Looking for stocking ideas to pair with phoenix rasbora

[Richee]

There are a few varieties of dwarf gourami, the natural colour and a few man made varieties, made by selective breeding (eg flame dwarf gourami, powder blue dwarf gourami, neon blue dwarf gourami etc). But whatever the variant, if they were bred on a fish farm in the far east they are very likely to be infected because the breeding tanks have the 'bugs' in them - dwarf gourami iridovirus and fish TB. It is cheaper for the farms to continue to breed sick fish when customers will buy more to replace them than it is to start again with clean tanks and uninfected fish.

However whether they are infected or not, dwarf gouramis need a tank bigger than 10 gallons. I cannot think of any gourami suitable for 10 gallons.


That water sounds good for soft water fish. Since we have a lot of members with hard water wells, I needed to make sure.

Is there a way for me to harden the water a bit naturally or permanently without baking soda? I keep being told I could house up to 3 dwarf goiramis in a 10 gallon, 1-2 for mixed species tanks . Seems odd they since even the dwarfs get to about 3 inches

 

[Essjay]

The fish you already have (phoenix rasboras, Boraras merah) need soft water. If you harden it, they will suffer. Tank mates for these fish need to be those which also need soft water.
From here

Boraras merah (Rasbora merah) — Seriously Fish

www.seriouslyfish.com

Hardness: 18 – 90 ppm

 

[Byron]

Your soft water is excellent for most nano fish, nano meaning small-sized species at maturity, which is what will work best here and give you more interest. You do not want to harden this, that will do nothing but cause issues. Adjusting water parameters isnot as easy as some make it out, and when there is certainly no need this is only asking for trouble. Dwarf Gourami are not suited to this tank, and they are real risks for disease.

I would remove the substrate and use only soft sand. Having a deeper substrate in this tank is taking away space unnecessarily. Mixing substrate materials is almost never advisable.

You have a lot of options, but you need an aquarium geared for those options.

Edit. Forgot to add, you need floating plants, just to cover everything (you are doing this, just a reminder).

 

[Essjay]

Is there a way for me to harden the water a bit naturally or permanently without baking soda? I keep being told I could house up to 3 dwarf goiramis in a 10 gallon, 1-2 for mixed species tanks . Seems odd they since even the dwarfs get to about 3 inches

Baking soda does not make water harder. Baking soda is sodium bicarbonate. Hardness, GH, the one that's important for fish, is a measure of calcium and magnesium. KH measures carbonate and bicarbonate but this affects fish only indirectly by stabilising pH.

Whoever told you a 10 gallon tank can hold 3 dwarf gouramis does not understand fish. If it was a fish store, please be aware that the vast majority of store workers know nothing about fish and will say anything to get a sale. If you read it on a website, anyone with little or no knowledge can set up a website and sound convincing. The same applies to YouTube videos.

Always research. Seriously Fish is the best site out there for general fish, with sites such as Planet Catfish and Loaches Online for catfish and loaches.

 

[GaryE]

Look for T richopsis pumila, sparkling gouramis. Forget the disease ridden large bodied ones. You don't want to ruin your tank with a plague carrier. A 10 is small, but a dozen merah (I had to look up Phoenix Rasbora - it isn't the marketing name here) and a few pumila with a lot of plants would work.

 

[Richee]

There are a few varieties of dwarf gourami, the natural colour and a few man made varieties, made by selective breeding (eg flame dwarf gourami, powder blue dwarf gourami, neon blue dwarf gourami etc). But whatever the variant, if they were bred on a fish farm in the far east they are very likely to be infected because the breeding tanks have the 'bugs' in them - dwarf gourami iridovirus and fish TB. It is cheaper for the farms to continue to breed sick fish when customers will buy more to replace them than it is to start again with clean tanks and uninfected fish.

However whether they are infected or not, dwarf gouramis need a tank bigger than 10 gallons. I cannot think of any gourami suitable for 10 gallons.


That water sounds good for soft water fish. Since we have a lot of members with hard water wells, I needed to make sure.

Is there a way for me to harden the water a bit naturally or permanently without baking soda

Look for T richopsis pumila, sparkling gouramis. Forget the disease ridden large bodied ones. You don't want to ruin your tank with a plague carrier. A 10 is small, but a dozen merah (I had to look up Phoenix Rasbora - it isn't the marketing name here) and a few pumila with a lot of plants would work.

alright I went a little against the grain of advice here and I got 6 pork chop rasborah and they are in there with the 6 mehah rasborah I have . And so far they all seem to be grouping together and doing good

 

[Byron]

Is there a way for me to harden the water a bit naturally or permanently without baking soda

Baking soda does not harden the water. It is sodium carbonate. But why do you want to make the water harder? The fish you now have need it soft and it is good now.

alright I went a little against the grain of advice here and I got 6 pork chop rasborah and they are in there with the 6 mehah rasborah I have . And so far they all seem to be grouping together and doing good

You lucked out here, as both species are in the same genus and tend to remain together (shoal). But it certainly would not work with most other shoaling fish. The only issue would be hybridization, but fortunately that is remote here.

