# Fish that don't hide



## touch of sky (Nov 1, 2011)

When I saw the title of your post, my first thought was harlequin rasboras lol. They are always out front and center for me and I see they are for you, too.

Next, from my tanks, I would say rosy barbs. They are quite colourful and active. Always get more females that males. I have some long finned ones that are quite spectacular. They breed easily, too. Black neons have also been good for me, as have been lemon tetras. Danios were always good, too. 

On the bad side, black phantom tetras hid. Very pretty, but timid even in a heavily planted tank.


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## Onyx165 (Jul 16, 2013)

2nd the lemon tetras, they're always front and center flashing and chasing each other.

Cardinal tetras will usually swim out in the open, but can be a little jumpy with sudden movements. 

No personal experience with nano fish, but from what I've read they tend to be the shyest.


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## Nordic (Nov 11, 2003)

Lol, that is because danios are dumb as a nougat bar. I have to start every day by looking for them inside my hob filter.
When your fish are new, feed really tiny amounts every time you go past the tank.
After a week or so, you will wish for shy fish. My fishes are all intimidating me.

I feel guilty if I walk through the house without a pot of fish food.

My opinion is that very small fish don't work so well in a 20 gal.
Its not big enough for a decent school, and they are too small to enjoy from anything past a few feet.
I wouldn't go for fish much smaller than a little finger. Say about swordtail size, or in rounded fish, about a tiger barb (which along with the rosy barbs suggested make for a pretty tank).

Have you given thoughts as to weather you would prefer a species tank or community?


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## touch of sky (Nov 1, 2011)

Onyx165 said:


> 2nd the lemon tetras, they're always front and center flashing and chasing each other.


Something I should say about the lemon tetras, is they look drab in the tanks at the store, but when they mature they have lovely bright black and yellow fins and a red eye.


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## Doogy262 (Aug 11, 2013)

One of my favorites are cherry barbs 2 females for each male.they are to busy chasing each other to be afraid of anything.


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## touch of sky (Nov 1, 2011)

Doogy262 said:


> One of my favorites are cherry barbs 2 females for each male.they are to busy chasing each other to be afraid of anything.


Good suggestion. The males become very red, too, and add a nice bit of colour.


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## latchdan (Sep 7, 2007)

I vote for harlequin rasboras, My cardinals always hid.


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## thedood (May 30, 2015)

If I may make a suggestion. Oliotius/Puntius oligolepis, common name Checkered Barb. I am going to get a school of these to go with my espei rasbora. These are not as common as a lot of fish so you may not be able to go to petsmart to get them but if you decide you want to stock some and cant find them let me know and I can point you to a good solid source I have used and where I am going to get mine from.


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## RWaters (Nov 12, 2003)

What about the gold form of the white cloud mountain minnow? Readily available, adapts to a variety of water conditions, always out and active. It looks good too! Or you could go with the regular white cloud if you want a more subtle look.


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## n25philly (Dec 12, 2013)

Doogy262 said:


> One of my favorites are cherry barbs 2 females for each male.they are to busy chasing each other to be afraid of anything.


I love my cherry barbs. I have a dozen of them. They hid for the first few days after I got them mainly due to the bright light and my floaters having not grown in yet, but after they settled they are all over the place and typically at the front begging for food like everyone else. I also like them because the males and females look totally different so it feels like you have two different fish in your tank


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## Manami (Sep 29, 2015)

I have gold pristella tetras and they are awesome! They never hide and swim in group almost all the time everywhere in the tank.The reason I say "almost" is because I have five of them only (I lost three), but when they were eight they always swam together. I want to get five more when they get back in stock.

They look quite similar to the lemon tetras. I "think" they are smaller than the lemon tetras, but I'm not so sure. They look paler at the petstore, but once they establish in your tank, they will look so much prettier. = )


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## shattersea (Sep 6, 2013)

I was thinking a species tank as opposed to community with possibly a centerpiece fish. The gold version of white cloud minnows is definitely a possibility. Rosy and/or cherry barbs are a great suggestion too. 

What about dwarf rainbows or spotted blue eyes?


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## SueD (Nov 20, 2010)

Another suggestion is silver tip tetras. These are very active with great coloring. Larger than the nano fish. But get a bunch 10-12 at least. They may spar with each other and chase a lot at first. Mine took a couple of days to settle down, but the chasing was among the group and never with any of the others in the tank (diamond tetras and bentosi tetras). 

