Some colourful friends for my temperate Danios

[baddyfreckleface]

Back again!

We are loving our little shoal of six Danios in our 90L tank. I have been trying to find some colourful friends for them as everything for a temperate tank seems to be similar colours to the Danios.
We were recently out of town and went in a lovely fish shop. The man suggested we get another two Danios and then six platy fish.
He wasn't out to make money as we weren't able to buy so far from home.
Does this sound ok?
On the internet there seems to be a divided opinion about platys in cold water.
I was advised on here that they might be ok but it depends how cold the tank gets in winter. How cold is too cold? We are in not so sunny Sheffield but have a heated house. Obviously that's not at night though.
If we are to get fish I want them to be happy.

Any other ideas of colourful tank mates?

Thanks

Hmm, platys are from a very hot part of the world. UK room temperature would be at the very bottom end of their temperature preference even in the day time.

If you want two shoaling species then I wouldn't get any more danios just yet. 6 is enough for a shoal and that'll leave you more space for your new fish. You could always add more danios later on if your filter is coping.

White cloud mountain minnows will do well in similar conditions, they are also ballsy enough to put up with the zippy danios.

If you added a heater then you'd have a lot more options. It doesn't have to be tropical, but if you kept it at about 20-22C then you wouldn't have to worry on winter nights.

Ok thanks. That's the feeling I had about Platys from looking them up.
We do have a heater that came with the tank so I might look into setting that up. Do I need to gradually increase it for the Danios to get used to the temperature?
Also if I do put the heater in I want to get an alarm thingy that let's me know if it gets too hot don't I?

I will have another look at the mountain minnows. It's just that dd fell in love with the Platys we saw.

Nah, just bung it in and set it to 20-22 and it will gradually warm up. The temperature probably won't be that much different during the day but it will stay warmer at night for them.

Platys are lovely. I have no idea why they and guppies are sold as coldwater fish, they live around the equator. I've seen guppies in the wild and it was bloody hot!

You might want to have a look through some fish profiles as there are some tetras and barbs that come from cooler areas. You might find something else that will go. I know rosy barbs and golden barbs can be kept in unheated tanks but they are probably just a bit too big. Buenos Aries tetras might work, they like cooler water. They are nippy buggers and a bit boisterous but danios aren't shy so they should be fine. Disclaimer, have never tried this combination myself but in theory it should work.

See I don't know if I can risk a fishy bloodbath!

Platys are really tempting me to be honest. I think we might just go for the heater on low. I was worrying a bit about how cold my little danios might get on winter nights so I will feel better about them too.

Dh thinks I am a fishy weirdo now. I have to say good morning and good night to them. Dd is doing a 'finventory' (get it?) with photos of each one so we remember who is who.

Thing is, platys and danios have different requirements. Platys like it hot, danios like it cool. They are adaptable but you can't keep both at their ideal temperature. I don't think it would be a blood bath with the BATs, but there are more peaceful tetras and barbs if you do a bit of research.

Thanks I will have a look at the Tetras I think.

If I don't put the heater in my little Danios won't be too cold in winter will they?

What do you think about gold or cherry barbs? I think the golds don't grow as big and are pretty peaceful

I think the gold barb might be slightly too big. The cherry barbs are a bit timid for crazy Danios maybe.
The politics of fish keeping!

Cherries like it a bit too warm as well. I've got some in a species tank and they do really well on their own.

How about another danio species? Chopraes are lovely.

What you're looking for is something that will thrive in the same conditions- coolish water, (I'm guessing) neutral-ish pH, and scrappy tankmates. There should be quite a few to choose from once you've got your heater :)

They do look nice. And I really like the Danios as they are pretty lively and not scared of anything!

I have confused myself now looking at so many fish! So would you say stick the heater in? What temperature would you recommend that will keep the Danios happy but open my options a bit with some colour?
Would a shoal of 6 danios and 6 of something else be about the right population for a 90L tank? If anything I want to understock.

I would stick the heater in and set it to 20-22C, that would keep it steady at night and in the winter.

You could have 6 danios and 6 something else, as long as it wasn't something massive or messy. It wouldn't be overstocked (and I am very conservative with stocking levels because I'm too lazy to do extra cleaning).

To confuse you further if you didn't want another species of fish then you could get some cherry shrimps. They are a lovely bright colour. Then you could bump up your danio shoal a bit if you still wanted a few more fish.

Lazy is good!
I think dd would LOVE the cherry shrimp! How many would you say? Do they breed?

Also how many more danio would you say if we got a few shrimp?

They breed like crazy but the fish pick a few off every now and again when they can be bothered to chase them. I'd provide a few hiding places and lots of plants. If you get overrun then sell some on FB, I sell my spares for £1 (they are £3 in shops).

If I got the shrimp then I'd probably bump the shoal up to 10 danios and see how that worked, possibly adding a few more later on if the filter was coping.

Thank you that's great. Just need to fathom out the heater instructions now