Should I Add A Gourami? If Not What Else?

[bangit]

Hi i have a 3ft (36 X 12 X 12) tank, overfiltered (eheim 2213 i think, for tanks upto 200 litre - 24usg is about 92 litre) The tank is 24 usg (20 ukg)

My tank is fully cycled and contains:

6 x Corydoras trilineatus
10 x neon tetras
2 x otos

in terms of inches per gallon of full grown fish this works out as (2 x 6) = 12, (10 x 1.5) = 15, (2 x 1.5) = 3, total 30 inches.

Ammonia is 0, Nitrites 0 Nitrates 10. ph 7.3


Im thinking about adding a dwarf gourami, now im pretty happy adding one fish however woudl be a little concerned about adding a female or 2 to keep him occupied, is it ok to add a single dwarf gourami male to my tank???

This would take my total stocking to 32 inches, 8 over what im allowed however i believe my overfiltering can more than handle this. And also my current fish stock are simply not that messy in terms of waste.

Any advice woudl be appreciated.

 

[fishwatcher]

You could try 1 d. gourami. You are/will be overstocked, but with the small neons I don't think that will a problem. Just keep up on your water changes, and make sure to acclimate the gourami very slowly.
Good luck!

 

[bangit]

Thanks, thats what i thought, so keeping single males is not a problem then?

 

[fishwatcher]

Not in my experience. They seem to do just fine.
They're cute little things, too!

 

[sylvia]

I wouldn't go for a dwarf personaly because they are particularly prone to disease. Maybe consider a single male banded gourami (Colisa fasciata - to 4") or thick-lipped gourami (Colisa labiosa - to 3.5") or a trio of honeys (Colisa chuna/sota) or a male pearl gourami (Trichogaster leeri) instead.

 

[fishwatcher]

Oh, yeah, a pearl would be beautiful in there!

 

[bangit]

thanks guys i will have a look, going shopping his weekend so will post some pics of what i get if i can.

cheers!

 

[miniman]

I have nearly the same tank size as you and was also looking at a similar set up - some corys, neons and a couple of centrepiece fish. I was looking at a couple of Pearls but was worried that they would eat the neons once fully grown??

 

[fishwatcher]

I can't say for 100% certain, but I've never heard of them eating neons.

 

[sylvia]

I'd be inclined to agree - if the neons are fully grown, it's very unlikely a pearl could eat them. I've certainly never had it happen to me.

 

[ant0]

plenty of room there, get a trio pf pearls, especially with all the bottom dwellers in there

 

[Biulu]

I have nearly the same tank size as you and was also looking at a similar set up - some corys, neons and a couple of centrepiece fish. I was looking at a couple of Pearls but was worried that they would eat the neons once fully grown??

I would not add the pearls if you're having neons. I lost 2 schools of neons because my pearls got at them. In both cases they didn't last a week, and more than half of the school simply disappeared. In the first case the neons were a bit smallish, but the second time I made sure they were well mature (jumbo size as we call them here), but it didn't make a difference. You'd better try smaller gouramis instead of the pearls.

 

[fishwatcher]

If you're really worried about the neons, go with cardinals instead. They're a little larger, look the same and are typically a little hardier to boot.
Good luck with whatever you decide!

 

[bangit]

Ok, went shopping, took the mrs, i wanted pearls she wanted dwarfs, i dont need to continue i dont think!!!!

Think it was the fact that in the lfs the pearls werent as stunning as they would be at home. I explained to her tha dwarfs were prone to disease etc but there you go. Ill be doing my best to look after them.

LFs only sold them as pairs, male and female so had to get a female, concerend about overstocking but there you go! water r4eading are still fine so hopefully wont be an issue.

im going to include some pics, the male is stunning, the female is well, a female lol, pretty in there own way!

The male is harassing her loads, am considering getting another female to take the pressure off the one in their now.

Had no trouble with the neons being eaten so far.

Ok, how the hell do i enter an image? someone!

 

[sylvia]

Definitely get another female or else return the girl to your LFS (and make a huge fuss if they don't take her because they forced you to buy a pair - which I think is a disgrace considering they really don't do well in pairs precisely because of this harassing the males put the females through).

Try starting a (free) acount at photobucket.com - upload your images onto there and then just copy and paste the image code they provide you over here. Alternatively, post the pics in the member's pics section and then link to that trhead from here. Looking forward to seeing the fish