# Video of new Southeast Asia tank



## discuspaul (Jul 27, 2010)

Beautiful tank, Mauro, and I love your substrate - what is it ?
The tank looks like it would be perfect for discus too, but I'm sure that's not your objective. I really do prefer a clean/fresh, simple, minimalist approach - just as you have achieved there.
Very interesting stocking approach too - Celestial Pearl Danios are one of my favorite fish. The may tend to be a little shy, but once they mature somewhat and are fully comfortable with their surroundings, you'll marvel at the intensity of their coloration !
Thanks for sharing,
Paul


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## FishBR (Sep 2, 2014)

discuspaul said:


> Beautiful tank, Mauro, and I love your substrate - what is it ?
> The tank looks like it would be perfect for discus too, but I'm sure that's not your objective. I really do prefer a clean/fresh, simple, minimalist approach - just as you have achieved there.
> Very interesting stocking approach too - Celestial Pearl Danios are one of my favorite fish. The may tend to be a little shy, but once they mature somewhat and are fully comfortable with their surroundings, you'll marvel at the intensity of their coloration !
> Thanks for sharing,
> Paul


 Thank you, Paul. I was setting up this tank for a wild Cuipeua discus pair, but as you know they did not survive the trip from Brazil and the quarantine period in a friend's house. So I decided to make it into a community tank. Yes, I am hoping that once well established the CPDs will color up nicely. They were very shy in the beginning but are finally eating. The substrate is pool filter sand from Home Depot.


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## Big O (Jun 28, 2011)

*More Panda Garras*

Love your tank. I think you need more Panda Garras. The more the merrier, cuz they will school. And ther my favorite.


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## FishBR (Sep 2, 2014)

Big O said:


> Love your tank. I think you need more Panda Garras. The more the merrier, cuz they will school. And ther my favorite.


 Thank you. I love Panda Garras too. I got five Pandas but unfortunately lost one of them. They are notorious for climbing out of the tank, which should always have a lid. One of them crawled out of the tank through the one inch space that I have for the intake of the canister filter


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## FishBR (Sep 2, 2014)

Quick Update and question about stocking.

The tank is doing well. Some plants are thriving, while others died out. Interesting that I had issues with plants that are considered easy to keep, including wisteria and Java Fern. Yesterday, a sad development. Woke up to find a fish in the floor. It was a female blue panchax. I was surprised to see it was alive and put it back in tank. But it died 14 hours later. Similarly to the panda garra, she jumped though a very small gap in the lid for the outage of the canister filter. Oh well ...

The question about stocking. I currently have in the 48g: 

2 Pearl Gouramis (Trichopodus leerii), 4 Panda Garras (Garra flavatra), 8 Raboras Harlequin (Trigonostigma heteromorpha), 7 Pearl Celestial Danios (Danio margaritatus), 3 Blue Panchax (Aplocheilus panchax), 4 Scarlet Badios (Dario dario) and a pair or wild Imbellis Betta.

Any suggestions of fish from Southeast Asia to add? Would dwarf gouramis fit well or are they aggressive? Other Suggestions?

Thanks,

Mauro


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## Tributary (Jun 30, 2014)

I just wanted to say this is a beautiful and inspiring tank. I love its simplicity and the selection of fish is great.


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## FishBR (Sep 2, 2014)

Tributary said:


> I just wanted to say this is a beautiful and inspiring tank. I love its simplicity and the selection of fish is great.


 Thank you! I appreciate that. I was just thinking about adding more color, may be some red/orange/yellow. That is why I am considering gouramis, including dwarf, neon blue dwarf, flame dwarf, sparkling or honey gourami. 

Are these peaceful? Should they be kept in groups or just one fish? Are any of these aggressive? All the fish in the tank right now are compatible and there is no aggression going on. I did not want to disrupt that. Any recommendation of gourami or any other SE fish?


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## Tributary (Jun 30, 2014)

I have kept dwarf gouramis and an opaline gourami decades ago. They were beautiful fish but very territorial, particularly the opaline.

