Sometimes we go after a fish that we can imagine would be a great pet, but when it come's home we find that it is not what we had planed! Sometimes fish that seem cool in the fish store can become very shy at home or very aggressive; and that's where dither fish come in! Dither fish are fish that you can add to an aquarium that may have a fish that's too shy or too aggressive! Dither fish are meant to bring comfort to a fish that may be hiding a lot, or if there is bullying in a tank dither fish can help spread that aggression! Dither fish are not a specific group of fish, they can really be any type of fish!
An example of how dither fish can be used is with my Large Red Devil cichlid, he's very shy and hides a lot! I introduced some Giant Danio so that the spotlight was not on him completely, and now he's more comfortable! Dither fish are great because they can help bring more action from your main fish, while not taking too much attention away from them!
Now as I said before any type of fish can be used as a dither fish, however from my experience the best dither fish are fish that are very fast (in the situation of being used to to reduce aggression) and fish that school together (School Behavior keeps them safer)! Also of the main fish in your tank is a large fish be sure to use dithers that are not small enough to be eaten! Another crucial element for dither fish is that they must be fish that don't like to hide, fish the swim freely in the center of the tank!
Here's a list of my favorite dithers starting with small dithers for small situations:
danio,
tiger barbs, gold barbs,
black shirt tetra, rummy nose tetra and other small tetra and barbs!
Medium size dither fish include: spotted silver dollars, giant danio,
roseline sharks, spotted silver dollars and
clown loaches ( only if in large schools, smaller schools will hide more)
Large dither fish include larger species of silver dollars like wide bar silver dollars, tinfoil barbs and filament barb!
