My 20G Semi Aggro Tank.

[Californialivin]

Will do guys thanks again. That's the next plan is to increase my cory/rasbora packs and plant the tank some more gonna get some wood and slate rocks and make some cool features in the tank hopefully the fish will aprreciate the new adds. My local owned store has tons of rams but their expensive for tropical fish 25 each. Didn't know small species of tropicals could get that expensive. Though I did pay 4.50 a corydora but that's not nearly as bad.

 

[SamB]

Wowza. My GBR was 5 bucks.. at that price you may want to order online. You might be able to talk to your local petsmart about them ordering one in

 

[Ninjouzata]

Also if you havn't already, try just googling for fish shops in your area, there may be a place you've been nearby and just had no idea it was there

 

[Californialivin]

Yeah petsmart is 20 minutes north or south they have them in both neighbor towns. We have petco here they're going to get some rams in on thursday didn't tell me what color they were but they're the cheapest fish store around here other then walmart but the only good looking fish at walmart are their dwarf puffers of all things.... Might go try and get some driftwood and corys/harleys today wood is on sale here right now.

 

[SamB]

I wouldn't recommend dwarf puffers! 

 

[Californialivin]

Oh i know they don't like other species I wouldn't put them in my tank i just meant they're interesting, cheap, and stocked at walmart which i thought was funny. Im just building up the cories and harlequins and adding the rams eventually. Debating on shrimp but otherwise i'll be happy with that.

 

[SamB]

OH ok hew: 
Yeah walmart (when they have fish...) have some interesting selections. Have you decided on ram plans? I would go with Gold Rams if possible. I also am thinking about shrimp - but I would go with anything BUT ghost shrimp. They all have a small bioload so it doesn't really matter if you add them or not
 
Here is a thread about why not to get ghost shrimp

 

[Elrohirthehasty]

Rams can be a bit sensitive to water conditions.  I've had friends kill several even though their tanks were cycled.  In my experience, some Apistogramma are hardier (and also quite colorful).  I would get one male.  I have an A. Viejita (sp?) in the past, he was pretty cool.
 
Just my two cents tho.  I've always wanted GBR, maybe my next tank...

 

[SamB]

Let's consider the fact Californialivin thinks 25 dollars is expensive for a fish.. Apistos are pricey and hard to come by in my experience.

Gold rams that I'm suggesting are a lot less expensive and less notoriously sensitive than gbrs. Californialivin, you might also check out bolivians if gbrs make you nervous! Furthermore, Californialivin is sourcing his fish from a large scale pet store which means they are likely far from wild and much less sensitive, like I discussed earlier in this thread.

 

[Californialivin]

I'm not dead set on rams yet I really like them but also like the gourami varients apistos i haven't looked into much i think some flame varient gouramis or honeys could look really cool around a school of harlequins with some red/yellow shrimps in there and the corys sounds like a nice setup to me not dead set with anything yet just want to make the right decisions so I'm happy and more importantly the little buddies in the aquatic playground are happy.

 

[ncguppy830]

wait wait walmart have puffers wow north carolina needs to catch up i never seen a puffer at the fish stores much less walmarts and they have them there maybe i should consider moving.

 

[Ninjouzata]

They have puffers at walmart here too, in GA

 

[ncguppy830]

that just not right, unfair

 

[Californialivin]

The real kicker is walmart only wants 3.50 for them here when i saw dwarf puffers at a family owned shop they were 15 bucks a peice for tiny tiny juvis.

Also does anyone know of a place that usually has female dwarf gouramis? If i get a male i want 2 females so he won't bully other fish. Otherwise i'll have to go with rams cause i know a few places that have healthy ram pairs. The petco here had tons of gouramis but i'm pretty sure they're all male. which doesn't make sense how do they keep 10 males in such small tanks together?

 

[ncguppy830]

petco/smart doesnt have female gouramis because there lack of coloration LFS are the best place to look along with breeders.