What fish or invertebrate do YOU always come back to? My Patreon: www.patreon.com/racheloleary Fan mail can be sent to: PO box 146 Manchester PA 17345 Buy me a coffee: msjinkzd.com/about_msjinkzd/support-our-site/ Instagram @msjinkzd Website and stocklist: msjinkzd.com/stocklist/ Facebook: facebook.com/msjinkzd/
I have always loved snails of all sorts with the exotics being a favorite. But now that I have started keeping kuhli loaches, I am just fascinated by all loaches and cannot imagine a loachless life, even if they snack on some snails now and then. I am really close to diving into killifish(gardneri) breeding and I think that will consume the next decade when I start exploring the annuals!
Snails, I think I have a mix of pond snails and some little ramhorns , I got them for free, one of the LFS was cleaning and considered them plague, but I have them in all my tanks, some of them are gold and others have this pink hue and truth to be told I feed them some times to my Red eared slider 😬
My absolute gotta have are herds of cories. They are so playful while not being a menace to anything. I love to watch them poke around and dog pile on each other.
@@robthefishhouse4395 I have a large group of bronze coreys in my 150gal that like to sit on top of a big piece of flat rock, all at the same time. Looks like a tiny aircraft carrier 🙂
I love that I keep all five of your picks. My ride or die fish is fancy goldfish. They are the first fish that I kept as a kid, and they still make me very happy at 47.
The first person to successfully breed a line of _purple_ shrimp will have their name solidified in history for all eternity. Keep up the good work my friends.
@@aquaticcentral6341 The general consensus is that neither of those lines are actually purple the way we all think of purple. If you have to focus or strain to see the purple color then they aren't really purple as we know it. Close? Perhaps to some people, but a good start nonetheless. Jeez, I've said _purple_ so many times that it's lost all its meaning now. *_Purple_* Thanks for chiming in my friend. *Apologies for the double spacing - it's a well known internal RUclips error and I can't keep editing every post for repetitive issues they refuse to fix.
Yeah a lot of those lines need work genetics wise to get a solid purple but I would love to see a purple strain of dwarf shrimp as that would be my favorite
@@aquaticcentral6341 You're not alone my friend. When my wife discovered that we could get colored freshwater shrimp for our tanks, the first question she asked was if we could get some purple shrimp. Purple being her favorite color but also extremely rare in the freshwater aquarium community. Off the top of my head, I do believe the Emperor Tetra _(Nematobrycon palmeri)_ is the closest thing we have to purple in the freshwater realm. I have doubts that we'll ever see naturally occurring purple shrimp . Seems like that would require some genetic modification via human intervention. But I'm optimistic that Mother Nature has some tricks in that giant purse of hers. Keep up the good work my friend.
I'm with you on the rasboras and dwarf catfish types - I have tons of corydoras, schools of albinos, emeralds, paleatus, trilineatus, julii, pandas, and sterbai, can't live without them. I also keep the dwarf scissor rasboras and harlequins! But the only reason I have fish at all is because of betta splendens. I really don't even know how many I have, between community tanks, solo tanks, sorority tanks, split tanks, etc. And if I see one I want while I'm out, I have plenty of tanks sitting here cycled, planted, ready to go. I love not having kids to take care of. I get to spend all my money on aquarium stuff and musical gear and vinyl records. lol
Rachel's videos are dynamic, educational and rife with high definition visuals that accompany her concise narratives. I am compelled to keep watching; my ride or die species is the Pygmy live-bearer Specifically Heterandria formosa that I've kept continuously since 1998 with only two infusions of new stock over a 20 year duration.
I'm fairly new to the hobby, but Cherry Barbs! They are beautiful, active, funny (like when they try to swallow whole snails or big algae) and they always come to the glass and watch what I'm doing and reacting to my movements. I'm also keeping White Clouds and they're fairly neat, but the cherries are my absolute favorite.
Love Cories. Will always have a herd of em in my tank lol Also I love bettas. Particularly the girls. So much personality!! And last but not least Pea Puffers. The most adorable little killer
Have had one of the worst weeks that I can remember, but Rachel’s videos are such excellent therapy. Almost as relaxing and engaging as meditation. Thanks for helping center me Rachel, you have a magnificent calming ability.
I'm super boring, but my two favs are danios and corys. I love them for being hardy, fun to watch in a group, but also won't be shy if exploring by themselves. Danios are so dang prolific too, if you have floating plants with a lot of roots for the fry to survive. I love the way Danios play peekaboo, through the floating roots. Just a real joy to watch.
Golden dojo loaches for larger aquariums and the Panda Corydoras for smaller ones are my favourite common or garden fish. Both are very active fish in my tanks . My favourite schooler is the rummy nose. Keep coming back to that one. In large groups I think it looks great. Top of tank I love the Hatchets.
I have all those species currently. I learned about them through your channel and through the Aquarium Co-Op channel. My current favorite fish is my multies. They are the most entertaining fish I have - always busy. I have them in a 33 gallon long. I put in a mound of rocks with a bonsai tree on top for decoration. I've got riccia growing in the bonsai tree and anubias stuck in the rock. What I found is they will use the spaces between the rocks as a home as well as the shells. I've had them for about 6 weeks. No babies yet, but I'm hopeful. I started with a colony of 10 fish and I have seen breeding behavior.
Love your top 5 Rachel. I have all of these in my tanks, mostly due to your fantastic tips. One I also like is Celestial Pearl Danio, although you must have many to keep them from hiding.
Dwarf cichlids, corydoras of all types, and I'm in love with rummy nose tetras. Otos are a ton of fun if you keep them in a group, they get really outgoing and there's something cute about them. I would love to set up a 75 gallon with some oddball fish like African rope fish and African butterfly fish.
