Cory And Gourami Questions...

[disFUNctional]

Hey all!

 
I've currently got a 200L tank (roughly 50-ish ?US? gallons) which I'm planning on converting into a tropical community setup. (At the moment it's housing some goldfish, which will be going on a permanent vacation to my aunt's house, lol.

)
The specs are: 122cm(L) 36.5cm (D) 45cm(H), with a fluval 404 filter (which has ammonia rocks in it, as well as the usual filter media), 3mm gravel, 1 java fern and 1 anubias petite (both live), some driftwood, and a overturned terracotta pot, and an ugly fake log decoration, which I'm  eventually going to cover with a plant.
 
I've only had fish for about 6 months now (so obviously I'm still a total noob!), but have come to realize that I want a more heavily planted tank (I'm thinking I'll do 50/50 live and fake plants, as I don't want to worry about managing the Co2), with more vibrant looking fish.
 
I've decided that I'm going to have 2 shoals of fish (one of which will probably be corys... I haven't yet decided on what the other shoal will be yet) and a gourami, and even with all of my research I still can't decide which type of cory or gourami I want! 

 
Gourami Questions:
 
1A. I've read conflicting reports that kissing gourami are both a good and bad choice for beginners, but from what I can tell this is because most people don't actually do the proper research on them to see if they are actually compatible for their tank, etc (apparently most people keep them in a 10gal)... So I'm wondering with my sized tank, would they actually be a beginner-friendly choice? (If no, skip all the rest of 1# questions.)
 
1B. Could I fit 2 in my tank? (I've tried using Advert for another forum removed.com, but as far as I can tell they don't actually have them listed.)
 
1C. Again I've read conflicting info on this; that they will "kiss" (i.e- fight) until the other kissing gouramis in their tank have their lips torn off... I'm wondering if this is actually something to be worried about, or if it's just a bad experience that someone has had, and has now become a factual rumour?
 
1D. I've read that kissing gouramis will "kiss" their tankmates skin, removing their protective oil; but if you get 2 of them, they will be too busy "kissing" each other, that they won't harass their tankmates. (Of course they'll still be territorial, but not dangerously so.) -Is this true?
 
1E. Because they eat algae, would they thoroughly clean my tank like a cory?... What I'm thinking, is if they do, maybe I wouldn't get the corys, but instead have 2 different shoaling types.
 
2. Are blue gouramis a strong blue colour, or more subtle?
 
3. Has anyone had kissing or blue gouramis in a community set up, and if so did you have any troubles?
 
4. What is the most peaceful type of gourami for a community tank? (I'm after a larger sized gourami, as I want it to be the centerpiece.) And would I be able to have 2 or 3 of them? (I know that gouramis are territorial, but I've also heard that some of them you can keep more than one of, without too much drama.)
 
5. Which is your favourite gourami, and why? (Doesn't have to be one of the bigger types.) 

 
Cory Questions:
 
1. Are there any particular corys that are best suited to noobs? Or generally are they all pretty good?
 
2. Which type/s are the most friendly, playful, and curious, etc?
 
3. If you have corys, how did you end up deciding on them? And which is your favourite, and why? 

 
Sorry if any of these questions seem repetitive or redundant... I just keep changing my mind as to what I'm after in my fish, so I figure that it's best to cover all bases so that I can actually end up deciding, lol!

Aaaaannnnyyyyyway... Thanks for any and all help in advance, and if you have any suggestions for what the other shoaling fish should be, feel free to give suggestions!

(Just make sure you let me know why you like that type of fish!

)
 
P.S - I was going to post some pics of my tank, but my pc and phone are throwing a tantrum at me and telling me that they don't want to play with each other, so until I can beat them into submission (preferably with something hard and heavy

), you'll just have to go without, lol!

 

[Ninjouzata]

Sorry I'm also quite new to fishkeeping so can only answer the more fun questions

I have albino corys and they are so active and go all over the tank, zooming up and down on the sides, just going everywhere! I decided on them since I have a black substrate and they look stunning against it. They're the only type I've had so far

As far as I know corys aren't for cleaning a tank, you need to feed them just like the rest of your fish. I don't know if they eat algae or not but they need protein in their diet, most people feed them shrimp pellets.
You don't have to use co2 for a planted tank so if you want all live plants and no fake you can certainly do that! 
 
*Edit* Oh! My favorite gourami is the golden gourami. I don't own one yet but that is what I am intending to get for my tank Fell in love with them at the lfs. I believe it's semi-agressive.

