Hi From North Carolina

[DFT]

New to be here. I kept fish when I was very young and bred numerous guppies at that time. I didn't pick it up until recently. I have a 5-gallon tank and a 30-gallon tank now. The 5-gallon tank has three red platies (Petsmart labels them mollies, but I think they should be platies. Am I right?) and the 30-gallon tank has blue gouramies, an albino pleco, loaches, red eyed tetras, guppies, black skirt tetras, an albino tiger barb, and serpae tetras. The 30-gallon tank was a second-hand tank and I inherited everything including the fishes. It seems to be a bit crowded.
I am looking forward to breed more plaites.
I want to have some angel fishes sometime.
Anyone from NC here?
 
 

 

[This Old Spouse]

 
You don't give numbers for your 30g, but it doesn't look too crowded. How many of each fish?

 

[DFT]

Hi~ Here are the numbers.
2 blue gouramie: 1 female of about 10 cm, 1 male of about 5 cm; (There was only a female. So I bought a male to make a couple. But the female just fight the male...)
1 albino pleco of about 10 cm
2 zebra loaches of about 8 cm
3 red eyed tetras of about 5 cm
2 male guppies of about 2 cm
2 black skirt tetras of about 5 cm
1 an albino tiger barb of about 5 cm (I think this is a school fish. But the former owner had just one of this in the tank...)
2 serpae tetras of about 4 cm (They always stay in the bottom of the tank. I don't know how they find their food. I mainly feed frozen bloodworms and they aren't interested in them.)
In total 15 fishes. The total fish/tank is 83 cm/110 L, which seems about OK.  They love frozen bloodworms a lot! I don't know how I am going to use freeze dried bloodworms for!

 

[Ruskull]

Welcome!
 
I'm from NC as well, around southeast Raleigh.  
 
The tank doesn't necessarily sound overstocked, but somewhat poorly stocked.  Many of those fish types should be in larger groups to feel safe and they'd color up better for you too if kept in minimum groups of six or more.  The problem is there's too many different kinds to increase all their numbers properly, so you should probably pick 1 or 2 types to increase their numbers and re home the others.
 
The shoaling/schoolers are:
 
Tiger Barb
Serpae Tetra
Black Skirt Tetra
Red Eye Tetra
 
You'd be best off picking the least "nippy" of those listed, and the the first 3 are known to be nippy.  I'd be surprised if the Guppies & the Gourami don't have nipped fins.

 

[DFT]

Welcome!
 
I'm from NC as well, around southeast Raleigh.  
 
The tank doesn't necessarily sound overstocked, but somewhat poorly stocked.  Many of those fish types should be in larger groups to feel safe and they'd color up better for you too if kept in minimum groups of six or more.  The problem is there's too many different kinds to increase all their numbers properly, so you should probably pick 1 or 2 types to increase their numbers and re home the others. 
 
The shoaling/schoolers are:
 
Tiger Barb
Serpae Tetra
Black Skirt Tetra
Red Eye Tetra
 
You'd be best off picking the least "nippy" of those listed, and the the first 3 are known to be nippy.  I'd be surprised if the Guppies & the Gourami don't have nipped fins.

 
Hi, I'm in Durham.
 
I am sure both guppies and blue gouramies have nipped fins. I really don't know how I can rehome those fish. I don't have place and time to hold another tank.
 
Do you have any suggestions?

 

[This Old Spouse]

Too bad you're not closer. I'd take all those tetras and the tiger barb off your hands.
 
I'd seek out other fishkeepers in your area to see if you could do some trading or rehoming. I belong to a couple of local groups through Facebook.
 
And a note:  frozen bloodworm should only be fed as a treat 2-3 times per week, not as the main food source. A good flake food should be the staple with other treats.

 

[Ruskull]

As per usual, great advice from Thisoldspouse regarding the bloodworms. I know most Petco locations will take them off your hands. Just ask first before bringing them.

 

[This Old Spouse]

Petco will take your fish, not the bloodworms. 

 
And thanks for the compliment!

 

[DFT]

I don't find any local community/group to barter/sell/buy fish, so I finally trade those tetras/barbs to a local fish store, with serpae tetras left. These pink creatures have always been peaceful at the bottom of the tank; they chase each other some time, but not with other fish.
I carefully did some research about the coexistence of angelfish/blue gourami/serpae tetras. There are some debates whether they can work well in the same tank, and it seems that the outcome depends on the tank and the personalities of each every fish. I introduced two sub-quarter size angelfish to the tank today. They are doing well with other tankmates so far. The big blue gourami seems to be curious towards them by touching them with her long fins, but no aggressive behavior so far. I hope they work out.
BTW, as ThisOldSpouse mentioned, frozen bloodworms should be treated as treat. What about freeze dried bloodworms? My platies love freeze dried bloodworms a lot: no matter how many flakes I fed before, they are able to consume a great amount of bloodworms afterward. Is it a good diet?
Thank you for all the suggestions.

 

[This Old Spouse]

Freeze dried bloodworms should be treated the same as frozen, as treats. 
 
My tiger barbs would happily eat bloodworms of any kind until they literally burst. Doesn't make it a good thing. 

 

[Ruskull]

Serpae (Red Minor) Tetras are one of the most nippy fish if kept in small numbers.  You should up their numbers to at least 6, and some say keeping odd numbers helps keep their aggression within the group.  Same for Tiger Barbs supposedly.  Both types are least aggressive towards other tank mates when they're kept in much larger numbers as well.
 
I've heard many folks say that Angels & Blue Gouramis can co exist, although I've never kept them together myself since they're from completely different parts of the world.  It could def. work provided the tank is large enough for each to claim a territory.

Edit:
 
Judging form the 30 gallon picture youposted, the Blue Gourami looks like a female for sure.  They are significantly less aggressive than their male counterparts and that's a good thing for your overall plan of adding Angels.  

 

[DFT]

Say hi to my friends~
They are doing all right.

 

[Ruskull]

It looks like a very nice setup you have, good luck with it.  How are the Angels getting along with the Blue Gourami?

 

[DFT]

Thanks to Ruskull. These setups are all inherited from the former owner, and I love them too.
 
Sadly, the large female blue gourami developed aggressive behavior towards angels and the smaller male blue gourami. The female likes to chase the male all over the tank. Finally I made a decision and bought some cheesy plastic mesh from a craft store to divide the tank and separate the female. All the other fish are doing all right. The angels are pretty shy in front of the male blue gourami, but they don't bother each other. 
 
BTW, the angels don't eat flakes. The flake is floating and it seems that they have a hard time to adjust their body (about quarter size) to get access to flakes on the surface. Are they just not used to the feeding, or are there better forms of fish food for angels?
 
Finally, I just want to ask a very silly question. Is there away to train a fish so it will behave good? It is definitely feasible for a dog, but a fish may not be smart enough to react to incentive and stimulus and remember lessons.

 

[JoebW]

Welcome! Nice tanks!