Hi Rachel! Just watched your top 5 video and agree with some of your selections! I adore corys - don't care what species, I just love them. I was recently introduced to the white cloud minnow (won a tank at an auction and the livestock included were long finned WC). These fish are STUNNING! Super happy, always busy and the colors are amazing. Even my females have great color. The group that I have are a proven breeding set, so I hope to have fry soon and will put some outside in tubs for the summer. Super little fish. I think I may need to set up a tank for the purple oil cats as well. Those are amazing. Thanks for all you do and the info/education you share! Have a great day. --Rena
I like those white cloud minnows. They are beautiful. They have an interesting story. They are easy to keep and just the perfect little fish. You can keep them in a 10 gallon tank. They need living plants, so there you can get your education. They are awesome. I also like those black neons. They are almost as tough as white clouds.
Ive gotten (back) into aquariums because of shrimp too! I started with a cherry tank (just added a dwarf blue cray to it) and now have moved to a second larger blue dream shrimp tank with dwarf orange crays and, of course, my mystery snails. Next will be a pea puffer tank I think!
Mbuna for sure.. they were the first fish I can really say I kept as a hobbyist they readily breed for me, there's so many colors out there. And I like how aggressively they feed!
One of my all time favorite fish is the Keyhole cihlid. Though much larger than your nano fish it can be kept safely and calmly with any small/medium tetras. Much more peaceful than either angels, discus and even Apistos and Kribs, their muted colors reflect their overall personalities. A pair can make a showpiece in any aquarium where tranquility is desired. Let the smaller fish school, shoal, and dart around and these majestic fish will look on in serenity. A pair will need at max size a 40 gallon breeder or larger tank to grow out, but can easily start in a 20 gallon tank when young. In the 15 years that I kept them I never saw them attack another fish, except light sparring between two males and those were contained to threat displays and once in a while a short chase to establish territories when first placed in the tank. They love heavily planted and scaped tanks with open water near the mid to top of the tank for easier feeding, but other than they they love the cover plants and driftwood give them. They definitely benefit from having dither fish in with them. They get along with just about every other small to medium to even slightly larger fish no bigger than Agnels, Discus, Uaru, or Raphel Cats (spotted or striped) and Black Ghost Knife fish. When happy and stress free their creamy beige colors will take on a bluish sheen on their scales. Definitely one of my top 10 personal favorite fish, right up there with Pearl Gouramis, Snakeskin Gouramis, Bettas, Chocolate Goruamis (a nano species I would recommend to you Rachel), Honey Gouramis, Kuhli loaches, any Corydoras cat, Otocinclus, Diamond tetras, and Marble Hatchet fish.
Can’t lie Rachel... my ‘can’t go without’ fish is the guppy. My dad and I used to raise them for the local pet store. 27 tanks we had at one time. (Early 80’s) Love the hardiness, the versatility, ease of care, and their brilliant colors! Not to mention, YOU actually have a hand in the offspring. Matching males and females.... anticipating the birth of LIVE young and then waiting patiently to see what they look like. Love them!!! 😀
Zebra danios... I know they're not very exotic or rare or anything, but they're a) very stylish-looking with their go-faster stripes and b) so much fun to watch! (And it doesn't hurt that they are also hardy as heck and ready to make any amateur feel like a master fish-keeper!)
Love everything on your ride or die list. Me... Cherry shrimp Heterandria formosa, the gold form Endlers Other fish and shrimp come and go, but those three are my forever fish and shrimp, never lose interest in them. 👍💕👍
I have 3 honeycomb catfish in my 10 gallon. I absolutely 1000% love them. They have beautiful color and they just are so chaotic when i drop freeze dried blood worms in. Totally a awesome fish.
Yoyo loaches. I got them to take care of a pond snail problem. But They're like little dolphins, they do something that makes me laugh every day. Seeing them tussle in this shiny ball of hyper wiggle is a sight.
Dwarf chain loaches, Ambastaia sidthimunki. I originally got a few 15 years ago to eat snails, one lived through my partial hobby-hiatus for health reasons. Now I've retired, I've got back into it and given that elder survivor a whole new community of youngsters. She will have to teach the babies how to loach properly. The youngsters are very active and silly and so tiny, just today coming out of quarantine.
I'm new to the hobby but I must say I really look forward to the chance to own some of the purple catfish you have one day. They are so stinking cute I feel once I have some theyll be staying for a long long time
Morning Rachel I guess I beat you this morning have already had my coffee, but I think I have to have another one, as you and coffee go so well together. LOL Am loving the Little guys, and think that your diversity between your Big Guys and them is so interesting Have a wonderful aquatic/gardening day Rachael
I love white clouds. I have a 10 gallon heavily planted tank with 6 white clouds, 3 ottocinclus catfish, and I just added 4 black skirt tetras a few days ago
Bonjour Rachel, I have a fleet of Tanichthys albonubes and Amano Shrips in my 200 liters tank, which is the first tank i ever had, started 2 years ago. I remember listening to one of your videos about tanichthys, which greatly helped me in my choice. I am very happy with my fish and I never have to worry about water temperature. I wonder if i could add a specie in it, I thought about maybe adding danios. Merci from France.
My favorite is the otto cat number one with at least one Male betta :) I have guppies that are getting into my heart right now....but the mollies are cute too. I love live bearers!
I've got a few from your top 5. I've got a few Chili Rasboras but I never have much luck with them so I have some Dwarf Rasboras to compliment them which are just as red and are hardier in my opinion. I also have Amano and Cherry Shrimp. I've had White Clouds in the past and can see why they are your number 1. They are soooo versatile with temp range, hardy, cheap and a pretty fish!
