how many gouramis in a 240 litre aquarium

[jasiep89]

Hi i am purchasing a fluval roma 240 aquarium it will be a planted community tank i am wanting to know how many gouramis i can have living comfortabely together it will be the first 4ft aquarium i have had before the last aquarium i owned was a juwel rio 125 aquarium with 2 gouramis maximum as they ended up fighting and killing one another when housing more than 2 in my juwel rio 125

 

[Byron]

The number will depend upon the intended species. Obviously there are size differences, but some species are also considerably more aggressive or territorial than others. If you know the species you are thinking of, I might be able to suggest approximate numbers.

Byron.

 

[jasiep89]

I am thinking of 1 female golden gourami, 1 male opaline gourami, 1 female pearl gourami and 1 female moonlight gourami and a pair of dwarf gouramis

 

[Byron]

I am thinking of 1 female golden gourami, 1 male opaline gourami, 1 female pearl gourami and 1 female moonlight gourami and a pair of dwarf gouramis

The opaline and gold gourami are the same species, Trichopodus trichopterus; this species has several varieties from selective breeding, such as these two plus the blue, 3-spot, cosby, marble, and maybe others now. This is worth knowing because they will obviously see each other as the same for temperament, spawning, etc. Males of this species are quite territorial, and frequently very aggressive in defending their territory, which in this tank would be the entire tank. The species is probably best in a pair, with no other gourami except in larger tanks. They can attain six inches, but four to five is usual in aquaria.

The Moonlight, Trichopodus microlepsis, attains six inches and will usually see smaller fish as food. It can live with others in the genus (like the aforementioned) but should have more space to be safe for this to work. And even then, individual fish can behave outside the "norm" for a species. The problem here is that it can become necessary to separate fish, which can occur weeks and even months later, to avoid serious injury and death; unless one has facilities to handle this, the risk is not usually worth it.

The dwarf gourami, Trichogaster lalius, is a risk period. If you obtain the fish directly from a reliable breeder or source (not meaning the store) you are on safer ground. Commercial fish are still known to carry the iridovirus which is un-treatable. Honey Gourami which are similar in size and colouring, are better bets. But with the larger cousins here, this could be trouble too.

The Pearl, Trichopodus leerii, is quite docile for gourami, and best in a small group if not a trio (one male, two female). This is a beauty indeed. If I were in your shoes, thinking of gourami, with your 240 liter planted tank, I would go with a group of five Pearls. They attain just under five inches, and should not be kept with larger fish. With a group of Pearls in a planted tank, you could have some shoaling rasboras for a stunning display. This is a species I have not had for quite a while, and I may go back to it when I next have suitable tank space in my fishroom.

Byron.

 

[jasiep89]

Thanks Byron i have had pearl gouramis before and i think they were the best gouramis i ever owned i had 2 in my 125 litre and they never showed any aggression towards one another i think i will end up getting them again i will be purchasing mostly tetras with few corydoris aswell so they should be fine together i always keep my aquariums between 6.8 and 7 ph usually so i can keep other species such as platties and mollies

 

[Byron]

Thanks Byron i have had pearl gouramis before and i think they were the best gouramis i ever owned i had 2 in my 125 litre and they never showed any aggression towards one another i think i will end up getting them again i will be purchasing mostly tetras with few corydoris aswell so they should be fine together i always keep my aquariums between 6.8 and 7 ph usually so i can keep other species such as platties and mollies

The GH is more important than pH when it comes to soft and hard water species. No mention is made of the GH, but I can assure you that mollies will want it harder, and a higher pH if they are to be healthy. Platies are a bit more adaptable, but still not going to be at their best unless they have moderately hard or harder water with a slightly higher pH. The gourami and tetras and cories are of course the exact opposite.

Finding a "middle ground" to suit both soft and harder water species is impossible. Depending upon the GH and pH, one or the other will lose. The fact that some aquarists are content with this doesn't mean the fish are thriving. There is quite a difference between managing and thriving, and our aim should be to provide for the needs of the fish so they can thrive, not just survive.

Byron.

 

[jasiep89]

Is there kits you buy for testing the GH? i have kept mollies and guppies in a neutral PH with softer water species eg. Tetras gouramis and few others i found that with regular water changes and maintanance they thrived they were always full of colour very active and i never had any problems with deseases i had very few fatalaties except when my heater malfunctioned and ended up killing nearly all my fish as the temperature dropped to 20 degrees C over night wasn't a nice sight to wake up to only had my rainbow shark and silver shark left had to quickly get to the LFS and buy a new heater to warm the tank back up luckily i had tropical fish in my bedroom upstairs aswell in a 2 foot marina aquarium so quickly checked water quality and put them in there till the tank in my living room was back to temperature and free from all the corpses worst experience i have ever had in all the years keeping tropical fish

 

[Byron]

