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Q- Can someone tell me about dither fish?
A- They are usually very fast fish that stay out in the open. It makes the mbuna, who tend to hug to rocks, feel as if there are no predators around and brings them out more
A- I guess it would be personal preference as to what kind of fish you get - the tinfoils add a lot of flash, the tigers add color, both like to be in shoals, and they move constantly. Other people here use giant danios. Just remember that if you get a schooling-type dither fish, get more than two, they feel safer in a crowd.
When I bought the tinfoil barbs, they were half the size of my Africans. I figured that I would lose a few, so I bought five of them. However, they have been very successful at avoiding the Africans, so all five of them have survived are now bigger than the rest of the fish. Tinfoil barbs grow very fast and large. I have seen some at the LFS that have grown over 10 inches long. . I dot think the tiger barbs get half as big when they are fully mature. I am a bit worried for my own 50 gallon
tank as to whether the tinfoil barbs I have in there will continue to outgrow the tank to the detriment of the other occupants.
A- I lost several Cichlids - a female Johanni, a Joan Johnsonii and a P. Zebra, plus my poor bushynose pl*co who had her eyeball picked out. I believe the responsible party is my evil male Johanni, who since going to breeding colors has beaten up on everything that moves in the tank My other problem was when ever I came near the tank, the Africans would hide. Wouldn't come out even for food until I moved away from the tank. This behavior started up when they got into the 2.5+ inch range - it didn't happen when they were smaller. I finally tried the dither fish method. I bought small 5 tiger barbs and 5 tinfoil barbs, and a Chinese algae eater to replace the pl*co. The first tiger barb was picked off the same night, and another had most of it's tailfin chewed off, but it lived and grew the fin back. Several months have gone by, and I have lost another tiger barb - I think it was eaten whole, as I couldn't find any remains whatsoever. Sometimes I see fin damage, but the rest of the dithers and the Africans are doing fine. The CAE looks like it might have dropsy but it has been fat that way for months so I am not to concerned with it. The tinfoil barbs have done waaay too well, they are bigger than some of the Africans now, and I think that is because they are very good at hoovering up the waste food from the bottom of the tank. And none of the fish hide any more when I walk up to the tank.
I would suggest tiger barbs, at least 5 of them - they move fast enough,they are a nice color, and I have never seen them display any aggression
towards any of their tank mates. Later on you could try breeding them.
A- Dither fish also serve as a warning to your cichlids of approaching danger.
A- I have giant danios in my mbuna tank and they are not picked on by the cichlids. In fact, they chase the mbuna from time to time. The purpose of dither fish is to provide feelings of security to fish that are hunted by predators. They are not to be beaten up by other fish. I have a tank with Julies and N. brevis and have had zebra danios in the tank since they were less than 1/2 inch and they get along just fine with the cichlids.
Our Views
We have personally found the Copadichromis borleyi to be a great dither fish and we have begun to breed them for that purpose. They are colorful, active, cichlids, very hardy, and we have yet to find the african that has taken them down. we hope we never do.
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