Phishies Inn

For my 55 gallon, I originally was going to have zebra danios as dither fish, but now I'm exploring other possibilities. So far the stocking in my head is:

5 kuhli loaches
5 yoyo loaches

OR

5 kuhli loaches
3 yoyo loaches
3 angelicus loaches

Either way, what fish should I use as dither fish? I would like a small school of 5 or 6 active fish so my loaches won't be so timid and hide all the time.

Right now I'm debating between tiger barbs or zebra danios, but I'd like to know what other fish I could use....since I don't want to overcrowd the tank, I'd prefer a fish that didn't get more than 2 or 3 inches. Are tiger barbs pretty active fellas? I think they're very pretty and I've always wanted some.

Edit: If I went with my first choice of 5 kuhlis and 5 yoyos, could I possibly have a small school of both danios and the barbs? I don't know how their bioloads are.

Butterfly

Danios are excellent dither fish and come in all kinds of colors. If your temp isn't real high White Clouds make good dither fish.
I have danio kerri(they are blue with red fins), have had danio choprae, danio roseaus, and danio kyathit. They are all ver pretty little fish and most LFS will order them for you.
http://www.danios.info/index.aspx
Carol

capekate

I agree the Danios make great dither fish. Even the zebra danio's are kewl looking in a tank in a large group.
The blue w/red fin danio sounds really nice to me too! Would love to find them around here...
For personal reason I wouldnt go with Tiger Barbs.. Ive had such bad luck with their aggression, tho others have not.

~ kate

Phishies Inn

Well I hear that tiger barbs will be less aggresive if you got at least 5 or so. And I won't be getting any fish that have long flowly fins for them to chew on.

Edit: So far zebra danios are winning. What about cherry barbs? Are they just as nasty as the tigers?

Butterfly

cherry barbs in general are a little shy unless there are lots of plants but I've never seen one be aggressive.
Carol