That's a Dope A** list. I have Chili's in my home and office aquarium's. Righteous little homies.. My new favorite are the Zebra Otocinclus. Their super expensive, but super awesome. All time favorites are any flavor of week Cory Cats. I have Salt and Peppers, Juli's, Panda's, Spotted, albino's, but I need to get my hands on some Bronze, Bandit, and Skunk cats next. Maybe some Orange Laser's too. They seem hard to find. Thanks for posting. Have an awesome day....Peace...
Awesome colletion in your top 5. Unfortunately I suck with small fish, only one I could ever keep alive and breed is the Cross banded chocolate gourami. Awesome little fish. But I'm a rainbow freak. Just love them and will never be without them.
Corys, Plecos, Geophagus, Severums, Danios (still have a school of Choprae from you), Tetras, Long Fin White Clouds, Rainbows, and most recently Marine.
Great idea to revisit this topic in a new way! I love turquoise danios for the same reasons you mentioned about the white clouds. I will have to give them a go.
Goldfish are my favorite. Then I'd have to say platys. And I adore my mystery snails! I'm waiting for warmer weather so I can move my white clouds, guppies and platys into my patio pond. Maybe I'll even try some mystery snails this year. I'd love to have a big pond for my Goldie's some day 😊
My go to is anything aggressive I have one community tank for the family to enjoy n I have several aggressive tanks which switch out from jack dempsey to Oscar to jags to dovii
I’ve haven’t been in the hobby long enough, but in my short experience anabantoids are my love!!! Love me some bettas i currently have one guy that was dying on a pet store and I couldn’t resist, i also have a sunset dwarf gourami on a 25g long with some serpae tetras and I’m absolutely in love 😍 I expected trouble from the serpae but so far so good!!! And I have a cycled black water aquarium waiting for some sparkling gouramis and maybe some cherry shrimp!!!! Love your videos!!!
White clouds are my absolute favourite. I've got Tanichthys micagemmae at the moment in a 30 gallon and I'm really considering stocking my 100 gallon with them. Other favourites are angel fish, I've kept them ever since I came into the hobby 20 years ago, my home just feels wrong without a tank of angel fish :D German rams are my favourite dwarf cichlid , nothing fancy but super personable fish, like the angels.
I'm pretty new to the fishkeeping hobby, having only set up my first tank in June 2019; a 60 litre planted and 'scaped temperate tank; currently stocked with 8 x long-fin Leopard danios, 8 x Amano shrimp and 4 x Zebra Nerite snails. After months of (im)patiently waiting, I just got word this week that the longfin WCMM's I've been after for ages are in stock and reserved for me to pickup next weekend, 10 of 'em... :) :) :) p.s. as an aside, I also have a RCS species tank, which I stocked with 8 shrimp on 15th Nov 2019 (plus 1 x Zebra Nerite) and so far there's upwards of 30 babies of different sizes. While waiting for the WCMM's, just before xmas I set up a 40cm cube, with the intention of stocking (hopefully) a mixed colony of Blue Dream/Blue Velvet Neocaridina and Tangerine Tiger Shrimp - Caridina Mariae and then later adding a small group of CPD's. I also have a 34l Fluval Flex waiting to be set up for a Betta and a surplus to requirements 60 x 45 x 45 terrarium (15cm to the air vents, so about 40 litres watertight capacity) that was passed on to me and which I'm hoping to set up as a paludarium. Oh, and a pre-owned 55 gallon I haven't fully decided what to put in yet. Then there's everything else on my fish-I'd-love-to-keep-someday list, e.g. Dwarf Puffers, Kuhli Loaches, Fiveband Barbs, Boesmani and Dwarf Neon and various other Rainbowfishes (probably in the 55 gallon), Anchor catfish (Hara jerdoni), Corydoras, a Paradisefish.... MTS much, ha ha.
I absolutely love shrimp and guppies. My guppies are not the fancy guppies, but wild looking ones. I really like the ines with round circles, but I haven't had those in a while. I am currently working with a strain I am trying to duplicate... I call him spike because of the boys neon green doral fin looks like a spike hair-do to me. 😁
I've only kept Trigonostigma hengeli, but I absolutely adore them. 😊 Unfortunately many of the chain aquarium shops here mislabel them as T. Espei and bung both species in the same tank, which makes my teeth itch. 😂
Was a little shocked that you didn't have your barred pencil fish in this one. They are my favorite of your fish. My favorite is my shadow pandas and chilli Rasboras. Great video.
I can't live without my heterandria formosa. I love that I can never have to worry about overpopulation because of how small they are, how shiny they are, their shape, the way males can change color in displays. One fish id love to see you try is leptolucania ommata. They're native killies topping off at an inch, and they are bright yellow. They are a challenge to breed however, which is the main reason I haven't kept them. I think my favorite fish lookwise has to be chocolate Australe, and cories the most fun to breed
Surprised about the bamboo shrimp shout out considering that you mentioned in one of your livestreams about not wanting to keep them given the way they are shipped. Hopefully, you can expound on this in a future video! Also surprised that you didn't mention your big boys haha
Kuhli loaches are awesome. They are like water snakes or eels. I have had the same six for 2 years now. Half of my friends abosultely love them the other half completely grossed out by them. I guess you either love them or hate them.
Only had bettas, Otocinclus, pygmy Cories, albino WCMW, harlequin/lambchop rasboras, and guppies as of late. I find guppies even though a pain to control, to be derpy, cute, and relatively decent as a therapeutic fish. They are super good (in large numbers) at figuring out that I am not a threat. The rasboras I had weren’t easy as they don’t go to the bottom to scavenge. The minnows, only had 3 now one is left, I’m thinking to try other minnows or catch some wild ones in a creek or lake.
