# which top level swimming fish to add?



## hi-revs (Nov 3, 2010)

In an hour I'll be selling my 3 beloved bala bala sharks that I grew out from 2" to 7" from my 125gallon tank.
Reason why I'm selling them is because they're too skiddish when I'm doing water changes and plus I don't think my tank is big enough for then. 

After taking out the sharks I've noticed that there's barely any action going on in the tank. 
Everyday when the lights come on my balas were swimming laps up until the lights go off. Which provided me with much entertainment everyday. Lol

What I've got left in my 125 are:
13 tiger barbs which are mostly hanging out mid to lower levels of the tank.
4 various pleco
1 parrot cichlid
7 clown loaches

So I'm wanting to add a small shoal of something that are top level swimmers which can compete for food with my stock.

I'm not too worried about the aggressiveness of my tiger barbs as they always stay in their group. Plus no fish has any nipped fins.

Can I safely add a dozen rummy nose or lemon tetras?
Feel free to suggest any other fish. 
Not wanting any fish that'll be bigger than my clown loaches as i want then to be the only big fish in the tank.


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## jbyoung00008 (May 16, 2011)

Rummy nose usually stay near the bottom to middle IME. They are one of my Favorites.

Zebra Danios, Leopard Danios, White clouds all occupy the top. They love to chase each other and a group or school might be pretty cool. 

Hatchet fish, butter fly fish occupy the top literally.

Angelfish, Discus fish occupy the middle to top

Maybe some sort of Rainbow fish??? They are always nice and stay more in the top level and can be very active. 

Denisonii barbs look awesome in a school and might work well for you

Im trying to think of others. Most tetras occupy the middle area but Im sure there are ones that might go more to the top.


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## CRS Fan (Apr 21, 2010)

Rainbowfish would be my vote. There are a number of varieties available and some get up to 6 inches. They are usually fairly active and enjoy "flashing" one another.

JM2C

Best regards,

Stuart


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## C-kidder (Aug 2, 2014)

I like what JB said with hatchets you can't get much more of a top swimmer then a hatchet just make sure you have a top on it because they will jump and try and fly its pretty awesome to watch.
Only concern is adding something that your parrot will spook or snack on since it is a cichlid. I would almost recommend removing the cichlid and then you could do just about what ever you wanted. 

I have denisonii's and they are a middle swimmer as well so I wouldn't suggest them and they also get fairly big too.


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## Diztrbd1 (Apr 21, 2010)

Gourani's are a good option for top level, plus they can be very active


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## hi-revs (Nov 3, 2010)

Thanks for all the suggestions so far.
BTW my parrot can't kill the easiest to kill fish. This guy for some reason can't fully close it's mouth. It's got trouble eating bigger pieces of food as it is. Lol looks like a genetic thing from what I can tell anyways. My wife loves this fish so it's going to stay...


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## jhj0112 (Jul 30, 2013)

+1 on Denisonii barbs!! They are active and beautiful!!


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## hi-revs (Nov 3, 2010)

jhj0112 said:


> +1 on Denisonii barbs!! They are active and beautiful!!


I love the looks of them, but have had bad luck with them in the past.

I forgot to add that whatever fish I add has to like LOTS of circulation. They can't be fish that like stagnant or slow moving water.


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## Plumberboy (Jun 2, 2014)

I would suggest getting rid of everything, and filling it up with africans! But I am biased that way. If u absolutely had to, assorted rainbows and barbs. Haven't been in lately, but IPU Richmond used to have an amazing tank full of huge rainbows and barbs I'd never seen before. Love the scale patterns on the barbs, and how active everything was. Coulda stood there for hours. And they are not trying to kill each other! Always a bonus.


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## hi-revs (Nov 3, 2010)

I've always pondered the thought of having like 30 or 40 tiger barbs. Any thoughts on that?

I have 13 now and it seems pretty neat. But at the same time I don't want to put them all in the soon regret it.


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## Diztrbd1 (Apr 21, 2010)

hi-revs said:


> Thanks for all the suggestions so far.
> BTW my parrot can't kill the easiest to kill fish. This guy for some reason can't fully close it's mouth. It's got trouble eating bigger pieces of food as it is. Lol looks like a genetic thing from what I can tell anyways. My wife loves this fish so it's going to stay...


I had one of those about 8-9".....definitely genetics, there are alot with mouth issues apparently....it is a man made fish afterall. But he was a cool dude.... kinda miss him and his crazy unique actions. Mine loved the caves I had for my shark and poor shark could never get in. I lowered the height of the caves and the darn thing was in there on his side lol no matter what I did I couldn't keep him out.

I always thought a large amount of barbs would be cool.....maybe mix em up with tigers, greens and something else


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## SeaHorse_Fanatic (Apr 22, 2010)

When I kept tiger barbs in the 70s and 80s (yes, it was a very long time ago), they were all fin-nippers and I couldn't trust them with small fish, slow moving fish or fish with long, tempting tails and fins.