If I were you, I would just add more harlequins. If you want orange color, you could try a school of glowlight danios (they're Burmese I think). Either way, I will be interested to see how your tank develops...


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## geekdad (Aug 7, 2014)

+1 for panda garras.

Fun fish to watch.


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## philipraposo1982 (Mar 6, 2014)

Get 2 more female pearls, you won't regret it. It will spread the male aggression nicely
And keep things calmer


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## FishBR (Sep 2, 2014)

Tributary said:


> I have kept dwarf gouramis and an opaline gourami decades ago. They were beautiful fish but very territorial, particularly the opaline.
> 
> If I were you, I would just add more harlequins. If you want orange color, you could try a school of glowlight danios (they're Burmese I think). Either way, I will be interested to see how your tank develops...


 I gave up the idea of dwarf gouramis. They can be somewhat aggressive, including to my wild betta. Glowlight danios look fantastic, but I think I have enough small schooling fish (I don’t want a tank that looks crowded).




geekdad said:


> +1 for panda garras.
> 
> Fun fish to watch.


 I will try to get at least 3 more. The problem is that LFS here in New Orleans never carry them and I don’t want to spend more money with shipping costs.




philipraposo1982 said:


> Get 2 more female pearls, you won't regret it. It will spread the male aggression nicely
> And keep things calmer


 I was considering getting some Denison’s barbs (red-line torpedo), but they are a schooling fish that should be kept in groups of at least 6. My 48g is too small for that. So I think I will stick to pearls as the center fish for this tank and I will get at least one more female to spread the aggression.

Thank you all for the feedback.


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## geekdad (Aug 7, 2014)

FishBR said:


> I will try to get at least 3 more. The problem is that LFS here in New Orleans never carry them and I don’t want to spend more money with shipping costs.


imperialtropicals.com has free shipping if you order at least $30 worth.


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## FishBR (Sep 2, 2014)

geekdad said:


> imperialtropicals.com has free shipping if you order at least $30 worth.


Thank you for hint!

One question: Can I keep 4 Denison Barbs in this 48g tank? What would you do, take the 2 pearl gouramis out and have a school of 6 Denison Barbs? Any suggestions?


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## FishBR (Sep 2, 2014)

My tendency right now is to get rid of the two pearl gouramis and get 6 Denison Barbs (Roseline Sharks). What do you all think?


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## discuspaul (Jul 27, 2010)

Mauro, Denison Barbs are very fast-moving, active fish, which can at times show some aggression, and grow quite large. Not a good fit imo with the rest of your stock.
They certainly are not good discus tank-mates for the reasons I stated above, and I suspect they could create some havoc in your tank, particularly being an intimidating factor for your CPD's. I've seen a beautiful specie display tank with nothing but Denisons, which I figured was well thought out.


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## FishBR (Sep 2, 2014)

discuspaul said:


> Mauro, Denison Barbs are very fast-moving, active fish, which can at times show some aggression, and grow quite large. Not a good fit imo with the rest of your stock.
> They certainly are not good discus tank-mates for the reasons I stated above, and I suspect they could create some havoc in your tank, particularly being an intimidating factor for your CPD's. I've seen a beautiful specie display tank with nothing but Denisons, which I figured was well thought out.


Paul, you make some good points (as always). No Denison barbs for this tank. 

Any other options to add color to the tank? What about the Red Rainbow fish (Glossolepis incisus)? They are not from SA, I know, but look great. They are also an active and schooling fish, but are smaller. May be a group of 5?

Any other suggestions of a medium sized, colored fish?


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## dpod (Sep 16, 2014)

If you're looking to add some red, why not go for rosy barbs?


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## FishBR (Sep 2, 2014)

dpod said:


> If you're looking to add some red, why not go for rosy barbs?


Thank you, that is an option. However, I personally find them a bit plain/common, in terms of body shape and color.