Love your videos (and your eye makeup!). I would love to see a video on keeping shrimp in softer water/blackwater. I've seen conflicting things about how feasible that is. But I noticed you had shrimp in one of your aquariums with pods and other botanicals, so I assume it is somewhat soft? They looked super healthy. Just setting up a 20 gallon after a long break from the hobby and I'm hoping to set up something with Sundadanios, blue tetras, maybe some dwarf cories, and/or some kubotai rasboras (which may be a stretch with water parameters?). And I'd really like to add some shrimp in the mix. Also: bumblebee cats rock. I had a crew of them when I was a kid and they were so cute and also tough as nails. Survived in a tank with a big ol' goldfish, a blue gourami, and two clawed frogs for years. They were all really happy and healthy until I made the mistake of using one of those weekend feeder tablets and then the whole thing collapsed. : (
Jordanella floridae, the Florida flagfish, hands down my favorite in all aspects of behavior, T-bar convict is my second, lucania goodei and heterandria formosa complete my list, also the Egyptian mouth brooder is an awesome dwarf to keep.
Right now, I'm running four tanks (two 30s and two 20 highs) with Giant Danios, Black Skirt Tetras, Black Neon Tetras, Beacon Tetras (AKA Head-and-Tail Light Tetras) and Ancistrus. As much as I love my Tetras and Danios, I could probably replace them with similar species (Other tetras, rasboras, White Clouds, etc.) and not feel like I was missing out on much. However, I'd have a hard time finding a substitute for my Ancistrus. I have one in each of my tanks, while every other species I keep is limited to one tank. PS) My favorite plant by far is Anubias nana. It thrives and blooms in all my tanks while Java Fern, Bolbitis and even other species of Anubias all struggle.
Such a great list! The long fin white cloud/meteor minnows are seriously my unicorn fish and I want some so bad, but they are VERY hard for me to find without paying a small fortune to ship from the east coast :-(
At this point, I think my ride or die list consists of Siamese Algae eaters and Corydoras for my smaller tanks.. and my "couldn't imagine life without" list is a some monster/nearly monster aggressive cichlid... Right now it's a red terror. Always so full of personality, like having a water-puppy!
Love all the fish, but haven't had the chance to play with most, availability here isn't really good :o Never the less I can't live without Corydoras, and now bristle nose plecos, and getting back into angelfish, always liked them since my dad kept them when I was little. Also love livebearers and shrimp, but I'm trying to keep the MTS in check, so no special breeding tanks. Love the vids
Ive only got one tank (so far), but if i ever get more or another one in the future I'll have at least one species of dwarf catfish. Cories and oto's 5ever
I always seem to fall in love with the fish i thought i'd never want to keep which currently is my school of x-ray tetras and a few dwarf honey gouramis
Cryptoheros spilurus is my only ride or die being my first cichlid and im still learning and keeping different fish with German blue rams being very close second
For me, it's angelfish and clown loaches. I've kept angelfish for decades, but clown loaches are much newer to me. Now that I've had a group of 8 for about a year, I wonder how I went so long without them.
I wish the pygmy catfish species were more readily available in local fish stores. I know they don't ship particularly well, and a lot of online companies don't ship them...Or they are always out of them!
I just got a cherry shrimp colony established in a 10g blackwater tank. Part of me wants to add a nano fish, and part of me worries about the shrimplets and bioload? Can I safely house white clouds with my lil neos, or will they devour all the bebes? I have tons of plants, java moss, wood, et hiding place cetera. I had also thought of adding one of my more docile bettas to the system, but suspect shrimplets would be devoured within days of introduction. :/ Your videos have helped my fish and my fishkeeping to no end; thank you for all you do for our hobby~
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What fish or invertebrate do YOU always come back to?
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Rachel O'Leary I always love angelfish. I just got some emerald eye rasboras yesterday and I’m digging how well they school, I got ten of them
I have always loved snails of all sorts with the exotics being a favorite. But now that I have started keeping kuhli loaches, I am just fascinated by all loaches and cannot imagine a loachless life, even if they snack on some snails now and then. I am really close to diving into killifish(gardneri) breeding and I think that will consume the next decade when I start exploring the annuals!
The Lambchops are one of my favorites as well! Have you ever thought of putting a school of 30 or so in the hill stream tank?
I always have barbs , Puntius titteya and Puntius semifasciolatus.
Snails, I think I have a mix of pond snails and some little ramhorns , I got them for free, one of the LFS was cleaning and considered them plague, but I have them in all my tanks, some of them are gold and others have this pink hue and truth to be told I feed them some times to my Red eared slider 😬
My absolute gotta have are herds of cories. They are so playful while not being a menace to anything. I love to watch them poke around and dog pile on each other.
Yes agreed, they are great to watch, mine line up at night and sit in the open sand area..
@@robthefishhouse4395 I have a large group of bronze coreys in my 150gal that like to sit on top of a big piece of flat rock, all at the same time. Looks like a tiny aircraft carrier 🙂
I love that I keep all five of your picks. My ride or die fish is fancy goldfish. They are the first fish that I kept as a kid, and they still make me very happy at 47.
The first person to successfully breed a line of _purple_ shrimp will have their name solidified in history for all eternity.
Keep up the good work my friends.
That’s already happened blackberry shrimp and galaxy shrimp
@@aquaticcentral6341 The general consensus is that neither of those lines are actually purple the way we all think of purple. If you have to focus or strain to see the purple color then they aren't really purple as we know it. Close? Perhaps to some people, but a good start nonetheless.
Jeez, I've said _purple_ so many times that it's lost all its meaning now. *_Purple_*
Thanks for chiming in my friend.
*Apologies for the double spacing - it's a well known internal RUclips error and I can't keep editing every post for repetitive issues they refuse to fix.
