Which rasbora to get?

iansmith

iansmith

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Feb 23, 2006
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Which rasbora to get? (Now with Rummy Nose questions!:)

I want to get a school of rasbora for my 20 gallon long. I wanted something that schools together very well, and rasboras have been recomended.

My LFS has the following...

Harlequins, Brilliants (9cm is too big for me), Green-Eyes (dorsiocellata I think) and something called a Swallow Rasbora (no idea).

Anyone have any thoughts here? I plan on having 10-12 of them.

The store says the Green-Eyes are 2.5cm when fully grown but from the web I get sizes of 4-6cm for adults. They have a brilliant green spot by their eyes. Is it another breed? Non scientific names are so frustrating.

Tankmates will be 4 bronze corys, currently living with mollies which will be finding a new owner on Monday. Great personalities, but the poor corys have to eat in a 'shelter' I made that keeps the mollies out or they can't get anything. Plus they breed like, err, mollies.

Thanks!
 
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I have Harlequins and Brilliants. They started schooling together after about a month. They are so similar in temperament and activity that I'd say it's just a question of which you prefer to look at. (They jump like crazy, so I hope you have a good hood! I lost two of 7 Harlequins that way even though I've been very careful to keep the lid on.) They are extremely peaceful and hardy, they school beautifully, but they are a little skittish. Maybe the "Swallow" is a Scissor Tail? (Looks just like it sounds). And they DON'T breed like Mollys!
 
Get the harlequins. I've always just seen the small ones in the stores. In April, the aquarium society had a fish expo and somebody entered their harlequins, they were full size (as per rules) and absolutely gorgeous! I'd really never seen them that big before. I have a few in quarantine, to go in my main tank with my other rasboras who do school very nicely. The ones I have are Hengel's rasboras (a.k.a. pork chops).
rasboras.jpg
 
I have a question.. do Harlequins eat food off the bottom? I know some fish will (mollies, goldfish) and some species don't (most oscars) but have not found anything about Harlequins.

Thanks again!
 
I have 10 rasbora espei (similar to Harlequins) and they school very well together but do not go to the bottom level of the tank at all, very top to barely mid level.
 
iansmith said:
I have a question.. do Harlequins eat food off the bottom? I know some fish will (mollies, goldfish) and some species don't (most oscars) but have not found anything about Harlequins.

Thanks again!
Click to expand...

I have 4 brilliants and 6 harlequins in a school. They will chase flakes, live shrimp, peas, etc. to the bottom of the tank, but once they've scooped it up, they don't hang around down there.
 
Anyone know more about the Green-Eye Rasbora I saw?

The store owner said they only get to 2.5 cm in length and it has a brilliant green dot behind each eye.

I can only find one species of Rasbora that is listed that small, the Rasbora maculata and it doesn't look like what I saw.

I like them, but want to verify they will not grow to three inches and overload my tank. I like the Harlequins too though... darn.. I think I am coming down with the dreaded MTS. *cough*
 
Do Rummys top feed? And whats a good top level trophy fish?

Well I went and got a school of 12 Rummy Nose Tetras after seeing them and Harlequins in a large tank. The Rummy's held together a lot tighter. Not sure if it was just that tank, but I decided to give them a try and ordered a dozen which came today.

They seem to be doing well, color is starting to show now they are settling into the tank. They were almost totally pale when I got them, no red at ALL but now they all have visible red patches coming in and their tail spots are MUCH more defined.

I read they are low-middle swimmers, and wonder will they learn to come up to the surface to feed off flakes? I gave them some white worms and small daphnia to help them recover from the trip. Will I need to make sure the flakes sink or will they figure it out? I guess I could just wait and find out.. but it's more fun to talk about a new obsession. :-)

Second question (this thread is now badly named!) I have is anyone have a suggestion for a good top level fish? I was hoping there would be a single fish maybe three to four inches, or maybe two a bit smaller. Something to swim around up there and be a centerpiece and happy with being alone or with just one other.

Thanks!
 
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