Having heard from a couple of sources now that marbled hatchetfish would probably be crowded in my 30-gallon hex, I'm trying to come up with other ideas for a surface dwelling fish or school of fish. If possible, I think I'd like to stick with a South American theme... but I'd certainly consider other suggestions.

Other planned inhabitants are 6-8 pygmy corys, one of some sort of apistogramma, and a school of neon tetras. I have some corkscrew vals getting started toward the back of the tank, and a couple of aponogeton bulbs just starting to sprout. Depending on how tall those get, I'll probably add a floating plant of some sort. Also planning to get a nice piece of tall driftwood, but still looking for the right piece.

The end goal is to have a healthy, happy, good-looking mix of fish distributed throughout the aquarium. I guess I don't need a strictly surface-dwelling fish, but I don't want the top several inches of my tank to look empty, and I think the mid-levels will be pretty full with the other fish I have planned. Colorful is a bonus, but definitely not necessary.

Sorry to keep coming back for more and more fish suggestions -- I just really want this to work well and all of the fish to be happy. I'll only have the one tank, so I can't move things around if they don't do well where they are.