Yeah a lot of those lines need work genetics wise to get a solid purple but I would love to see a purple strain of dwarf shrimp as that would be my favorite
@@aquaticcentral6341 You're not alone my friend.
When my wife discovered that we could get colored freshwater shrimp for our tanks, the first question she asked was if we could get some purple shrimp. Purple being her favorite color but also extremely rare in the freshwater aquarium community. Off the top of my head, I do believe the Emperor Tetra _(Nematobrycon palmeri)_ is the closest thing we have to purple in the freshwater realm.
I have doubts that we'll ever see naturally occurring purple shrimp . Seems like that would require some genetic modification via human intervention. But I'm optimistic that Mother Nature has some tricks in that giant purse of hers.
Keep up the good work my friend.
I'm with you on the rasboras and dwarf catfish types - I have tons of corydoras, schools of albinos, emeralds, paleatus, trilineatus, julii, pandas, and sterbai, can't live without them. I also keep the dwarf scissor rasboras and harlequins! But the only reason I have fish at all is because of betta splendens. I really don't even know how many I have, between community tanks, solo tanks, sorority tanks, split tanks, etc. And if I see one I want while I'm out, I have plenty of tanks sitting here cycled, planted, ready to go.
I love not having kids to take care of. I get to spend all my money on aquarium stuff and musical gear and vinyl records. lol
Wow, that's was great.I Just started a 10 gallon tank. I have been looking for ideas. Not anymore.Thank you so much!
Rachel's videos are dynamic, educational and rife with high definition visuals that accompany her concise narratives. I am compelled to keep watching; my ride or die species is the Pygmy live-bearer Specifically Heterandria formosa that I've kept continuously since 1998 with only two infusions of new stock over a 20 year duration.
Neon tetras and gouramis especially pearl gouramis are my favorites.
Pearls are awesome but I prefer Cardinal to Neons.
I'm fairly new to the hobby, but Cherry Barbs! They are beautiful, active, funny (like when they try to swallow whole snails or big algae) and they always come to the glass and watch what I'm doing and reacting to my movements. I'm also keeping White Clouds and they're fairly neat, but the cherries are my absolute favorite.
Love Cories. Will always have a herd of em in my tank lol Also I love bettas. Particularly the girls. So much personality!! And last but not least Pea Puffers. The most adorable little killer
Supercool video once again Rachel! My favourite fish are the Nannostomus species, Corydoras hastatus and some Tetra species 😍🤩
Have had one of the worst weeks that I can remember, but Rachel’s videos are such excellent therapy. Almost as relaxing and engaging as meditation. Thanks for helping center me Rachel, you have a magnificent calming ability.
Here's to a better time this upcoming week
Love my albino corydoras! So funny to watch and they're very playful.
Keep up the awesome videos Rachel, you're one of my favourites 👌💙✌
I'm super boring, but my two favs are danios and corys. I love them for being hardy, fun to watch in a group, but also won't be shy if exploring by themselves. Danios are so dang prolific too, if you have floating plants with a lot of roots for the fry to survive. I love the way Danios play peekaboo, through the floating roots. Just a real joy to watch.
Golden dojo loaches for larger aquariums and the Panda Corydoras for smaller ones are my favourite common or garden fish. Both are very active fish in my tanks . My favourite schooler is the rummy nose. Keep coming back to that one. In large groups I think it looks great. Top of tank I love the Hatchets.
I was watching a few of my yoyo and clown loaches stack on each other last night. For no good reason. Guess that's just what they do now.
I have all those species currently. I learned about them through your channel and through the Aquarium Co-Op channel. My current favorite fish is my multies. They are the most entertaining fish I have - always busy. I have them in a 33 gallon long. I put in a mound of rocks with a bonsai tree on top for decoration. I've got riccia growing in the bonsai tree and anubias stuck in the rock. What I found is they will use the spaces between the rocks as a home as well as the shells. I've had them for about 6 weeks. No babies yet, but I'm hopeful. I started with a colony of 10 fish and I have seen breeding behavior.
Love your top 5 Rachel. I have all of these in my tanks, mostly due to your fantastic tips. One I also like is Celestial Pearl Danio, although you must have many to keep them from hiding.
Awesome Fish! My ride or die fish would indeed be Glowlight Tetras, Diamonds, and Corydoras. But the Glowlights are sooo adorable.
Dwarf cichlids, corydoras of all types, and I'm in love with rummy nose tetras. Otos are a ton of fun if you keep them in a group, they get really outgoing and there's something cute about them. I would love to set up a 75 gallon with some oddball fish like African rope fish and African butterfly fish.
Hi Rachel! Just watched your top 5 video and agree with some of your selections! I adore corys - don't care what species, I just love them. I was recently introduced to the white cloud minnow (won a tank at an auction and the livestock included were long finned WC). These fish are STUNNING! Super happy, always busy and the colors are amazing. Even my females have great color. The group that I have are a proven breeding set, so I hope to have fry soon and will put some outside in tubs for the summer. Super little fish. I think I may need to set up a tank for the purple oil cats as well. Those are amazing. Thanks for all you do and the info/education you share! Have a great day. --Rena
I can't live without a splash of Captain Cranky in my life and his little dance for food 💓💓💓
I like those white cloud minnows. They are beautiful. They have an interesting story. They are easy to keep and just the perfect little fish. You can keep them in a 10 gallon tank. They need living plants, so there you can get your education. They are awesome.
I also like those black neons. They are almost as tough as white clouds.
Ive gotten (back) into aquariums because of shrimp too! I started with a cherry tank (just added a dwarf blue cray to it) and now have moved to a second larger blue dream shrimp tank with dwarf orange crays and, of course, my mystery snails. Next will be a pea puffer tank I think!
Mbuna for sure.. they were the first fish I can really say I kept as a hobbyist they readily breed for me, there's so many colors out there. And I like how aggressively they feed!