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## discuspaul (Jul 27, 2010)

I see you already have some blue panchax, but you could look into other strains of killifish/panchax - there are several other colorful varieties - yellow, green, reddish/golden colors.


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## FishBR (Sep 2, 2014)

discuspaul said:


> I see you already have some blue panchax, but you could look into other strains of killifish/panchax - there are several other colorful varieties - yellow, green, reddish/golden colors.


Those are also excellent options. I was trying, however, to stick to Southeast Asia and vicinities. As far as I know, the blue panchax is the only killifish from SA, the others are from Africa. 

But I found a rainbow fish that looks similar to a killifish and has amazing body shape and colors, the Gertrude's Rainbow (also known as the Spotted Blue-eye):

http://www.reef2rainforest.com/2013/01/25/friday-photospread-pseudomugil-gertrudae-dont-give-up/

It looks fantastic. Might be a good adition.


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## discuspaul (Jul 27, 2010)

FishBR said:


> Those are also excellent options. I was trying, however, to stick to Southeast Asia and vicinities. As far as I know, the blue panchax is the only killifish from SA, the others are from Africa.
> 
> But I found a rainbow fish that looks similar to a killifish and has amazing body shape and colors, the Gertrude's Rainbow (also known as the Spotted Blue-eye):
> 
> ...


 Sure would be. Good luck finding them.


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## FishBR (Sep 2, 2014)

discuspaul said:


> Sure would be. Good luck finding them.


 I found them in Aquabid and will place an order for 6!

I am also ordering more low-light plants. One of my Wisterias and two of my Java Ferns melted, so I am going to give them one more try. I am also ordering one more Hygrophila and one more Rotala Indica (both are looking good and I like them). Finally, I am going to add the Balansae plant (Cryptocoryne crispatula) and the Spiralis (Cryptocoryne spiralis) to the setup. I got all these plants from the "Excellent List of Low Light Plants" sticky here in the forum.

I will post a new video when fish and plants arrive next week.


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## FishBR (Sep 2, 2014)

Something weird happened in the tank today. My pearl gourami pair has been showing clear breeding signs. The male has a vibrant orange color and the famale was round like a soccer ball, appearing to be full of eggs. They have been doing the breeding dance, with the male "embracing" the female. Since I don't have floating plants right now and since the flow of the canister filter in the surface is strong, there is no way for the male to build a bubble nest. Today I looked at the tank and suddenly there is a huge number of tiny eggs floating all around and the pair and other fish are actively eating them. My only explanation is that the female pearl gourami expelled these eggs. I have no other explanation. Has anyone seen or experienced that before?


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## discuspaul (Jul 27, 2010)

Yes, that's very likely what happened, Mauro.
And with that water flow in your tank, the male probably didn't have much of a chance to fertilize the eggs, much less gather them up and place them into a bubble nest - which of course didn't exist anyway.
If you do want them to spawn again, lessen that water flow, add a couple of floating plants, in order to facilitate his building a nest, and have fun watching the show !


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## FishBR (Sep 2, 2014)

Hello everyone, 

Time for an update. There are some new developments, but not all of them are good. Another Blue Panchax jumped through one of the small openings in the tank's lid. I have therefore lost 2 of the original 4 fish. This fish is quite a jumper! And then one of my Panda Garras got sick and died. It just started to swirl around and died few hours later. From the original group of 5 Panda Garras, one jumped out the tank and another one died.

Another important news is the addition of 6 threadfin rainbowfish and 6 Spotted Blue-eyes. They look fantastic. With this, I have pretty much finished the tank's stocking. I just need to get a few more Panda Garras and then it is done. 

In relation to plants, I replaced the Wisteria and the Java Fern that had died in the first round. The new Wisteria is doing great, but the new Java Fern is melting. Interesting to read in so many places that Java Fern is a hardy plant that is easy to keep but to have it as the only plant that has not worked in this low-tech tank (no CO2 and no ferts, just Flourish Excel). I have also added a few Balansae and Spiralis. 

