Schooling Fish To Go With Gouramis

[creeker]

Beware that some Zebra Danios get nippy on slower moving fish. Not sure why those sites would eliminate the medium sized tetras, yet Penguins are ok? I still think your best bet is the Columbians/Bleeding Hearts/Red-eyes.

 

[eaglesaquarium]

+1 nippyness of zebras, especially in small numbers and small tank. It just isn't worth it in my opinion. You say you don't like returning fish... then go with the safe bet and don't get zebras.


I'm not sure why the other tetras are being nixed by this compatability chart you are using. With Pearl Gouramis, you wouldn't have to worry about any of them, in my opinion. The skirts can be a little nippy at times. I wouldn't worry about the rest though.

 

[Ruskull]

Well I didn't hear back so I bought (6) Zebra Danios of various sizes from PetSmart. They were $1.69 each. I also bought a pair of Cherry Barbs, a male & a female, from PetCo for $1 each. I returned the 4 inch long Blue Gourami to PetCo while I was there. She was beautiful and I'll miss her.

I love the Cherry Barbs, they swim near the bottome & stay together like a team. My wife loves them too.

I hate the Zebra Danios! They swim at the very top, they're very skittish, they don't seem to school very well, and they look like bait fish. The good news is that they seem to take some of the attention of the dominant male Gold Gourami but it doesn't seem like a good match for my community. I already had top dwellers and I was looking more for mid level swimmers that schooled in a nice display of color. Red or Black Phantoms would've looked awesome...............

I did see some nice Red Eye Tetras, some Bleeding Hearts & Bloodfin Tetras but I was afraid they'd be nippy.

PetCo had (2) silvery clear colored tetras that had bright yellow tipped fins. Any idea what those were? They weren't labeled and they were in with the VonRio Tetras, which are also beautiful looking. Any other info on those?

 

[beechey]

rummy nose always

 

[Ruskull]

Well I just got back from returning the Zebra Danios. Instead I got (2) Lemon Tetras and (4) Von Rio Tetras. I would've gotten more Lemons but they only had 2.

So far so good. The Lemons & Von Rios are even schooling together with the Cherry Barbs! I didn't expect that. I plan to add (4) more Cherry Barbs and then I'll be complete.

 

[creeker]

I was going to say the yellow tipped ones are Lemon Tetras, but I see you figured that out. They do have a subtle attractiveness.

 

[Ruskull]

I was going to say the yellow tipped ones are Lemon Tetras, but I see you figured that out. They do have a subtle attractiveness.

It was the typical "Tetra shape" that I liked so much when I saw them in the store. That combined with the distinct yellow stripes and the fact that they were schooling with the Von Rios and I was sold. According to most sources they only get 1.5 inches long, as do the Von Rios, which is good because I can increase the school amounts slowly.

 

[creeker]

I was going to say the yellow tipped ones are Lemon Tetras, but I see you figured that out. They do have a subtle attractiveness.

It was the typical "Tetra shape" that I liked so much when I saw them in the store. That combined with the distinct yellow stripes and the fact that they were schooling with the Von Rios and I was sold. According to most sources they only get 1.5 inches long, as do the Von Rios, which is good because I can increase the school amounts slowly.

I was trying to steer you towards a little larger tetras because of possible aggression from your gouramis. Hopefully, it will all work out for you.

 

[Ruskull]

I was going to say the yellow tipped ones are Lemon Tetras, but I see you figured that out. They do have a subtle attractiveness.

It was the typical "Tetra shape" that I liked so much when I saw them in the store. That combined with the distinct yellow stripes and the fact that they were schooling with the Von Rios and I was sold. According to most sources they only get 1.5 inches long, as do the Von Rios, which is good because I can increase the school amounts slowly.

I was trying to steer you towards a little larger tetras because of possible aggression from your gouramis. Hopefully, it will all work out for you.

I was more worried about the larger, nippy Tetras going after the slower moving Gouramis. Of course I don't want the Gouramis chasing the schooling fish either though...........

Thanks for your input, it helped me to decide on these. Thanks to eaglesaquarium too. I saw the Red Eyed Tetras and the Penguins too but they just didn't look as nice & they get too big for me to get large schools of them.

The Von Rios have really grown on me too, their colors are awesome! I'll try to post some low resolution pics.