One of my all time favorite fish is the Keyhole cihlid. Though much larger than your nano fish it can be kept safely and calmly with any small/medium tetras. Much more peaceful than either angels, discus and even Apistos and Kribs, their muted colors reflect their overall personalities. A pair can make a showpiece in any aquarium where tranquility is desired. Let the smaller fish school, shoal, and dart around and these majestic fish will look on in serenity. A pair will need at max size a 40 gallon breeder or larger tank to grow out, but can easily start in a 20 gallon tank when young. In the 15 years that I kept them I never saw them attack another fish, except light sparring between two males and those were contained to threat displays and once in a while a short chase to establish territories when first placed in the tank. They love heavily planted and scaped tanks with open water near the mid to top of the tank for easier feeding, but other than they they love the cover plants and driftwood give them. They definitely benefit from having dither fish in with them. They get along with just about every other small to medium to even slightly larger fish no bigger than Agnels, Discus, Uaru, or Raphel Cats (spotted or striped) and Black Ghost Knife fish. When happy and stress free their creamy beige colors will take on a bluish sheen on their scales. Definitely one of my top 10 personal favorite fish, right up there with Pearl Gouramis, Snakeskin Gouramis, Bettas, Chocolate Goruamis (a nano species I would recommend to you Rachel), Honey Gouramis, Kuhli loaches, any Corydoras cat, Otocinclus, Diamond tetras, and Marble Hatchet fish.
Can’t lie Rachel... my ‘can’t go without’ fish is the guppy. My dad and I used to raise them for the local pet store. 27 tanks we had at one time. (Early 80’s) Love the hardiness, the versatility, ease of care, and their brilliant colors! Not to mention, YOU actually have a hand in the offspring. Matching males and females.... anticipating the birth of LIVE young and then waiting patiently to see what they look like. Love them!!! 😀
Love my chilli rasboras and barred pencilfish. Also green neons. Pygmy corys too. Got the inspiration from your channel. Thank you.
Zebra danios... I know they're not very exotic or rare or anything, but they're a) very stylish-looking with their go-faster stripes and b) so much fun to watch!
(And it doesn't hurt that they are also hardy as heck and ready to make any amateur feel like a master fish-keeper!)
Love everything on your ride or die list. Me...
Cherry shrimp
Heterandria formosa, the gold form
Endlers
Other fish and shrimp come and go, but those three are my forever fish and shrimp, never lose interest in them.
👍💕👍
White clouds...and Platys are super cool together and bronze corys for bottom
I have 3 honeycomb catfish in my 10 gallon. I absolutely 1000% love them. They have beautiful color and they just are so chaotic when i drop freeze dried blood worms in. Totally a awesome fish.
hi rachel I"m from Philippines I love your style and your vidoes. thank you Rachel.
Thank you!
Yoyo loaches. I got them to take care of a pond snail problem. But They're like little dolphins, they do something that makes me laugh every day. Seeing them tussle in this shiny ball of hyper wiggle is a sight.
Dwarf chain loaches, Ambastaia sidthimunki. I originally got a few 15 years ago to eat snails, one lived through my partial hobby-hiatus for health reasons. Now I've retired, I've got back into it and given that elder survivor a whole new community of youngsters. She will have to teach the babies how to loach properly. The youngsters are very active and silly and so tiny, just today coming out of quarantine.
I'm new to the hobby but I must say I really look forward to the chance to own some of the purple catfish you have one day. They are so stinking cute I feel once I have some theyll be staying for a long long time
Morning Rachel I guess I beat you this morning have already had my coffee, but I think I have to have another one, as you and coffee go so well together. LOL
Am loving the Little guys, and think that your diversity between your Big Guys and them is so interesting
Have a wonderful aquatic/gardening day Rachael
So happy you chose my favourite fish as your number one, Rachel! White Clouds forever! I love you!
Always watching like a hawk for your videos ❤️
My favorite too except they went by the name White Cloud Mountain Fish in the '60s. My favorite then and my favorite today.
it's a stress reliever to watch them all... I feel like heaven haha lol
I love white clouds. I have a 10 gallon heavily planted tank with 6 white clouds, 3 ottocinclus catfish, and I just added 4 black skirt tetras a few days ago
Bonjour Rachel, I have a fleet of Tanichthys albonubes and Amano Shrips in my 200 liters tank, which is the first tank i ever had, started 2 years ago. I remember listening to one of your videos about tanichthys, which greatly helped me in my choice. I am very happy with my fish and I never have to worry about water temperature. I wonder if i could add a specie in it, I thought about maybe adding danios. Merci from France.
I have some synodontus and three types of corys and have kept them for a while so I like small catfish, but I do terribly with shrimp and small fish.
My favorite is the otto cat number one with at least one Male betta :) I have guppies that are getting into my heart right now....but the mollies are cute too. I love live bearers!
I've got a few from your top 5. I've got a few Chili Rasboras but I never have much luck with them so I have some Dwarf Rasboras to compliment them which are just as red and are hardier in my opinion. I also have Amano and Cherry Shrimp. I've had White Clouds in the past and can see why they are your number 1. They are soooo versatile with temp range, hardy, cheap and a pretty fish!
White Clouds for the win! Great choice!
That's a Dope A** list. I have Chili's in my home and office aquarium's. Righteous little homies.. My new favorite are the Zebra Otocinclus. Their super expensive, but super awesome. All time favorites are any flavor of week Cory Cats. I have Salt and Peppers, Juli's, Panda's, Spotted, albino's, but I need to get my hands on some Bronze, Bandit, and Skunk cats next. Maybe some Orange Laser's too. They seem hard to find. Thanks for posting. Have an awesome day....Peace...