Here is a new video of my low-tech Southeast Asia tank:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=01AAuReqQ1Y

The video does not do justice to some of the fish, whose colors look much more impressive in person. But I hope you will enjoy it anyway.

Mauro


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## discuspaul (Jul 27, 2010)

Your tank looks just great, Mauro.
I see that your CPD's are not at all shy, are they ? They can be, in a community tank, where they're often hiding away, unseen.


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## FishBR (Sep 2, 2014)

discuspaul said:


> Your tank looks just great, Mauro.
> I see that your CPD's are not at all shy, are they ? They can be, in a community tank, where they're often hiding away, unseen.


Thank you, Paul. Most of the CPDs will be very active in the open most of the time, although a few of them do like to be among the plants. Cute little fish.


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## discuspaul (Jul 27, 2010)

Mauro, are you still looking for suggestions of south-east Asian fish species for your tank ?

If so, I'm quite sure that any one of, or a medley of the Boraras species, would work well with the rest of your stock. They're quite small fish - no more than 3/4" at maturity, but are extremely colorful and lively - actually beautiful fish. The only possible negative I can think of is that, if they're obtained too small in size, they could become tempting morsels for your gouramis - although I don't feel that should be a problem.

In any event, if you don't know much about these fish, do some googling on Boraras Brigittae, Boraras Maculatus, Boraras Merah, and there are also several other strains as well.
As you may know, they are 'miniatures' in the Rasbora species family, all from S.E. Asian regions.
Even in a large school , they won't contribute very much bio-load, so you could keep a fairly large group of them.

A few years ago I kept about 30 of them in a small 15 gal tank, with a half dozen CPD's, and a couple of Chocolate Gouramis, and it was quite a compatible group, which I felt produced a very attractive display.


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## FishBR (Sep 2, 2014)

discuspaul said:


> Mauro, are you still looking for suggestions of south-east Asian fish species for your tank ?
> 
> If so, I'm quite sure that any one of, or a medley of the Boraras species, would work well with the rest of your stock. They're quite small fish - no more than 3/4" at maturity, but are extremely colorful and lively - actually beautiful fish. The only possible negative I can think of is that, if they're obtained too small in size, they could become tempting morsels for your gouramis - although I don't feel that should be a problem.
> 
> ...


 Thank you for this recommendation, Paul. I did not know about Boraras and they look fantastic! I am now very tempted to add them to this tank, although I feel that if add more fish the tank would look too busy. It would be great to set up a smaller tank with Boraras, CPDs and my wild Imbellis betta. The wild betta and the CPDs are more timid and are not eating very well in this bigger community tank.

Just out of curiosity: has anyone experienced similar difficulties with Java Fern? It is the only plant that has not worked in this low-tech tank.


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## discuspaul (Jul 27, 2010)

Just a small correction to my earlier post about Boraras: I stated them to be no more than 3/4" in size - that's on the conservative side - most Boraras strains can grow to over 1", up to around 1.25".
I assure you they are beautiful little fish - I had both Brigittaes and Maculatus together and it was a lively, colorful group. And they were inexpensive at the time - I don't think I paid more than $1. each.

BTW, my experience with Java Ferns has been up & down, for no particular reason that I've been able to decipher. In some tanks it has flourished - in others a complete bust.


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## discuspaul (Jul 27, 2010)

BTW Mauro,
It would be of interest to know if you should decide to add Boraras to your existing tank, or opt to set up a new tank for them. If you do either, please let us know what strains you managed to find, and at what price. Thanks.


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## FishBR (Sep 2, 2014)

discuspaul said:


> BTW Mauro,
> It would be of interest to know if you should decide to add Boraras to your existing tank, or opt to set up a new tank for them. If you do either, please let us know what strains you managed to find, and at what price. Thanks.


I placed an order for 8 Boraras naevus and 4 Panda garras from Wet Spot tropical Fish. I am paying $3.00 for each Borara. I will post pics after they settle down.


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## discuspaul (Jul 27, 2010)

Thanks for the info. Looking forward to seeing them !


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