 

[Essjay]

Aren't pork chop rasbora in the genus Trigonostigma? I've seen that common name for T. espei with T. hengeli as lamb chop rasbora..

 

[Byron]

Aren't pork chop rasbora in the genus Trigonostigma? I've seen that common name for T. espei with T. hengeli as lamb chop rasbora..

I suspect you are quite correct...the useless common names used for many fish confused me. @Richee if Essjay is correct, you have an issue here. Both species need more of them. And this is ony a 10g, so you would be best to return the chop rasboras assuming they are in fact Trigonostigma hengeli or T. espei, as they are twice the size at maturity.

 

[Richee]

I suspect you are quite correct...the useless common names used for many fish confused me. @Richee if Essjay is correct, you have an issue here. Both species need more of them. And this is ony a 10g, so you would be best to return the chop rasboras assuming they are in fact Trigonostigma hengeli or T. espei, as they are twice the size at maturity.

They seem to be doing very well and are all shoaling together .

 

[Richee]

They seem to be doing very well and are all shoaling together .

The size I have them now they are pretty well full grown

 

[Richee]

I suspect you are quite correct...the useless common names used for many fish confused me. @Richee if Essjay is correct, you have an issue here. Both species need more of them. And this is ony a 10g, so you would be best to return the chop rasboras assuming they are in fact Trigonostigma hengeli or T. espei, as they are twice the size at maturity.

Is the whole issue with 10 gallon tanks being to small just come down to bioload? Surely it’s not because the tank itself is too small to swim in right ? It’s just the bioload of the fish in a 10 gallon

 

[Essjay]

Can you post a photo of the pork chop rasboras so we know exactly which species they are.

The issue for Bryon and me is that rasboras need a shoal of at least 10 of both species. A 10 gallon tank is not big enough for these numbers, and if the pork chop rasboras are a Trigonostigma species, they need more swimming room. The most likely species for that common name are

Trigonostigma hengeli — Seriously Fish

www.seriouslyfish.com

Trigonostigma espei – Lambchop Rasbora — Seriously Fish

www.seriouslyfish.com

You'll see in those profiles that both species need a tank with a footprint of 24 x 12 inches.



Your phoenix rasboras are much smaller that either of the two Trigonostigmas and they are OK in 18 x 12 inch tanks

Boraras merah (Rasbora merah) — Seriously Fish

www.seriouslyfish.com

 

[Richee]

Can you post a photo of the pork chop rasboras so we know exactly which species they are.

The issue for Bryon and me is that rasboras need a shoal of at least 10 of both species. A 10 gallon tank is not big enough for these numbers, and if the pork chop rasboras are a Trigonostigma species, they need more swimming room. The most likely species for that common name are

Trigonostigma hengeli — Seriously Fish

www.seriouslyfish.com

Trigonostigma espei – Lambchop Rasbora — Seriously Fish

www.seriouslyfish.com

You'll see in those profiles that both species need a tank with a footprint of 24 x 12 inches.



Your phoenix rasboras are much smaller that either of the two Trigonostigmas and they are OK in 18 x 12 inch tanks

Boraras merah (Rasbora merah) — Seriously Fish

www.seriouslyfish.com

 

[Essjay]

Those are T. hengeli. They are not suitable for a 10 gallon tank, I'm afraid. That's why Byron suggested taking them back to the store.

One of the most important lessons in fish keeping is don't believe anything a shop worker tells you. Most of the workers haven't a clue about fish keeping and will say anything to make a sale. If they told you the T. hengeli are suitable for 10 gallons, that demonstrates the point.

The other alternative is to upgrade the tank - you need one at least 24 inches long, and 10 of each of the fish you have.

The reason they are sticking together is because they are stressed. Fish which are not stressed go their separate ways. They are new to the tank, the #1 reason they are currently stressed. It takes several days, sometimes a few weeks, for fish to settle in. They've just been through a very stressful time. member Colin_T has written about this

Fish Importing, from the farm to the home

If any of you have wondered how aquarium fish get to the local pet shop, the following will give you some insight as to what they have to go through to get from the fish farm where they are bred and raised, to the pet shop where you can buy them. The stress they go through is quite...

www.fishforums.net

There are also not enough T. hengeli which makes them feel stressed. Shoaling fish are programmed to expect a large group. Think of it like this. In the wild they live in groups of hundreds. When there are not enough of them their instincts tell them that something has eaten the rest of the group and they're next on the menu. They don't know there's no predator lurking outside the tank.