 

[Blondielovesfish]

I could tell you were an Aussie without looking at your location
 
I personally don't think a kissing gourami would be suitable for your tank, how ever, if you really want one then I'll answer your questions anyway ....
 
1A. They're not the best for beginners, however, they will be fine with a responsible beginner that does their research.
 
1B. You could, but it is likely that aggression will occur and you will need to have lots of hiding places for the less dominant one to hide. You may have more luck if you were to get one male and one female, however, sexing them can be hard.
 
1C. I don't think that they actually rip the lips of one another (I may be wrong), instead I think they just lip lock until the weaker one/less dominant one will back down. For the reason of the lip locking and possible injury. I would not recommend keeping two together.
 
1D. I'm not sure, sorry.
 
1E. The only graze on algae and it should not be there full diet. The algae will supplement their diet but should not be the staple.
      (Also, Cories are not algae eaters)
 
2. I'm not sure about them but I'm guessing this is also the three spot gourami? I would guess that their colour depends on their mood.
 
3. I personally have not had either gourami, however, I have researched them.
 
4. Depends on other stocking.
 
5. My favourite Gourami is the Dwarf Gourami. I love them because they're so cute, have a lot of character and are brilliantly coloured.
 
I don't really know enough about Cories to answer your questions. Sorry. 
One thing though...as Ninjouzata said, they do not eat algae so you will need to feed them other foods such as shrimp pellets and algae wafers.
If you want a fish to eat the algae, I would recommend either getting a Bristlenose Pleco or a school of Otocinclus (they do best in schools of 6+. The more the better )

 

[DreamertK]

1A. As long as you have an established tank and keep up the WC and don't let the chemical levels in the water get out of control.

1B. I wouldn't put two unless it's a breeding pair.

1C. I've never seen this happen. This is why a breeding pair would be better than just having two random fish.

1D. If you think back to that time when you took me out to the lake to go fishing, you would realize that that has nothing to do with it. The answer of course, is N'Sync.

1E. No. They wont clean your tank.

2. Depends on their mood. If they're a dark/black color they could be pissed off, while if they're a light/white color they could be sick or scared. Or if you're talking about blue dwarf gourami they stay the same color and get DGD so I wouldn't recommend them.

3. No.

4. None that I would recommend having more than one in there. 3spots are aggressive with any other gourami in the tank, though it's possible with that big a tank to have 1M2F...I'd just be extremely concerned if you didn't accidentally get males instead of females as they can be uncommon in the shops.

5. Opaline because avatar/display picture.

 

[stanleo]

I won't touch the kissing gourami question as I don't know about them.
 
I really just want to say this. I have had my tank for 2 years and if I had it to do over again I would do this. Use the pearl gourami as my centerpiece. They are lovely fish and I have heard quite docile. I have also seen more than one in a tank setup without issue. Someone else would know better than I but you would need 1 male and 2 females. I would also have panda corys. They are so darn cute. They root in the soil for food and don't eat the algae. I would still have my bristle nose pleco as he is phenomenal at algae eating. Then as shoaling fish I would get cardinal tetras, as many as I could fit in there. you have a nice size tank so I think you could do 10 pandas, 15 cardinal tetras, and a pearl gourami. Maybe more if I am right that you could keep more than one but I may be wrong about that.
 
Anyway good luck with your tank and I would like to see some pics when you get it all working.

 

[bikerfish]

Hi  still fairly new to this but I have similar size tank to yours , I have 2 kissing gouramis and the more dominant 1 leaves the other fish alone at feeding time as I  have a feeding ring at top of tank and he knows this is where his food is also a seewead  clip that I put wafers in at different times . This also gives the slightly smaller 1 a chance to eat in piece. They like to clean algea of plants and also I leave back of tank alone and they keep this clean also any where else it might grow.
I also have a group of bandit cories and they are bottom feeders so have there own  type of food but do not eat algea .
Gouramis are classed here as not aggressive but I would put them in the semi aggressive from my own experience with them .
Hope this helps
cathy

 

[disFUNctional]

Hahaha, Ninjouzata I'm glad that you could at least answer the fun questions. Your albino corys sound like a lot of fun!
Thanks for telling me that they need protein in their diet... I know that they eat algae and like cooked zucchini, but I didn't know about that. And thanks for telling me about the Co2.

 

[disFUNctional]

Wow, soooo many answers in such a short time!

