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I'm a Gourami fan and I would reconsider the Pearl Gourami - pictures don't do it justice. I didn't realize how much of a centerpiece fish they were until I bought two of them, then the online shop I use accidently sent me a Pearl when I ordered an Opaline. Pearls are one of the few large Gourami's that are peaceful, most of the other non-dwarf Gourami's are semi-aggressive. So in the end I have 3 centerpiece fish - not what I intended but they are stunning. And the source I looked at said they grew to 4" - mine are all easily 5-6". Luckily they do great in groups (they are naturally shoaling fish, although mine pretty much ignore each other so a single should be fine).

https://www.fishkeepingworld.com/pearl-gourami/

Now mine are all rounder than it looks in some of these pictures, I think that's because when they aren't moving their fins spread out more giving them a round appearance. They are also slow moving fish so they do remind you of angelfish floating across the seascape. They also are big enough and assertive enough that none of the fish in my tanks give them any trouble and they have no need to pick on other fish. These are, however, big fish with tiny mouths so you have to watch the size of food you feed them - they are totally not picky - they eat anything.

Like your betta, Gourami's are also air breathers (labyrinth fish).
 
Freakshow1966 said:
I did plan on MTS as i read they dig into the sand and keep it turned over. As for the cycling you have to understand im old and we have always used fish in cycling the tank back in the day lol I have no problem of a fishless cycle mind you its just not something us old timers think about :)
Click to expand...

I'm closing my 7th decade, there are some old timers here. Live plants, especially floating, allow you to "cycle" without any harm to fish and without deliberately doing anything. Nothing beats that.
 
Byron said:
Pictures as they say are worth thousands of words, so just to illustrate my "simple" approach, here are a few of my 40g (same tank size) tank over the last four years. I have changed it around a couple times due to my move and downsizing tanks. I have moderate (some would say low) light, and floating plants to help reduce it further for the fish, no CO2, and minimal weekly dose of Flourish Comprehensive Supplement complete plant fertilizer. Play sand substrate. Dual sponge filter. The tanks are geared for the fish, and the plants have to manage so obviously not every plant will survive but I keep the ones that will. The second photo shows how the pygmy chain sword spread when I let it.
Click to expand...
May i ask what floating plants you have in the 40g april 18 tank pls Byron?
 
Russjw said:
May i ask what floating plants you have in the 40g april 18 tank pls Byron?
Click to expand...

That plant is Water Sprite, Ceratopteris cornuta. There are also a couple strands of Brazilian Pennywort but the larger rooted plants are WS.

The floaters in the Nov 22-16 photo are Frogbit, Water Lettuce, and I think a couple stems of Pennywort.
 
Byron said:
That plant is Water Sprite, Ceratopteris cornuta.
Click to expand...

Your water sprite looks amazing :) How does that kind of cover from your floating plants not effect your substrate plants? Id love that look for my tank but worry it will kill lower level plants. I have my water lettuce barried off to the front of the tank using air tubing so my lower plants dont suffer. (Can be a pain with water changes)
20191129_205633.jpg

Does the pennyworts leafs need to grow out the water?
 
Russjw said:
Your water sprite looks amazing :) How does that kind of cover from your floating plants not effect your substrate plants? Id love that look for my tank but worry it will kill lower level plants. I have my water lettuce barried off to the front of the tank using air tubing so my lower plants dont suffer. (Can be a pain with water changes)

Does the pennyworts leafs need to grow out the water?
Click to expand...

No, Pennywort does not need to grow out of the water, but it can be grown fully submersed (the usual) or emersed in very moist terrariums/vivariums. It is found throughout Brazil, occurring in flooded forest and slow-flowing streams and also growing emersed along the banks of streams as a creeping ground plant. I have never done this emersed growth, but I do like this stem plant when it is left floating. The attached photo shows the floating clump in my Amazon blackwater tank.

As to light, there can be an issue, depending. In the 29g pictured here with this post, I had no intention of having lower plants, just wood and branches and dried leaves, with a mass of Pennywort on the surface for the pencilfish to browse through. In other tanks, the lower plants are not high-light requiring and they manage.

I always have floating plants no matter because the fish are more calm under dimmer light. I remember in my former 90g with the shoal of ten Congo Tetras, the Water Sprite would grow so large that two or three plants completely covered the surface, and as the daughter plants grew on alternate leaves this can really become a light block. Periodically I would thin the WS out, and for days, sometimes even a week or two after doing so, the Congo Tetra shoal would remain lower down in the tank. As the WS grew out, the Congos would move up in the water column until they were about 6 inches below thee surface. This happened repeatedly over several years, so there is absolutely no doubt that floating plants do make a difference for fish. I've also been able to observe over time that fish colouration can alter depending upon the floating plants.
 

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Byron said:
No, Pennywort does not need to grow out of the water, but it can be grown fully submersed (the usual) or emersed in very moist terrariums/vivariums. It is found throughout Brazil, occurring in flooded forest and slow-flowing streams and also growing emersed along the banks of streams as a creeping ground plant. I have never done this emersed growth, but I do like this stem plant when it is left floating. The attached photo shows the floating clump in my Amazon blackwater tank.

As to light, there can be an issue, depending. In the 29g pictured here with this post, I had no intention of having lower plants, just wood and branches and dried leaves, with a mass of Pennywort on the surface for the pencilfish to browse through. In other tanks, the lower plants are not high-light requiring and they manage.

I always have floating plants no matter because the fish are more calm under dimmer light. I remember in my former 90g with the shoal of ten Congo Tetras, the Water Sprite would grow so large that two or three plants completely covered the surface, and as the daughter plants grew on alternate leaves this can really become a light block. Periodically I would thin the WS out, and for days, sometimes even a week or two after doing so, the Congo Tetra shoal would remain lower down in the tank. As the WS grew out, the Congos would move up in the water column until they were about 6 inches below thee surface. This happened repeatedly over several years, so there is absolutely no doubt that floating plants do make a difference for fish. I've also been able to observe over time that fish colouration can alter depending upon the floating plants.
Click to expand...
Thanks Byron im going to try some pennywort :good:
 
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