small tank questions

Question
I have a small section of my 55 gallon sectioned off as an aquarium. It is 12"x15" and only 6" deep. I am having trouble finding fish to keep in it. It has bamboo and other live plants so I need a fish that won't tear up my plants. I have had almost every different kind of tetra in there and they won't leave my plants alone and they aren't really big enough to see anyway. I want more than one fish in there so if you could recommend any types of fish that you think would work I would really appreciate it. Thanks for your time.

Answer
Hi Josh,
It is interesting how all your fish were going after the plants! Usually, it means they need more vegetable matters in their diet. You can often fix this problem by giving them fresh veggies, such as sliced lettuce, or giving them herbivorous flake food. Although, there are certain fish that will never leave live plants alone. A good example would be mollies. They need more veggie in their diet, so they are almost always craving veggie matters.

There are many fish that would be good for your little sectioned tank. What fish would be the best? I cannot say, since I don't know what type of fish you are looking for. I will give you some good examples and their descriptions.

White cloud minnows are very peaceful, and I have not heard about them nipping on the plants yet. If the water temperature is not too high, these would be an excellent choice.
Zebra danios would be ok, since, most likely, they will not mess with the plants. But they are active fish, so they might need a bit more room.
Cherry barbs and gold barbs would be a great, colorful addition to your tank. These are probably one of the best choices. Although, sometimes they like to dig and even burry themselves under the gravel, so they need fine gravel and could mess with the roots.
Harlequin rasboras are small, but they are very interesting. By their appearance, they are a bit like tetras, so if you didn't like the fact that you couldn't see them so well, this may not be the fish for you.
All these fish that I have recommended so far, are schooling fish, so you will need to keep more than four fish at a time. Also, since they are all asian fish, they will enjoy and appreciate your bamboo very, very much.
Some bigger fish can be battas and dwarf gouramis.
Although they are bigger, they do not need much space to swim. They are very colorful and you will notice them right away. I would say, the popularity limit to dwarf gouramis is one pair. For bettas, you can have up to two or three FEMALE bettas. If you wish to get a male, you must get only one.
All livebearers tend to nip on plants more than others, so I do not recommend getting any livebearers. They reproduce they fast and it might not be a good idea to keep them in the small space.
A bamboo shrimp or two can be a great addition, since you have a bamboo. They can filter your tank very well.
A few YoYo loach would be ok, too. They swim on the bottom and middle region of the tank, but since your tank is shallow, they might look good even by themselves.

I would suggest getting one or two types of the fish that I recommended, and give more vegetable in their diet. It's too bad the types of fish available for you is limited.
Wish you luck, and I hope you find a perfect set of fish for your sectioned tank!

Barbara