemax thats intended for other species in that tank they play football with it trying to hold it and another one knocks it off and picks it up and dashes away with it and they do love repashy gel foods along with regular flake sticks pellets i feed them with frozen shrimp scallops clams

What a pleasant surprise: someone actually taking into account temperature preferences when tossing Neons around. I have gotten extremely weary of reading about Neons with Bettas, Neons with Discus, Neons with...well, just about anything. The problem is exacerbated when the "expert" in question rationalizes that the preferred temperature range for Neons tops out exactly where that of the intended tankmates bottoms out...so that one-degree overlap would ensure that everything would be fine!

I'm not a loach guy, but I admit to a certain fascination with the sight of Clown Loaches and Tiger Barbs schooling together.

My temps for the Clowns are at 80-81, which they seem to be the most active with. My question then is what easily available barbs can be used as Dithers that are comfortable at these temperatures (excluding Tin-foil Barbs)? I do not want to online order fish so they need to be local and available?

 

[Fishman Dave]

Available and higher temperatures for barbs, as a preference, limits it a bit, but I think gold barbs ( Chinese barbs) would probably meet the brief. And add different colour to the clowns.
Although what do I know? I keep my clowns (16) and yo-yo (7) with Congo tetra (10) and angelfish (9), possibly an unusual mix but it works and has a great variation of colour and activity.

 

[jjohnwm]

Available and higher temperatures for barbs, as a preference, limits it a bit, but I think gold barbs ( Chinese barbs) would probably meet the brief. And add different colour to the clowns.
Although what do I know? I keep my clowns (16) and yo-yo (7) with Congo tetra (10) and angelfish (9), possibly an unusual mix but it works and has a great variation of colour and activity.

The biotope police will be visiting shortly.

 

[esoxlucius]

The biotope police will be visiting shortly.

Your wish is my command.....

"Hello, hello, hello, and what do we have here then? Would you kindly assist me down to the station please, we have a few questions for you regarding your peculiar choice of fish in your home aquarium."

There, that's my best British Bobby impression, will that suffice, lol.

 

[MultipleTankSyndrome]

One non-barb option, if you can find them without needing to get them shipped, is a group (they are schooling fish) of 6 smallscale archerfish. Just be sure to get them at a size too small to eat the clown loaches.
I have a group of 9 with mine and they are a nice contrast with their black and white colors and top swimming. They also like the same current and meaty foods.