# Unique small freshwater fish



## Corwin (May 23, 2010)

Alright so I recently transfered my ghost shrimp into my previously uninhabited 5 gallon tank, freeing up my 20 gallon. I'm now thinking that I may revamp my tank before adding any new inhabitants but I was wondering if any of you know of any interesting or unique freshwater fish or inverts who are small enough to fit into the tank happily with a single apple snail. 

I do intend to have live plants as well as dwarf hairgrass, and I can do either a gravel or a sand bottom for the tank.

Also it would be preferable (though not necessary) that the fish prefer hard alkaline water.

ps: by unique or interesting I mean anything with a unique apearance.


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## hXcChic22 (Dec 26, 2009)

African Butterflyfish?


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## Corwin (May 23, 2010)

wow those do look cool , though it says they aparantly can reach up to 6 inches, wouldnt that be too large for a 20 gallon? (correct me if im wrong)


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## hXcChic22 (Dec 26, 2009)

Supposedly, yes, they can reach six inches. But it all depends on what you think of the whole size to tank ratio. We've had ours for several months and the bigger one is still only about 4 inches long, if not smaller. 
Personally, we keep ours (two of them) in a 20 long and they seem to have plenty of space because they are the only top/mid-level fish in that tank. Even with mid-level fish, I think they would be ok. 
We're planning on moving them into a 29 gallon soon, once we switch our community from that tank to our new 37 gallon.


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## Superfly724 (Sep 16, 2007)

Hard Alkaline water? You could go with some Tanganyikan shellies or some smaller cichlids from the lake. I don't know how they would react to the snail, though. Or to the plants.

Neolamprologus Leleupi are interesting looking little guys.


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## Mikaila31 (Nov 29, 2009)

ember tetras, sparkling gouramis, endlers, and the long list of other various nano fish... microrasboras are fun fish, you have dwarf corys and rainbowfish too.


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## Blue Cray (Oct 19, 2007)

Corwin you have some interest in monster fish right?


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## Corwin (May 23, 2010)

by monster fish do you mean monstrously huge fish or monster fish as in fish that look like monsters? Yes to both but I really wouldnt have a home for anything that gets big enough to outgrow a 20 right now.

Im not sure where I stand on chiclids due to having heard they are a bit agressive, though I have to say that those Neolamprologus Leleupi were neat looking guys.

I think I'll look more into nano fish as they seem to be an interesting group and the whole nano in the name implies they dont get too big .

Also I was wondering if anyone could identify this fish for me, ive seen them at a few pet stores in with other things (I dont know the name), and they never looked terribly large. They look almost like if you crossed a pleco and a ray, their suckers, and a light brown or cream color, and their also usualy only about an inch long when I see them in the store.


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## PostShawn (Dec 22, 2009)

I was thinking about a freshwater setup about that size. I was thinking about 3 Dwarf Gouramis, along with a small group of schooling fish and then a couple cleanup crew fish. I like chiclids but thought the dwarf gouramis would be a more community version because the body looks kind of similar.


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## jclee (Jun 6, 2010)

For a 5 gallon, have you looked into dwarf livebearers, aka Least killifish? They're one of the smallest species of fish.


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## Corwin (May 23, 2010)

naw my 5 gallon is now the home of my ghost shrimp, its the 20 which is empty


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## Blue Cray (Oct 19, 2007)

Corwin said:


> by monster fish do you mean monstrously huge fish or monster fish as in fish that look like monsters? Yes to both but I really wouldnt have a home for anything that gets big enough to outgrow a 20 right now.
> 
> Im not sure where I stand on chiclids due to having heard they are a bit agressive, though I have to say that those Neolamprologus Leleupi were neat looking guys.
> 
> ...


Well have a look at the Rainbow Wolf fish, its a monster and it stays very small. You can feed them pellets or watch them hunt live.


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## br00tal_dude (Dec 26, 2009)

Corwin said:


> Also I was wondering if anyone could identify this fish for me, ive seen them at a few pet stores in with other things (I dont know the name), and they never looked terribly large. They look almost like if you crossed a pleco and a ray, their suckers, and a light brown or cream color, and their also usualy only about an inch long when I see them in the store.


sounds like a hillsteam loach

here is some good info on them: http://www.loaches.com/species-index/beaufortia-kweichowensis/?searchterm=chinese hillstream loach 

they are an amazing bunch but kind of needy, i have been looking into building a custom tank to keep a few of them in.


