Compatible open water tankmates for Scleromystax barbatus?

[bekateen]

Hi All,

Does anybody know which open-water (midwater or surface-dwelling) fish naturally co-occur with

Scleromystax barbatus

? I'm setting up an unheated tank that will hover around pH 6 and fluctuate between 60F-75F seasonally (in a house that is heated in winter and air conditioned in summer). I'd like to pick compatible spp. that normally occur at the cooler temperature and in the same locale, rather than use random spp. of tetras, etc., that happen to tolerate the cooler temperature.

Also, based on the description of S. barbatus, is it fair to say that they prefer a strong current? I'm planning a sandy bottomed tank with a mix of different driftwoods, some slate and smooth stones, and little or no plants (or is that not representative of their natural habitat?). For the water current, I'll be using a strong external power filter.

Finally, for water quality, does S. barbatus naturally occur in more of a white water habitat?

Thanks, Eric

[racoll]

Check out this paper. Should have some of the info you are after.

[bekateen]

Check out this paper. Should have some of the info you are after.

Thanks Racoll! That's an excellent paper.
Cheers, Eric

[bekateen]

After checking out that paper, and a few more which I located using Google scholar, I found the following spp. co-occur with S. barbatus in different areas:

• Geophagus brasiliensis
  (I had
  Geophagus pellegrini
  or
  Geophagus steindachneri
  back in the 1970s {it was so long ago, I can't recall which- I just remember the red hump on the head}; Geophagus are wonderful fish but they would quickly outgrow my tank)
• Hyphessobrycon flammeus
  - Flame Tetra
• Hyphessobrycon eques
  - Serpae Tetra
• Hyphessobrycon bifasciatus
  - Yellow Tetra
• Hyphessobrycon anisitsi
  - Buenos Aires Tetra

When I looked up these spp. on other websites, only the Geophagus and Buenos Aires tetras like temperatures below 72F/22C, so I think I should get the Buenos Aires tetras, which are readily available in many local stores.

Interestingly, as I read the various papers, I found that many of the habitats surveyed were not fast moving streams, and yet barbatus was present. Of course, it was hard to compare from paper to paper whether barbatus were abundant there or just represented. Either way, this gives me some ideas.

There were several spp. that were frequently mentioned from paper to paper, but with the exception of the Geophagus, none of them did I recognize as common in the tropical fish hobby trade. So this is probably as close as I'll be able to get for co-occurring species.