Is there kits you buy for testing the GH? i have kept mollies and guppies in a neutral PH with softer water species eg. Tetras gouramis and few others i found that with regular water changes and maintanance they thrived they were always full of colour very active and i never had any problems with deseases i had very few fatalaties except when my heater malfunctioned and ended up killing nearly all my fish as the temperature dropped to 20 degrees C over night wasn't a nice sight to wake up to only had my rainbow shark and silver shark left had to quickly get to the LFS and buy a new heater to warm the tank back up luckily i had tropical fish in my bedroom upstairs aswell in a 2 foot marina aquarium so quickly checked water quality and put them in there till the tank in my living room was back to temperature and free from all the corpses worst experience i have ever had in all the years keeping tropical fish

Without knowing the GH and pH, I can only say that these might have been workable for the mollies, and the softer-water species were managing. Longevity of a fish is often a clue to how well it is functioning, but again we must remember that it is next to impossible to really know a fish is thriving and not just surviving somehow.

I wouldn't waste money on a GH/KH test kit. Check the website of your municipal water authority (if you are on city water and not a private well); many have data including hardness and Alkalinity, and maybe pH too. The latter can change, but generally GH and KH remain close to the source water, if you are doing regular substantial water changes. Once we know the numbers we will have a better idea.

Byron.

 

[jasiep89]

Once i get my aquarium up and running i will be able to upload pictures and water quality information i usually tend to keep my aquarium between 26 degrees C and 28 degrees depending on the fish i am keeping i always try to keep my temperature in comfortable temp depending on what i am housing i normally house fish that prefer the same temperature i don't like when people put different species in that prefer warmer or cooler water like for e.g neon tetras which prefer warmer water and mountain minnows that prefer cooler water i always research into the species before buying any so i know they prefer the same requirements

 

[Byron]

Once i get my aquarium up and running i will be able to upload pictures and water quality information i usually tend to keep my aquarium between 26 degrees C and 28 degrees depending on the fish i am keeping i always try to keep my temperature in comfortable temp depending on what i am housing i normally house fish that prefer the same temperature i don't like when people put different species in that prefer warmer or cooler water like for e.g neon tetras which prefer warmer water and mountain minnows that prefer cooler water i always research into the species before buying any so i know they prefer the same requirements

I may not have been clear previously...I was suggesting you get the tap water GH and pH from the water authority, not from an established or new aquarium. The source water is what is important here, to select suitable fish.

Yes, temperature is very important, since it is the driver of the fish's metabolism. Neons by the way are cooler rather than warmer water fish, and by cooler I mean 75-76F/24C being fine.

 

[jasiep89]

Thats what i meant i know my water around where i live is between 7.2 and 7.4 ph my gh in my area is 21mg/L of calcium and magnesium which comes up as moderetly soft i checked the local water authority website for my area i will be putting a buffer in to drop the ph between 6.8 and 7 as most fish i will probably be keeping will be tetras have you had experiance keeping bleeding heart tetras before? I've never owned any but was wanting some

 

[Byron]

Thats what i meant i know my water around where i live is between 7.2 and 7.4 ph my gh in my area is 21mg/L of calcium and magnesium which comes up as moderetly soft i checked the local water authority website for my area i will be putting a buffer in to drop the ph between 6.8 and 7 as most fish i will probably be keeping will be tetras have you had experiance keeping bleeding heart tetras before? I've never owned any but was wanting some

The GH at 21 mg/l (which is the same as ppm, a unit common in the hobby) is very soft. This is just a tad above 1 dGH. So please forget livebearers, they will not be healthy in this water. Soft water species wil thrive.

As for the pH, I do not recommend buffers or whatever you are using to lower it. For one thing, the pH is naturally buffered by the KH (Alkalinity, or carbonate hardness) though here this is likely low (it usually, but not always, parallels GH). But that means that the pH will naturally tend to lower due to the organic decomposition, and it is always better to let nature do something. Last point, adding any substance to the water means it is getting inside the fish, and this can cause issues even though minor.

I've had Bleeding Heart Tetras (Hyphessobrycon erythrostigma). This is one of the larger tetras, at 5-6 cm (2.5 inches). Usually peaceful, but some have reported it sometimes nips fins of sedate fish, so it should not be combined with fish like angelfish, gourami, and similar. If you decide on Pearl Gourami as discussed above, I would omit the BH. There are some very similar looking tetras that are very peaceful. The Rosy Tetra (Hyphessobrycon rosaceus) and Roberti (or Ornate) Tetra (H. bentosi) if you want to stay with the pink-mauve colour. Or the Red Phantom Tetra (H. sweglesi) if you want a more striking red fish of similar shape and peaceful behaviours. While looking into these, you may come across other similar tetras that are to be avoided like the proverbial plague. The Serpae Tetra (H. eques), also known as Red Minor Tetra, is a dazzling red fish like the Red Phantom but inevitably will fin nip almost any other fish, including themselves. All of these tetras are very closely related, having descended from a common ancestor according to Weitzman, but you couldn't find more opposites in behaviours.

Byron.