Dither Fish

[Ed VanDyke]

Hi, I purchased a half dozen white clouds last night to use as dither fish.
They hung out at the water surface and were quickly dispatched by my N.
livingstoni. Several months prior I purchased a dozen rosy barbs. Half of
those were gone the next day. The remaining six lasted about a month, then
I was down to three. A month later only one remained. The final one is
still in there and has been for about six months. Curiously, the lifespan
of each fish was directly proportional to the deepness of the red color in
each fish. The one that remains is a very deep, almost solid, red. In
addition to the female N. livingstoni, I have a female M. auratus, a male
M. estherae hybrid, and a male P. socolofi. Does anyone have any good ideas
on what might make a good dither fish. I have a heavily planted (plastic
and silk) tank to provide cover. I'm looking for something fast and spry,
and quite possibly red, that would be happy in the water conditions of my
cichlids.



--
"The task is not so much to see what no one yet has seen, but to think what
no body yet has thought about that which everyone sees."

Schopenhaeur (1788 - 1860).

[ss]

On Mon, 14 Mar 2005 17:13:27 -0800, "Ed VanDyke" >
wrote:

>Hi, I purchased a half dozen white clouds last night to use as dither fish.
>They hung out at the water surface and were quickly dispatched by my N.
>livingstoni. Several months prior I purchased a dozen rosy barbs. Half of
>those were gone the next day. The remaining six lasted about a month, then
>I was down to three. A month later only one remained. The final one is
>still in there and has been for about six months. Curiously, the lifespan
>of each fish was directly proportional to the deepness of the red color in
>each fish. The one that remains is a very deep, almost solid, red. In
>addition to the female N. livingstoni, I have a female M. auratus, a male
>M. estherae hybrid, and a male P. socolofi. Does anyone have any good ideas
>on what might make a good dither fish. I have a heavily planted (plastic
>and silk) tank to provide cover. I'm looking for something fast and spry,
>and quite possibly red, that would be happy in the water conditions of my
>cichlids.


Use Jumbo Danios. fast and large enough to last.

[Craig]

giant danios are good as are silver dollars but they get quite big
all in all.

i thought about making a bio type tank a while back, 4 foot square and
2 foot deep (had to give in cos of weight restrictions... as you may
have guessed)

i wanted one apex predator (namly an oscar) and a huge group of live
bearers such as wild guppies and a load of tetras (im talking hundreds)

i had the idea that what ever fish the oscar would eat at its leisure
(hed be fed pellets as a staple diet) would be repopulated by the
spawning of the otehr fish.

however it is far to difficult due to the conditions fish are kept it.
even a huge tank is far from natural and the confinement means hunting
is far to easy (and the corners of the tank help no end)

you are basically experiencing the same thing.

no matter how fast the fish you get will be theyll rest or slow down
sometime and then its supper time for your cichlids.

silver dollars are probley your best bet with the fake plants
especially, but they get huge, some nearly 8" long and that again deep.

it was mistaken that N. livingstoni translate to "living rock" due to
their ability to lay still while hunting. they feign death to lure in
smaller fish then take a snap at them as a food source.

id personally avoid dither fish with an advanced predator lke this, itll
end in tragedy every time.



--
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[Ed VanDyke]

Ya, my N. livingstoni will be end endless source of problems in my tank.
She's only about 4" right now, but growing at a good rate. Normally this
would be fine, but she's living in a 55gal tank. I was an absolute cichlid
rube when I bought her, and at the time she was less than an inch. She has
severe eye damage and the LFS's I talked to weren't particularly interested
in adopting her. She seems to get along well with all her tankmates, with
the exception of dither fish. She doesn't even bother fry from the mbuna.
Though it is expensive trying batch after batch of dither fish, it's
fascinating to watch her hunt. I'm leaning towards giant danios for my next
attempt. I'm still stumped by the fact that she has left the last rosy barb
alone for so long.



"Craig" -DONTEMAIL> wrote in message
...
> giant danios are good as are silver dollars but they get quite big
> all in all.
>
> i thought about making a bio type tank a while back, 4 foot square and
> 2 foot deep (had to give in cos of weight restrictions... as you may
> have guessed)
>
> i wanted one apex predator (namly an oscar) and a huge group of live
> bearers such as wild guppies and a load of tetras (im talking hundreds)
>
> i had the idea that what ever fish the oscar would eat at its leisure
> (hed be fed pellets as a staple diet) would be repopulated by the
> spawning of the otehr fish.
>
> however it is far to difficult due to the conditions fish are kept it.
> even a huge tank is far from natural and the confinement means hunting
> is far to easy (and the corners of the tank help no end)
>
> you are basically experiencing the same thing.
>
> no matter how fast the fish you get will be theyll rest or slow down
> sometime and then its supper time for your cichlids.
>
> silver dollars are probley your best bet with the fake plants
> especially, but they get huge, some nearly 8" long and that again deep.
>
> it was mistaken that N. livingstoni translate to "living rock" due to
> their ability to lay still while hunting. they feign death to lure in
> smaller fish then take a snap at them as a food source.
>
> id personally avoid dither fish with an advanced predator lke this, itll
> end in tragedy every time.
>
>
>
> --
> Posted via CichlidFish.com
> http://www.cichlidfish.com/portal/forums