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## Pamela (Apr 21, 2010)

What about Congo Tetras? I've never kept them, so maybe somebody who has can give their input if they think they'd work in your tank? Maybe the barbs would nip their fins though.


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## hi-revs (Nov 3, 2010)

Diztrbd1 said:


> I had one of those about 8-9".....definitely genetics, there are alot with mouth issues apparently....it is a man made fish afterall. But he was a cool dude.... kinda miss him and his crazy unique actions. Mine loved the caves I had for my shark and poor shark could never get in. I lowered the height of the caves and the darn thing was in there on his side lol no matter what I did I couldn't keep him out.
> 
> I always thought a large amount of barbs would be cool.....maybe mix em up with tigers, greens and something else


I wish mine grew. Pretty sure this guy's a runt as he hasn't gotten any bigger than 6" in the last 3yrs


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## jbyoung00008 (May 16, 2011)

Pamela said:


> What about Congo Tetras? I've never kept them, so maybe somebody who has can give their input if they think they'd work in your tank? Maybe the barbs would nip their fins though.


+1 for congos. I had a bunch of them and they were awesome. They enjoyed the fast water and get really nice. Mix females with males. They are also mid to top swimmers

Giant danios are another neat fish. Very, very actice and enjoy fast water

I also like your thinking on a larger group of tiger barbs. The more the merrier with these type of fish. You better post pictures of your tank once you do add fish. Id love to see it 

I also agree with plumber boy LOL. +2 for going African. Im also very biased to them


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## Livyding (Feb 6, 2013)

Hatchets definitely. The silver ones grow quite big.. I have one left over from my group I bought years ago who is about two inches. It's super tame too.. It eats right from my fingers. They were skittish at first, and I lost a few to jumping even though I had a lid on the tank, but once they settled in they never jumped.


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## charles (Apr 21, 2010)

I have lots of marble hatchet and a couple of silver hatchet left. If you decide to go that way, let me know.


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## April (Apr 21, 2010)

Marble hatchets are my favourite! I find if you have some floating plants or some thst hit the surface it calms them 


Sent by tapatalk in north Burnaby


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## kim86 (Sep 5, 2012)

I have six silver hatchets and I LOVE them. I call them Jay Leno fish. Welcome to the tonight shooow.... anyways, I vote for them. They interact in an interesting way. Mine school/play with my longfin zebra and pearl danios. Which are also neat fish for the top


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## inuudo (Sep 23, 2012)

These might be smaller than you want, but I would add a ton (yes, literally, a ton! ) of emerald eye rasboras. Mine stay right at the top and school tightly. They're pretty zippy as well.

If you want a bigger fish, I second the idea of congo tetras.


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## Steve (Mar 27, 2013)

Rainbowfish like to swim a lot so circulation wouldn't be a bad thing. I had a group of rasboras that loved being near the middle/top area and swimming into the filter stream


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## SeaHorse_Fanatic (Apr 22, 2010)

Congo tetras and rainbowfish together look awesome and very actively school and swim fast. Male congos have the long, cool looking fins and tails, so I always tried to have mostly males.


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## hi-revs (Nov 3, 2010)

Thanks for all the suggestions everyone!
Not sure if I want to try marble hatchet as I'm scared they'll jump out. Lol.

Think I may get another dozen or so tiger barbs. And maybe add some red line torpedo barbs when I can find a school relatively cheaper than what I can find at lfs.


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## jbyoung00008 (May 16, 2011)

hi-revs said:


> Thanks for all the suggestions everyone!
> Not sure if I want to try marble hatchet as I'm scared they'll jump out. Lol.
> 
> Think I may get another dozen or so tiger barbs. And maybe add some red line torpedo barbs when I can find a school relatively cheaper than what I can find at lfs.


If you shop around you can find Torpedo Barbs for as low as $9.99. Still not cheap but better than the $29.99 some stores sell them for. I went on a LFS crawl a little while back and hit up every fish store I could find in the Burnaby and Vancouver area. I even visited the ones people speak bad about. It was a blast and I saw some fish I don't normally see. 

They also come here from time to time.


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## hi-revs (Nov 3, 2010)

jbyoung00008 said:


> If you shop around you can find Torpedo Barbs for as low as $9.99. Still not cheap but better than the $29.99 some stores sell them for. I went on a LFS crawl a little while back and hit up every fish store I could find in the Burnaby and Vancouver area. I even visited the ones people speak bad about. It was a blast and I saw some fish I don't normally see.
> 
> They also come here from time to time.


Thanks. I'll keep that in mind.


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## charles (Apr 21, 2010)

If you have a top, the marble hatchet would not jump out.


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## hi-revs (Nov 3, 2010)

So I ended up adding 24 rosy barbs and 10 albino tiger barbs to my existing dozen regular tiger barbs


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