For a smaller species, look at some of the pencilfish. I have dwarf pencilfish (Nannostomus marginatus), which do hide a bit, but there are others - Beckford's, one line (Nannostomus unifasciatus), dip tail or brown (Nannostomus eques), or three-lined (Nannostomus trifasciatus). There is also a coral red and purple pencilfish.


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## sohankpatel (Jul 10, 2015)

My bolivian rams are always out in the front of the tank begging for food.


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## shattersea (Sep 6, 2013)

I love pencil fish. They are so fun to watch. I had them in another tank. Unfortunately the was rimless with no lid and several of them jumped to their deaths. This tank doesn't have a lid either so I'm wary to try them again. Has anyone successfully kept them in a lid free tank?


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## jaliberti (Dec 5, 2015)

Fish that don't hide IME are fish that can easily hide if/when they feel threatened. A densely planted tank, e.g. >1/3 of the tank planted, will encourage fish to swim out in the open more freely vs a sparsely planted tank. In thinly planted tanks fish tend to be more apprehensive and closely hug what little plant cover is available.


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## jlfkona (Jan 1, 2013)

Cherry Barbs are my favorite in a 20 gallon. We have had a few babies as well. 


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


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## PlantedRich (Jul 21, 2010)

When choosing fish, there may be a bit of nature to look at on these. If the fish is a common bait fish in nature and meant to be eaten, it is quite likely to behave the same in our tanks. In nature a small fish has two options if they are bite sized. They can hide or be eaten so that can give us a clue. Neon tetras are often mentioned as a fish who are eaten when we put them in tanks with larger fish. They don't know how to hide. Then there are the fish who hide. If we give them enough other fish to all feel safe, they may be out and about or they may still all hide when we come around as they see us as a danger. Some can be retrained with food, some not. 
One way to avoid fish that hide is to get fish who are not the main dish in nature.


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## sevendust111 (Jul 15, 2014)

I have a 20 long. It has 6 neons, 6 albino cherry barbs and 6 blue eyed fork tail rainbows. Carpet in the center with higher plants along the periphery. The neons school tightly in the center front. They rarely hide. Barb's school loosely and are all over the place. The Rainbows school loosely and stay towards the top of the tank. The rainbows and Barb's can be a little aggressive because I have too many males . I don't have that problem though with the neons. The rainbows are extremely active.


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## Nordic (Nov 11, 2003)

The thing is, you need to be like 6 inches from the glass to look at neons, and hope they don't swim to the back of the tank.
Which does not really fit a 3 foot tank. Which is why I suggested about 2 inch fishes.

Also it is a lot more work to take care of a large school of fishes. You still need to check each fish for signs of disease etc. regularly.


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## bigbadjon (Aug 6, 2015)

I generally recommend gold barbs for smaller species tanks as they look good with or without plants and reach 2 inches pretty quickly. Odessa barbs or black ruby barbs are also a good choice if you don't mind the drabber, but still attractive, females.


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## Camber (Mar 24, 2015)

latchdan said:


> I vote for harlequin rasboras, My cardinals always hid.


+1. I have over 30 in my 90g. Even when it was heavily planted they all stayed in the plants. I have to sit still for a few minutes before they come out. Feeding is 50/50 chance of all the pellets sinking to the bottom as only a few decide they're hungry enough to come to the front of the tank quick enough.


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## The Dude (Feb 8, 2011)

I've had praecox rainbows and they are awesome! Super active and very pretty. They play constantly. Rainbows are so gorgeous and active I am considering adding some to my african cichlid tanks. They aren't from the correct lake, but man are they fun and beautiful.


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## Termato (Apr 12, 2012)

I just wanted to share that through my experience Rams, German or Bolivians, haven't been that active/social. None of the smaller cichlids from South America do, for me. Even apistos. They tend to stay more in the bushes than out in the open. They definitely come out, it's just not what I'd call an active fish. I've had many of them and that's just been my experience with them. I'm sure other have had different experiences. Good luck on your search!


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## shattersea (Sep 6, 2013)

I was considering either Praecox or threadfins. I do want to keep shrimp in this tank, too, though, and I'm not sure how they'd fare. I'm still drawn to nano fish, so I'm torn...


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## WaterLife (Jul 1, 2015)

shattersea said:


> I was considering either Praecox or threadfins. I do want to keep shrimp in this tank, too, though, and I'm not sure how they'd fare. I'm still drawn to nano fish, so I'm torn...


In a 20 gallon with shrimp, between Praecox or threadfins, threadfins would definitely be the better match, as they have much smaller throats/mouths so they are more shrimp safe and they can fit in a 20 gallon better.