Awesome colletion in your top 5. Unfortunately I suck with small fish, only one I could ever keep alive and breed is the Cross banded chocolate gourami. Awesome little fish. But I'm a rainbow freak. Just love them and will never be without them.
Corys, Plecos, Geophagus, Severums, Danios (still have a school of Choprae from you), Tetras, Long Fin White Clouds, Rainbows, and most recently Marine.
My favs are the old fashioned standbys like Neons, Cardinals, livebearers, Hatchets etc...
Fun vid. Thanks.
Great idea to revisit this topic in a new way! I love turquoise danios for the same reasons you mentioned about the white clouds. I will have to give them a go.
Mine are Discus, Bichir and Shrimps.
Discus being my go to piece de resistance, and
Bichir, since my first one, I've never not have one.
Goldfish are my favorite. Then I'd have to say platys. And I adore my mystery snails!
I'm waiting for warmer weather so I can move my white clouds, guppies and platys into my patio pond. Maybe I'll even try some mystery snails this year. I'd love to have a big pond for my Goldie's some day 😊
My go to is anything aggressive I have one community tank for the family to enjoy n I have several aggressive tanks which switch out from jack dempsey to Oscar to jags to dovii
I’ve haven’t been in the hobby long enough, but in my short experience anabantoids are my love!!! Love me some bettas i currently have one guy that was dying on a pet store and I couldn’t resist, i also have a sunset dwarf gourami on a 25g long with some serpae tetras and I’m absolutely in love 😍 I expected trouble from the serpae but so far so good!!! And I have a cycled black water aquarium waiting for some sparkling gouramis and maybe some cherry shrimp!!!! Love your videos!!!
Mine are hatchetfisch, angelfish, corydoras and shrimp too
My favourite is the cardinal and green tetra, always have to keep them and they fit perfectly together
Same!
White cloud minnows are my favorite too
Cories are my all time go to, i always have a pair or more of them in any tank whether its regular or dwarfs.
White clouds are my absolute favourite. I've got Tanichthys micagemmae at the moment in a 30 gallon and I'm really considering stocking my 100 gallon with them. Other favourites are angel fish, I've kept them ever since I came into the hobby 20 years ago, my home just feels wrong without a tank of angel fish :D German rams are my favourite dwarf cichlid , nothing fancy but super personable fish, like the angels.
I'm pretty new to the fishkeeping hobby, having only set up my first tank in June 2019; a 60 litre planted and 'scaped temperate tank; currently stocked with 8 x long-fin Leopard danios, 8 x Amano shrimp and 4 x Zebra Nerite snails. After months of (im)patiently waiting, I just got word this week that the longfin WCMM's I've been after for ages are in stock and reserved for me to pickup next weekend, 10 of 'em... :) :) :)
p.s. as an aside, I also have a RCS species tank, which I stocked with 8 shrimp on 15th Nov 2019 (plus 1 x Zebra Nerite) and so far there's upwards of 30 babies of different sizes.
While waiting for the WCMM's, just before xmas I set up a 40cm cube, with the intention of stocking (hopefully) a mixed colony of Blue Dream/Blue Velvet Neocaridina and Tangerine Tiger Shrimp - Caridina Mariae and then later adding a small group of CPD's.
I also have a 34l Fluval Flex waiting to be set up for a Betta and a surplus to requirements
60 x 45 x 45 terrarium (15cm to the air vents, so about 40 litres watertight capacity) that was passed on to me and which I'm hoping to set up as a paludarium. Oh, and a pre-owned
55 gallon I haven't fully decided what to put in yet.
Then there's everything else on my fish-I'd-love-to-keep-someday list, e.g. Dwarf Puffers, Kuhli Loaches, Fiveband Barbs, Boesmani and Dwarf Neon and various other Rainbowfishes (probably in the 55 gallon), Anchor catfish (Hara jerdoni), Corydoras, a Paradisefish.... MTS much, ha ha.
I absolutely love shrimp and guppies. My guppies are not the fancy guppies, but wild looking ones. I really like the ines with round circles, but I haven't had those in a while. I am currently working with a strain I am trying to duplicate... I call him spike because of the boys neon green doral fin looks like a spike hair-do to me. 😁
Totally agree on rasboras 😍 they are such a good addition to most aquariums! I might get dwarf catfish - they are adorable! 😍
I've only kept Trigonostigma hengeli, but I absolutely adore them. 😊 Unfortunately many of the chain aquarium shops here mislabel them as T. Espei and bung both species in the same tank, which makes my teeth itch. 😂
Was a little shocked that you didn't have your barred pencil fish in this one. They are my favorite of your fish. My favorite is my shadow pandas and chilli Rasboras. Great video.
I feel like a person who does not understand the concept of keeping dwarf shrimp don’t understand the elegance of it cool video!
I can't live without my heterandria formosa. I love that I can never have to worry about overpopulation because of how small they are, how shiny they are, their shape, the way males can change color in displays.
One fish id love to see you try is leptolucania ommata. They're native killies topping off at an inch, and they are bright yellow. They are a challenge to breed however, which is the main reason I haven't kept them.
I think my favorite fish lookwise has to be chocolate Australe, and cories the most fun to breed
Surprised about the bamboo shrimp shout out considering that you mentioned in one of your livestreams about not wanting to keep them given the way they are shipped. Hopefully, you can expound on this in a future video!
Also surprised that you didn't mention your big boys haha
Well, I cannot imagine keeping the big boys when I am super old
Kuhli loaches are awesome. They are like water snakes or eels. I have had the same six for 2 years now. Half of my friends abosultely love them the other half completely grossed out by them. I guess you either love them or hate them.