 
Thank you everyone for all of your helpful responses, and valuable information!!!

First of all everyone seems to be saying that corys aren't actually algae eaters... so with all of my research into different fish types (and I've been looking at a LOT of different species!), I must've got confused along the way (so Ninjouzata please ignore anything I said in my previous post!).

 
I can see that I'll not be getting either the kissing or blue gourami (yes I was talking about the three spot), and that I need to definitely keep researching the gouramis, and also thinking about the corys. (I was initially wanting them because of their playful behaviour and non-existent algae eating abilities.

)
 
So... back to the drawing board I guess, hahaha!

 
Hey, does anyone know if there are any beginner friendly fish that are algae eaters, that aren't plecos?... I really love the plecos, but I'm not sure I want such a massive pooper! (That's one of the reasons that I'll be glad to get rid of my goldies.)
I know snail clean algae, but I'm not much of a snail person.
 
P.S - Blondielovesfish that is so cool that you could tell that I'm Aussie without looking!... I can sometimes do that with English people, but only because they use the word brilliant a lot, lol!

 

[Ninjouzata]

I've no idea if they are beginner-friendly or not and don't have any myself but have heard otocinclus are good algae eaters. Like to be in groups though Super cute!

 

[Blondielovesfish]

I can sometimes do that with English people, but only because they use the word brilliant a lot, lol!

 

 
You could have a nice school of tetras or rasboras. Cardinal/Neon tetra's and Harlequins would be nice. If you stocked with small fish then you could have a nice shoal of Pygmy Cories.
Say 13 Pygmys, 13 Neons/Cardinals and 13 Harlequins and then 7 Otocinclus and a feature fish could do well. (might be a bit over stocked, haven't really checked if its over stocked or not ).
 
For a feature fish, you could do a Honey gourami. They're small fish that would look great against the other fish. It may get DGD though so make sure you think about if you want to take the risk.

 

[Shaddex]

Most cory's are easy going and quite hardy fish.
If you want to actually see them in the day then I would go for a shoal of Peppered or Albino's. (Also they are cheaper)
If you want more colour and have more money, go for Green or Gold lasers.
Sterbia are very nice looking fish, as are Loxozonus.
(All my favorite)

 

[greenmumma141]

Congrats on redoing your tank How exciting!
 
  As far as gouramis go, I have to say Pearl! I have one and she is beautiful and extremely polite. You can have more than one, you could even try a pair. (then you would have to do something about the babies though)  If you decide the pearls are not for you, I've heard that honey gouramis are nice and docile as well, though I don't think they get as big.
 
  Cories are by far my favorite fish. They are so much fun to keep and watch. Let me give you some big advice that I kind of with I went with...  Once you get your first shoal, you'll more than likely become cory crazy and you'll want to get another shoal, which you could in that size tank, BUT.. I would suggest to just up the numbers of the same type of cory. The more you have, the better the behavior gets
 
I have green (c. aeneus). They are cheap, easily found, get to a great size, and extremely easy. They're also nice and busy. Albinos are a busy fun cory too. Pandas tend to be a good deal more sensitive, so just make sure your water is good and stable first. Make sure you start out with 6 of whatever you choose. Please include pics
 
Ottos are a great algae eater, however!, they need to be kept in groups, they need an established tank that must be planted. They are very sensitive. 

 

[disFUNctional]

Thanks everyone for the help so far!
 
I've finally decided on 1 pearl gourami, 5 bronze corys and a single nerite snail (which are really difficult to breed, which is great, because the whole "snail explosion" scenario is why I wasn't much into keeping snails)... Now I just need to figure out the other type of shoaling fish I want, and I'm pretty much set! XD (Well... I'll be set once my aunt can take my goldies, lol. )
 
I ended up deciding against the otos, because I don't think I'm ready for them yet, due to their sensitivity. But I'll definitely give them a go in future.

 

[the_lock_man]

Can I just recommend you make that 6 cories? In the wild, these fish live in shoals that are hundreds or thousands strong. 6 is generally accepted as the level at which they lose count, and assume they are in a "wild" sized shoal, and are therefore a lot less stressed.

 

[Ninjouzata]

Hope it's okay to show this..I realize you can just search for it on youtube but

It's just so neat. I imagine there are greater vids out there but I quite enjoy this one.
No idea how to embed so..

http/www.youtube.com/watch?v=cWIVCdLOImw
 
Thankyou TLM!