I have 2 badis badis (see attached picture) 3 albino x-ray pristella, and 5 neons. in a 29 gallon tank.

I'm not sure I've been able to attach the picture. No I didn't; I guess browsing below and sending doesn't work.

Are the badis badis a pair, cause if so they can become very grouchy for their size? They will breed fairly easily so watch out. Anyway back to the question, I would personally get 3-6 more pristella to start. Maybe a Honey or Powder blue Gourami would be a good centerpiece fish.

Since mine are both rather pale (I've had them 6 weeks) I'm assuming they are both females. Is a powder blue gourami peaceful if you just have one?

In all reality I think it will be fine with your setup. I think being alone it would be fine. What you are really looking for is something semi slow and something that wont out compete the bidas for food.

Thanks mostlycichlids! I've also been reading about Kribs. What do you think about that? Would they mix with the badis badis?

Well, I would tent to steer away from Cichlids because they will outcompete for food. To be honest badis don't belong in a community tank, as they are shy, deliberate eaters, and usually starve in a community. It can be done but also keep in mind they will need a lot of live and meaty foods so you will want to cater to dietary needs too.

Kribs and badis definitely not a good mix. Kribs are larger and more aggressive, and they both like the same kind of hidey holes. I've always kept badis in tanks by themselves, with maybe a few small rasboras or white cloud minnows as dithers. As MC said, you're better off avoiding cichlids for this tank.

How long are your badis? They really won't show much sexual dimorphism until they're 2", give or take a bit. A better method of sexing badis than color is by looking at the abdomen. Females have a more rounded belly, whereas the bellies on males will almost seem concave, like they're bein' starved.

Trying to think of a nice centerpiece fish that might fit in your tank as ya have it without disrupting the current balance, and the only thing I could come up with is possibly a pearl gourami. I'd be ready to move the badis or the gourami if anything went south, though.

WYite

Mostlycilchids mentioned honey gourami. Before I moved the badis badis into the 29 gallon, I had them in an 8 gallon biocube with 2 honey gourami and a hillstream loach and a bamboo shrimp. My nitrites were horrible! Yes I know I was overstocked. So I moved the badis badis. The reason I chose to move them into the 29 first rather than move the honeys first was this: the badis badis were beating the honeys out of food and since the honey seemed to be intimidated by them. The little x-ray pristella are eager little feeders and not shy at all (I base this on the fact that I had them in with 3 more shy neons in another small tank)- so I figured the badis badis could handle them Or should I say the x-rays could handle the badis badis.

Wyomiongite, my badis badis are about 1.5 at the most. They each have a "cave" picked out. They are not quite as quick as the pristella in getting food, and they do occasionally go to the top for floating food. I don't see them being bossy to the pristella, yet

Back to the honey idea. Someone else told me that they'd move the 2 honeys (when tank is ready) in with the 3 pristellas, 5 neons and 2 badis badis.

I could move the badis badis back to the biocube. I really hate to do that because I had a horrible time trying to catch them in the biocube when I moved them to the 29!!! I though I saw one of them playing dead even, way up between the heater and the outflow spout of the biocube. I had to take the heater out