Only had bettas, Otocinclus, pygmy Cories, albino WCMW, harlequin/lambchop rasboras, and guppies as of late. I find guppies even though a pain to control, to be derpy, cute, and relatively decent as a therapeutic fish. They are super good (in large numbers) at figuring out that I am not a threat. The rasboras I had weren’t easy as they don’t go to the bottom to scavenge. The minnows, only had 3 now one is left, I’m thinking to try other minnows or catch some wild ones in a creek or lake.
Absolutely love Cory cats, shultzei black being my ultimate fish.😊
Love your videos (and your eye makeup!). I would love to see a video on keeping shrimp in softer water/blackwater. I've seen conflicting things about how feasible that is. But I noticed you had shrimp in one of your aquariums with pods and other botanicals, so I assume it is somewhat soft? They looked super healthy. Just setting up a 20 gallon after a long break from the hobby and I'm hoping to set up something with Sundadanios, blue tetras, maybe some dwarf cories, and/or some kubotai rasboras (which may be a stretch with water parameters?). And I'd really like to add some shrimp in the mix. Also: bumblebee cats rock. I had a crew of them when I was a kid and they were so cute and also tough as nails. Survived in a tank with a big ol' goldfish, a blue gourami, and two clawed frogs for years. They were all really happy and healthy until I made the mistake of using one of those weekend feeder tablets and then the whole thing collapsed. : (
Love WhiteClouds they are totally awesome little fish
One of my favorites has to be Heterandria formosa. Such a beautiful, fearless and easy to keep little fish :) Gobys are fun too, love my Rhinogobius.
Jordanella floridae, the Florida flagfish, hands down my favorite in all aspects of behavior, T-bar convict is my second, lucania goodei and heterandria formosa complete my list, also the Egyptian mouth brooder is an awesome dwarf to keep.
Right now, I'm running four tanks (two 30s and two 20 highs) with Giant Danios, Black Skirt Tetras, Black Neon Tetras, Beacon Tetras (AKA Head-and-Tail Light Tetras) and Ancistrus. As much as I love my Tetras and Danios, I could probably replace them with similar species (Other tetras, rasboras, White Clouds, etc.) and not feel like I was missing out on much. However, I'd have a hard time finding a substitute for my Ancistrus. I have one in each of my tanks, while every other species I keep is limited to one tank.
PS) My favorite plant by far is Anubias nana. It thrives and blooms in all my tanks while Java Fern, Bolbitis and even other species of Anubias all struggle.
Yayyy! White Clouds. White Clouds... yessss!!! =) Thank you for the video!
Those tiny purple catfishes are so cute!!! I definitely need some of those, unfortunately my LFS its having trouble even finding me sparkling gouramis
Such a great list! The long fin white cloud/meteor minnows are seriously my unicorn fish and I want some so bad, but they are VERY hard for me to find without paying a small fortune to ship from the east coast :-(
At this point, I think my ride or die list consists of Siamese Algae eaters and Corydoras for my smaller tanks.. and my "couldn't imagine life without" list is a some monster/nearly monster aggressive cichlid... Right now it's a red terror. Always so full of personality, like having a water-puppy!
Great choices! Mine are Betta's and Gobies!
Love all the fish, but haven't had the chance to play with most, availability here isn't really good :o
Never the less I can't live without Corydoras, and now bristle nose plecos, and getting back into angelfish, always liked them since my dad kept them when I was little. Also love livebearers and shrimp, but I'm trying to keep the MTS in check, so no special breeding tanks. Love the vids
Diamond Tetras are a big favorite of mine. I also love the GB Rams, but I’ve struggled getting healthy ones of those.
Ive only got one tank (so far), but if i ever get more or another one in the future I'll have at least one species of dwarf catfish. Cories and oto's 5ever
I’ll always have a soft spot for neon tetras, turquoise rainbowfish, guppies, and mollies.
cloud mountain minnows very underrated fish but very beautiful
my favorite Oscar and tetras
Rummie nose tetra's are my favourite .like the lambchop rasbora i think in the u/k we call them harlequins.
Harlequins are a larger cousin
I always seem to fall in love with the fish i thought i'd never want to keep which currently is my school of x-ray tetras and a few dwarf honey gouramis
Pearl Germany’s are one of my favourite fish species for fresh water aquariums.
Cryptoheros spilurus is my only ride or die being my first cichlid and im still learning and keeping different fish with German blue rams being very close second
Corey’s and Shrimp Are mine favorite
For me, it's angelfish and clown loaches. I've kept angelfish for decades, but clown loaches are much newer to me. Now that I've had a group of 8 for about a year, I wonder how I went so long without them.
I just subscribed to your channel. These videos are awesome and very helpful. Thank you
Welcome!
OOOOOOOH....... berried super tiger shrimp!!! So awesome and can't wait to see them hatch out! 😁💞👶🐯🦐👍
Me too!!!
Ride or Die: goldfish, danios, shrimp. Starting to feel the same way about Red Tail Black Sharks.
I love Blue Rams, Kreibensis, and Rummy Nose Tetras!
I wish the pygmy catfish species were more readily available in local fish stores. I know they don't ship particularly well, and a lot of online companies don't ship them...Or they are always out of them!
My ride or die would be my Albino Corydoras so active and fun to watch. ❤️❤️
I just got a cherry shrimp colony established in a 10g blackwater tank. Part of me wants to add a nano fish, and part of me worries about the shrimplets and bioload?
Can I safely house white clouds with my lil neos, or will they devour all the bebes? I have tons of plants, java moss, wood, et hiding place cetera.
I had also thought of adding one of my more docile bettas to the system, but suspect shrimplets would be devoured within days of introduction. :/
Your videos have helped my fish and my fishkeeping to no end; thank you for all you do for our hobby~
Rachel...what is the feeding disc that you use in the chili rasbora tank...? thanks, Bob