Questions about Datnoids and small fish

[Tu'Big]

Hello everyone!

I recently sold my pair of Endlicherris and gave away a giant feeder goldfish from years ago when I had an RTG Arowana. This change has left me with a 12-13" Indo Tiger who VERY readily eats 10-15 Massivores per day, if I'll give it to him; and a 4" one eyed Charming Phoenix. The Endi's ate her eye...

Anyway, I've given it some thought, and before I jump into it with random fish, I thought I'd ask around and see what the population of the internet thought!

I want to find small fish that my tiger won't eat. I mean, tetra size up to Denisoni. Denisoni are obviously a later attempt, as they're far too expensive at larger sizes and still, a $20 meal at a small size is... a sad occasion.

I've got a feeling there's some sort of schooling small fish that would get along in the less chaotic sections of my tank. I'm thinking cories would be a nice, non soil turning, option for eating debris off the bottom. A one eyed phoenix doesn't do the best job at that... The impetus behind this move are the Leporinus at the Vancouver Aquarium, who live with Arapaima and Red Tail Cats without being eaten. I'm told They're terrible tasting fish and thus even redtail cats, who eat anything, generally leave the Leporinus alone.

If my source on that info is incorrect, please let me know. However, Dat's are already picky eaters and I'm sure there's 'something' out there.

Anyway, I've already placed some plain old Java Fern on some driftwood and thrown more Florabase in the tank. It's looking better than it has in ages. Soon I'll fill the CO2 canister and get a few more plants in there. Then later, when I have a bit more spending cash, another 1-2" Tiger!

[King-eL]

Try some dwarf gourami. I had a school of small snakeskin gouramis before with my 14" ST and ST didn't bother them.

[stratos]

I always like staying in biotope; fire eels work great as tank mates, but are probably bigger than what you are looking for. You are lucky your dat gets along with your phoenix; I had to separate my IT and phoenix due to extreme agression from the IT.