Praecox have a nice shimmer, but are more active (bit feistier as well), but threadfins have nice color, finnage and have a entertaining fin display.

But nano fish might be a better choice.


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## PickieBee (Oct 29, 2014)

Rosy barbs, white clouds, or threadfin rainbows are all great suggestions. I also love Norman's lampeye killis. They look great against a dark background but their colors don't show well against a heavily planted background.


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## shattersea (Sep 6, 2013)

I hadn't considered the killies. That's something to look into. I'm also wondering about some of the different blue eye rainbows. Red neon or Gertrudae. Has anyone kept those with shrimp?


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## newbieshrimpkeeper (Dec 2, 2014)

I have heard of cases of successfully keeping threadfins,WCMM and lampeye with shrimp(a breeding, growing population) with a lot of shelter. But i never heard of blue eyes being kept with shrrimp, but it might work with plenty of cover though. But I wouldnt personally risk it except with lampeyes if u want a breeding colony.


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## WaterLife (Jul 1, 2015)

Yeah the Pseudomugil rainbows are a great choice. They are brave, curious and don't hide. They can go in planted areas to play and spawn, but they are out in the open most of the time. Identical behavior to the threadfins. Threadfins are more noticeable from afar because of their size and color, but Pseudomugil are great in their own respect.

As with most fish, they will eat any shrimplet that can fit in their mouth. But Pseudomugils having small mouths, threadfins also have small throats, the shrimp can grow to a safe size sooner than if you were to use some other fish. Adult shrimp will be fine, but expect them to still eat whatever shrimplet can fit in their mouth. But with enough cover, the shrimplets should be able to survive until they are a safe size (larger than fish mouth).

Red Neons/Paskai/Iriani Red Pseudomugil rainbows are my favorite out of the genus. I prefer them over Gertrudae Aru 2 and Aru 4. The blue iridescent stripe is a cool trait and the red/orange-blue contrast is a nice color combo that stands out more than the Gerts do. P. Furcatus (forktail) are a bit more active swimmers, so I would say that species is better for +36" long tanks.


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## jaliberti (Dec 5, 2015)

This thread is similar to threads on dithers: The Planted Tank Forum - Search Results


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## shattersea (Sep 6, 2013)

Red Neons sounds like a great choice. Do I need to be feeding them live foods, or will flake work? I've never gone the live food route before so not sure where to start.

Jaliberti - That link doesn't appear to be active, but I will do a thread search on dithers. Thanks!


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## WaterLife (Jul 1, 2015)

I've kept quite a lot of Pseudomugil rainbows and they've all readily accepted pretty much anything (dry commercial fish food) I feed them. So no live food required.

If you did happen to get some that wouldn't take to flake/commercial food right away, just feed live food at first then wean them onto frozen then onto dry/flake food, they will transition quickly.


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## PickieBee (Oct 29, 2014)

newbieshrimpkeeper said:


> I have heard of cases of successfully keeping threadfins,WCMM and lampeye with shrimp(a breeding, growing population) with a lot of shelter. But i never heard of blue eyes being kept with shrrimp, but it might work with plenty of cover though. But I wouldnt personally risk it except with lampeyes if u want a breeding colony.


Just adding that IME lampeyes and threadfins are utterly uninterested in shrimp of any size.


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## newbieshrimpkeeper (Dec 2, 2014)

PickieBee said:


> Just adding that IME lampeyes and threadfins are utterly uninterested in shrimp of any size.


Not tru, since i saw a threadfin go for a shrimplet myself.


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## WaterLife (Jul 1, 2015)

That's the thing, experiences can vary, so many different factors that can effect outcome (and not just shrimp and fish compatibility).

In PickieBee's defense, it was noted "IME" (in my experience), so the experience PickieBee had was true in their case. And it's true in newbieshrimpkeeper's experience that the shrimplets were eaten. Many people for many scenarios can have different and conflicting experiences, just so many variables that may come into play that just because someone has a different experience than you doesn't mean it's not true. It's just best to hear everyone out and determine for yourself whether odds are higher that the shrimp will be safe, or dinner. And again, experiences vary and so the OP might not never know until it's tried out in their own tank setting.

I've heard tons of different stories of even large fish (cichlid) that normally would eat shrimp, wouldn't even eat adult cherry shrimp. I myself even had a large Arowana that wouldn't eat neon tetras, guppies (not feeders) or any of the other small fish, and he was very well large enough. My clown loaches wouldn't eat my kuhli loaches even though they have eaten worms larger than the kuhlis (not even a baby kuhli)!


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