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## Corwin (May 23, 2010)

thank you Brootal that was exactly what I was looking at in the store, and thank you for the site as well. Thats too bad that they need a current, as I dont have the money for a second filter with which to produce a heavier current, I also want the tank to be moderately heavily planted which would break up the current. Oh well I guess ill have to add them to my "I would like to own this one day" list.

As for the Wolf Fish that thing looks amazing , do you know if they are something I would need to keep in a species tank? or could I keep them with others fish.


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## Chaos553 (Apr 2, 2007)

Corwin said:


> Also I was wondering if anyone could identify this fish for me, ive seen them at a few pet stores in with other things (I dont know the name), and they never looked terribly large. They look almost like if you crossed a pleco and a ray, their suckers, and a light brown or cream color, and their also usualy only about an inch long when I see them in the store.


Yeah I was at a LFS today and they sold them as "Stingray Plecos" which I HIGHLY doubt is a real species. The first thing I thought of when I saw it was a Hillstream Loach, but they name everything wrong at Animal Kingdom, so I'd rather stay away from being the irritable customer.

As for smaller fish, I enjoyed doing Rams or Apistogrammas when I had my 20g way back when. Rams are generally cool fish, great looking, and usually stay small (Bolivians being the largest, I believe, I could be mistaken). The only downside is that German Blues/Gold are expensive from time to time and the cheapest I've seen them sold at stores were about 7-10 bucks a piece. But if you have the money, you could totally go with it .

African Butterfly Fish are awesome, I loved mine until he died. If you plan on getting one, make sure you buy something you can drape across the top of the tank, like Water Sprite so they have a sense of security. I had a Huge Amazon grow pretty large so he just hid under the leaves that stuck out of the tank. 

Hope this all helps .


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## emc7 (Jul 23, 2005)

rams and apistos aren't likely to thrive in hard alkaline water. I'd go with shellies, they are really neat or one of the smaller julidichromis.


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## Blue Cray (Oct 19, 2007)

Corwin said:


> As for the Wolf Fish that thing looks amazing , do you know if they are something I would need to keep in a species tank? or could I keep them with others fish.


Well before mine jumped the other day (don't ask, I'm pissed.) I had it with a bunch of yoyo loaches a large raphael and a clown knife. They were all around the same size besides the yoyos being snack sized. I even kept it with a pair of very small apistos, only one disapeared and I'd blame the clownknife not the aimara. 

If you keep the tank planted with driftwood and keep the little beast fed I see no problems with it unless you get an overly agressive one. I fed mine hikari carnivor pellets and it loved em.


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## Corwin (May 23, 2010)

hmm I'm seriously considering revamping my tank to have a sand substrate and then getting some khuli loaches, (in part because they look like tiny aquatic snakes, and also because they arent hard to find at LFS).


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## emc7 (Jul 23, 2005)

kuhlis are cool


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## hXcChic22 (Dec 26, 2009)

For being loaches, kuhlis are pretty hardy. All five of ours have survived blooms, ick outbreaks (the treatment killed other loaches) and other problems. One of ours is pretty old, in fact, just a little younger than our dragon goby, who is our oldest fish at 9 months.


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## Corwin (May 23, 2010)

that is very good to hear, as I am very interested in these little fellows. Does anyone know how they would do with dwarf hairgrass? and for that matter does anyone know how dwarf hairgrass would do with a sand substrate?


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## br00tal_dude (Dec 26, 2009)

BC: would that wolf fish be ok in a 20 long cause now you have peeked my interest...

Corwin: if you want to do the kuhlis you should really try and keep them in sand because thier barbels are very sensitive and gravel can damage them leaving the fish with no way to find food. And just out of curiosity is your 20 a long or standard?


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## Corwin (May 23, 2010)

I believe its a standard, (if it helps any its a rectangle) though I doubt that does. and it has been converted to sand (though there is some gravel beneath the sand). I was just curious if dwarf hairgrass could grow over sand and whether or not the loaches would take poorly to the hairgrass.


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## Blue Cray (Oct 19, 2007)

br00tal_dude said:


> BC: would that wolf fish be ok in a 20 long cause now you have peeked my interest...
> 
> Corwin: if you want to do the kuhlis you should really try and keep them in sand because thier barbels are very sensitive and gravel can damage them leaving the fish with no way to find food. And just out of curiosity is your 20 a long or standard?


I would imagine it would be ok, just keep a tight lid and feed lots.


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