American idea's

[Chuckmeister]

I bought a nice colony of imported Moliro tropheus a few months back and popped them in the tank. problem is they cant stand being in a bottom tank and its really annoying me as well. So I though I might chuck them in my malawi tank when they get a little bit bigger and can survive my grumpy christyi.

What that will do is open up a 5x2x2 and I've never had american/south american fish before (except Acarichthys heckelii). Looking for suggestions for fish that will happily be in a tank that size...maybe something with a bit of attitude? Planted compatibility would be nice but not essential. Basically I'll plant the tank if I can but if not then the fish alone is fine. A school of fish is fine or 1 or 2 bigger fish is fine too. Suggestions?

[Buccal]

Attitude not high on the charts, but they flare up and really show off,,, but guess attitude depending on circumstances.

Orange head Tapajo.

Even,,,, not American but Madagascan,,,, paratilapia pollini. Crazy hot fish.

[Link2Hell]

T. maculapinnis (Ellioti)

A. septemfasciatum

A. sajica

Gym balzanii .... no heater required and need wintering

D. filamentosa

A. dorsigerus or curviceps

C. maroni (keyhole)

Nannacara species anamola, aurocephalus, nudiceps, transvestitus

P. subocellarus

P. pulcher or other Krib type

Ivanacara adoketa if you can find them and budget not a problem

Angels Altum or Manacapura red back

Rams

[Ged]

Chuck I like the suggestion of the T Bar and would be fantastic as the feature pair of a 5x2x2 tank. If you like the look of Ivanacara adoketa (zebra acara) then Smiko on QLDAF had a breeding pair that I believe spawned.

May I also suggest Hypsophrys nicaraguensis. A very underrated species.

[Chuckmeister]

Thanks guys, lots of research there for me to do.

[Buccal]

Breeding pairs of jack dempseys (electric blue gene),,,, Another choice.

Takes effort to obtain and go through selective processes,, but the fry sell very easy at beefy prices.

[goldenswimmers]

Zebra Acara are a great choice and beautiful fish..I also think some nice Salvini(I happen to have some beautiful red belly juvies available & sorry for the free plug!)and go well in a planted set up..Sajica are definitely great fish and would do well and at 5x2 you're kind of on the cusp of the larger guys too but some at full size may be happier in an extra ft or 2...small group of Geos might be an option too as mentioned with the tapajos and you mentioned you had some Hecklii in the past...Elliotti are a beautiful mid sized American and would look great in a nice biotype...I'm pretty much just seconding what's been already mentioned mate but some are definitely pretty than others!...too many options mate!

[benno]

Can't go past an awesome quality pair of green terrors lookswise in my opinion. You'll never make a great deal of money off the fry but you'll have some pretty awesome lookin fish once they finally get to a decent size.

[extreoxy]

id say angels, pretty tolerant to conditions and other fish not so much to each other ;0, there's some nice blue ones out there but are harder to keep. Or a cloud of smaller fish, rummy nose, emperor tetra, ember tetra they can be kept with angels. Discus fish?I was never good enough to keep them long term and they cost $$$ but great looking fish

Chain loaches have great antics as a fish and are very lively for a loach, corydoras (Sterbai:D). On the very small side there is cherry rasbora https://www.google.com.au/imgres?imgurl=http://www.practicalfishkeeping.co.uk/custom/images/medium/4bb47ea1450c8.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.aquariumlife.com.au/archive/index.php/t-62549.html&h=284&w=426&tbnid=hXtt4meqfOLy0M:&docid=-DMOXIl8r97RzM&ei=GDaJVsDGI4WtmAWDvImoCQ&tbm=isch&ved=0ahUKEwjAssLt8o3KAhWFFqYKHQNeApUQMwgrKBAwEAsearch came up with alot of other fish hence the photo of them and are quite rare in Australia now due to import ban, killifish or CPDs