Blackstripe Topminnow be able to be okay with tropical fish?

I'm tying to see if its worth the risk of trying to introduce my two blackstripe topminnows to the tank that I currently have various of catfish in as there's currently 3 leftover common minnows that survived the temperature change months and months ago when I ended up trying to get rid of the redbelly daces I now regret giving away though I'll try to get them in my tank again one of my top favorite native fish!

My question is: now I have a nice clown angelfish pair in the tank, 4 peaceful keyhole cichlids and tons and tons of catfish along with those 3 crazy common minnows as they only mind each other not other fish in the tank.

There is no top dwellers if you don't count the angelfish checking out areas to nest in. Everyone else basically stay at the very very bottom with exemption of the angelfish pair that's more of midlevel swimmers.

My main concern:

fin nipping? Will they be aggressive towards the angelfish or mind their own species?

All I know is they're horrible jumpers and committed suicide jumping the open water tank I have them in so theres only two left at this point though if they end up being wonderful residents I might consider trying to get few more.

PLUS: any one mix redbelly dace with any south american fish with success temperature wise as well tho various different tanks 68-86 degrees?

I keep blackstripe topminnows between 80-82 deg. F as dithers for Apistogramma cacatuoides without any noticeable problems. I don't see much aggression amongst themselves much less towards other species. I also have golden topminnows, diamond killis and a rainwater killi co-existing peacefully in there. In fact, my Apistos recently spawned and several of the fry have survived over four weeks. The only aggression has been from the proud momma.

As far as jumpers go, floaters or other structure in the upper part of the tank help calm them.

Edited by decal, 17 January 2011 - 09:36 AM.

I keep blackstripe topminnows between 80-82 deg. F as dithers for Apistogramma cacatuoides without any noticeable problems. I don't see much aggression amongst themselves much less towards other species. I also have golden topminnows, diamond killis and a rainwater killi co-existing peacefully in there. In fact, my Apistos recently spawned and several of the fry have survived over four weeks. The only aggression has been from the proud momma.

As far as jumpers go, floaters or other structure in the upper part of the tank help calm them.

Great news! Ill give this a go!

As far as jumpers go, floaters or other structure in the upper part of the tank help calm them.

Agreed. If you cover the surface of the water with floating plants, the fish are less likely to jump out.

Also, the water quality has a lot to do with whether or not fish are jumping. I find that if I test the water immediately after a fish has jumped, one of the parameters was usually off. Test ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate in the tank that the fish are jumping out of. Usually they are jumping because they're uncomfortable.

Edited by EricaWieser, 17 January 2011 - 12:22 PM.