30 gal centerpiece fish ideas

Hazelceleste

AC Members
Jan 21, 2009
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I need some suggestions for a centerpiece fish for my 30 gallon tank. It's a heavily planted tank with soft water and a pH of around 7. I currently have 11 harlequin rasboras, 4 bronze cories (which might be getting moved to a different tank), 2 ottos and a few apple snails.

Because the tank has a lot of red and green plants in it, I'm hoping to find a blue or purple fish to use as a centerpiece. Yellow might be ok too, but I definitely don't want a red, orange or green fish. Also, because most of my fish are short-finned river fish, I'd like to find a more graceful, long finned fish for the centerpiece.

I've thought about getting a betta, but they tend to be too aggressive to keep with snails. Gouramis are pretty, but they're not really all that graceful and "flowy," if you know what I mean. I've considered guppies too, but I think they're a little too small to make a good centerpiece.

Here's a picture of my tank. It's a little blurry but I think you can get a general idea of what my tank looks like.
CIMG2286.jpg
 
what kind of snails do you keep? my betta doesn't bother any snails unless theyre small enough for him to eat (which is a negligible amount)
 
do a German Blue Ram... they have yellow and blue... you can find ones with sweeping tails also... will be a beautiful addition to your tank!!!
 
A Pearl Gouramis.
 
Thanks for the suggestions! :)

what kind of snails do you keep? my betta doesn't bother any snails unless theyre small enough for him to eat (which is a negligible amount)

They're apple snails, pomacea bridgessi. The snails themselves are too big for bettas to eat, but their antennae look just like wriggling worms when they're waving in the water. I've tried keeping bettas and apple snails together before, and even the nicest betta can't seem to resist tasting the snail's antennae from time to time.

I've always stayed away from rams because I've heard some of them have a tendency to be aggressive. They're gorgeous though. I'd probably get one if I could know for sure that it wouldn't nip at the snails.

Pearl gouramis are pretty, but their coloring is kind of pale. I think it might fade into the background of my tank, rather than pop out like a centerpiece should.
 
Neon blue dwarf gourami would be pretty peaceful
 
Those neon dwarf blues are really pretty. I just might have to get them, if I don't find anything even prettier. I haven't seen them for sale at my LFS, but I can probably get them to order a couple for me.
 
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