[GSAS-Member] Dither fish for Yellow Acara

[Shamus Young <machismo@eskimo.com>]

Hola!

I seem to have run into a mild fish compatibility issue, and would like to
replace dither fish with something that will survive.

Here's the setup: 40g long tank.  regular aquarium gravel.  Filtered with
UGF on one end run by powerhead.  On the other end, Magnum HOT with the
output going into a UGF lift tube to run it reverse flow.  Lots of
driftwood in the tank.  Planted with about a dozen anubius tied to
driftwood, and a few java ferns.  Light just two single strips ith full
spectrum bulbs.  pH runs 6.9-7.0, water is soft and kept clean.

For a little over 10 years, this housed a Severum and serpae tetras, and a
bristlenose pleco.  That guy died a couple of years ago, and I inherited a
Synidontus angelicus from someone shutting his tanks down.  Around the
start of the year, I decided to go for a more active tank, added the
plants I could never have with the Severum, replaced the bristlenose pleco
that had finally died, and started a school of penguin tetras w/ 6.

The penguins were happy for a couple of months with the S. angelicus, who
mainly ignored them.  Then I went for some cichlids.  I chose Aequidens
Metae, Yellow acars, and have 4 that are 2" long currently (shoud top out
at 5" or so).  Immediately, the tetra population was halved.  But I found
two outside the tank (there's a big open spot behind the lights), so
thought they jumped when I was rearranging the tank to add plants.  I got
6 more to get the school to 9.  The next day, it was 6, then the day after
three, then the day after that, none.  I guess the appetite was exactly
three a night.