Nice pics of the two species. Nothing wrong with Espies, by the way. They are smaller than harlies, as the photos show, but behave much the same. I have a couple of Espies mixed in with my harlies and they all school together.
harlequin rasbora
- Thread starter austinpetemo
- Start date
i like the look of the true ones better. are the ones at petsmart normally the espie??? or do they tend to carry the true ones?
also do they have a (OMG I CANT THINK OF THE WORD AGAIN!!!) shinny sheen to them under bright lights?
also do they have a (OMG I CANT THINK OF THE WORD AGAIN!!!) shinny sheen to them under bright lights?
Hmmmm... no idea if the ones I used to have were true Harlequins or not them to be honest- it's been a number of years.
I wouldn't really describe the ones I had as Vibrant Orange or Rust coloured- they were somewhere between the two- I remember sort of a coppery colour- so maybe they were Espeis.
If they behave about the same- look about the same- grow almost the same size- I'm not too worried.
I may actually be buying some more Rasboras soon. My new community tank when cyled is going to have Cory, RCS, Danios and possibly kuhlis in. Smaller fish.
I've been trying to decide on one last upper level species- I've narrowed it to either Cherry Barbs, Rasbora Harlequins, Hatchet Fish or a couple of Pearl Gourami. With the exception of the Barbs- all fish that stick near the surface... I had picked Cherry Barbs originally but have been drifting away from that idea because they don't spend more time at the surface.
Hatchets might be a little spooked by the Danios- I had hatchets as a kid and they seemed quite shy. So Harlequin Rasbora or Pearl Gourami are the front-runners.
Each have their attributes... Rasbora have going for them- nice colours- tight schooling- hardy fish- stay near the surface (my lower levels are already booked).
However- they're similar body shape to the Danios- similar temperament- and two schools of hyper-active fish might seriously freak out my shrimp! I'm quite heavily planted on one end- and a "floating plant" section to be "roped off" in the middle to give them shady spots. So I think the aquarium is well suited to them. It's just a matter of whether I want two similar species in the aquarium or go for diversity.
I probably won't have the species pinned down until I'm in the shop ready to add them to be honest! If they have Espeis but not Harlequin, that's fine with me.
I wouldn't really describe the ones I had as Vibrant Orange or Rust coloured- they were somewhere between the two- I remember sort of a coppery colour- so maybe they were Espeis.
If they behave about the same- look about the same- grow almost the same size- I'm not too worried.
I may actually be buying some more Rasboras soon. My new community tank when cyled is going to have Cory, RCS, Danios and possibly kuhlis in. Smaller fish.
I've been trying to decide on one last upper level species- I've narrowed it to either Cherry Barbs, Rasbora Harlequins, Hatchet Fish or a couple of Pearl Gourami. With the exception of the Barbs- all fish that stick near the surface... I had picked Cherry Barbs originally but have been drifting away from that idea because they don't spend more time at the surface.
Hatchets might be a little spooked by the Danios- I had hatchets as a kid and they seemed quite shy. So Harlequin Rasbora or Pearl Gourami are the front-runners.
Each have their attributes... Rasbora have going for them- nice colours- tight schooling- hardy fish- stay near the surface (my lower levels are already booked).
However- they're similar body shape to the Danios- similar temperament- and two schools of hyper-active fish might seriously freak out my shrimp! I'm quite heavily planted on one end- and a "floating plant" section to be "roped off" in the middle to give them shady spots. So I think the aquarium is well suited to them. It's just a matter of whether I want two similar species in the aquarium or go for diversity.
I probably won't have the species pinned down until I'm in the shop ready to add them to be honest! If they have Espeis but not Harlequin, that's fine with me.
Agree w/ much of the above, espis have a smaller black patch -
I have 3 pork shops in a 5g and really enjoy them as they do interact w/ ea. other, don't bother my shrimp much and they seem to enjoy playing around in the current produced by the filter. My 20T would have been a species tank of 'em if only I could find them for <$4 ea when I was done cycling. Alas, there were none to be had, so I went w/ tiger barbs, which I also enjoy.
I have 3 pork shops in a 5g and really enjoy them as they do interact w/ ea. other, don't bother my shrimp much and they seem to enjoy playing around in the current produced by the filter. My 20T would have been a species tank of 'em if only I could find them for <$4 ea when I was done cycling. Alas, there were none to be had, so I went w/ tiger barbs, which I also enjoy.
And to complicate matters even more, there is a THIRD rasbora that is
similar to the Harlequin and Espei:
similar to the Harlequin and Espei:
I got my harlequins at both petsmart and petco. They are the only fish I own (125+) that was not purchased online. They're pretty cool. Good luck.
How well do these three species do when placed together?
If one were lucky enough to see all three species in a store and got, say three of each... would they school togther and get all the benefits of a single school of 9- or would it instead be three schools of three and virtually no benefit to each other?
I know some species (such as Danios) are just as happy with members of closely related species as they are their own.
Other fish are very species dependant in whom they school with. Where do Rasboras fit on this? It would be nice to have a school of different closely related Rasboras for variety- the subtle shade differences between them would be nice. I wouldn't do this if Espei and Harlequin didn't enjoy each others benefit. I'd rather have 9 happy fish of one species then 3 sets of 3 disgruntled fish of different species!
(chances are I won't find the different species anyway... but I'm curious).
If one were lucky enough to see all three species in a store and got, say three of each... would they school togther and get all the benefits of a single school of 9- or would it instead be three schools of three and virtually no benefit to each other?
I know some species (such as Danios) are just as happy with members of closely related species as they are their own.
Other fish are very species dependant in whom they school with. Where do Rasboras fit on this? It would be nice to have a school of different closely related Rasboras for variety- the subtle shade differences between them would be nice. I wouldn't do this if Espei and Harlequin didn't enjoy each others benefit. I'd rather have 9 happy fish of one species then 3 sets of 3 disgruntled fish of different species!
(chances are I won't find the different species anyway... but I'm curious).
Many LFS sell harlequin & espei together as harliequin in one tank. It is hard for me to distinguish espei and harlequin. (I believe our rasboras are espei. But I am not completely sure. They was labeled as harlequin from LSF.) I think Hengel is rather easier to distinguish.
