Super active dwarf gourami stressing out my betta?

[tropiquesadilla]

Hi everybody. I just recently purchased an aquarium and some tank mates for my first ever betta fish (I’ve always wanted one and impulsively bought him out of grief the day my dog died). I had an aquarium when I was younger so I’m not exactly brand new to fish keeping but I’m definitely no expert.

My current babies are: a double half moon betta named Sparrow (the apple of my eye), three panda corys, three cherry barbs, and one powder blue dwarf gourami, all in a 10 gallon tank with some amazon swords, moss, moneywort, and some large-ish rocks. I plan on getting two more corys and maybe a few tetras but I’m not sure if that would crowd the tank too much.

I’ve been doing nonstop research and am learning so much. I feel like I’ve also really gotten to know my betta’s personality even though it’s only been a week. I’m so excited for this journey and I feel like it’s really been helping me with the grief of my dog’s passing. Any advice and tips are extremely appreciated. Wish me luck!

 

[tropiquesadilla]

Okay. I have a 10 gallon tank with one double half moon betta (aka Sparrow), three panda corys, three cherry barbs, and one powder blue dwarf gourami. The gourami is the most recent addition to the tank.

I know a lot of people are iffy about combining bettas and gouramis but everybody in my tank seems to tolerate each other for the most part. No fighting (except when the cherries are playing with each other), no nipping, everybody seems okay.

However, my gourami is EXTREMELY active. Like, constantly zooming across the tank and swimming in vertical circles around an outcropping of rock. I honestly don’t know if he ever sleeps. He’s also a massive glutton and will try to devour all the food before anyone else can get to it

My betta, on the other hand is definitely more calm, shy, and usually errs on the side of caution but is still curious. I can’t help but feel like the activity level of the gourami might be stressing him out. He’s not showing any real signs of stress (no stripes, fins aren’t clamped, etc.) but he does seem more hesitant to enjoy the full capacity of the tank because the gourami is constantly zooming everywhere and bumping in to him. Just a few minutes ago my gourami practically ran over Sparrow in his haste to complete his rock circle.

My question is, is it OK to keep the gourami in the tank currently? Is my Gourami stressing my Betta out or am I just being over cautious?

 

[Essjay]

As it's only been a week, are you testing for ammonia and nitrite every day? If not, that's what you need to do as the tank will not yet be cycled, and if either show above zero, do a water change to get them down. The first part of this explains why; ignore the second part, that's for before fish are in the tank.

Cycling Your New Fresh Water Tank: Read This First!

Cycling Your First Fresh Water Tank What is Cycling and Why is it Important? Fish waste, and especially fish breathing, plus uneaten food and other organic matter breaking down in a tank all produce Ammonia. This can quickly become toxic to fish if it is allowed to build up to any measurable...

www.fishforums.net

The plants you have in there will help enormously, but it is worth keeping an eye on those levels.


I'm also sorry to tell you but there are problems with the fish you have. Please understand that we want what's best for your fish.
Bettas are not community fish, and bettas and gouramis should never be kept together.
A 10 gallon tank is perfect for a betta on his own. If he could talk he would thank you for this.

Could you manage another tank of at least 20 gallons? That would be the perfect set up for a gourami, 6 or more cories and 6 or more barbs. 10 gallons is too small for each of these fish, I'm afraid.
Seriously Fish is the best website for research; it is written by experts while other sites are written by people with little actual knowledge. These are the profiles for the fish you have, you will see what I mean about tank size and fish numbers.

Trichogaster lalius (Dwarf Gourami) — Seriously Fish

www.seriouslyfish.com

Puntius titteya – Cherry Barb (Barbus titteya, Capoeta titteya) — Seriously Fish

www.seriouslyfish.com

Corydoras panda (Panda Cory) — Seriously Fish

www.seriouslyfish.com

 

[CassCats]

The tank is wayyyyyy too small for all of those.

Panda cories need a group of 6 and a minimum of a 20 gallon tank.

Cherry barbs need a group of 6 or more, and a 20 gallon or larger.

A dwarf gourami needs a 20 gallon and as he matures will become very territorial and the betta will lose, being slower moving.


What I would do:

Buy a 20 gallon long.

Stock it:
1 dwarf gourami
6 cherry barbs (1 male to 2 female ratio)
6-8 panda cories.



Keep the betta in his 10 gallon. The betta needs much warmer temperatures than the barbs and the cories do, higher temps will eventually kill off the barbs and cories but lower temps will do the same for the betta.

The betta needs 78-82F

Cherry barbs and panda cories under 77F

 

[Essjay]

I have merged two threads so that all the replies are in the same thread.

 

[tropiquesadilla]

As it's only been a week, are you testing for ammonia and nitrite every day? If not, that's what you need to do as the tank will not yet be cycled, and if either show above zero, do a water change to get them down. The first part of this explains why; ignore the second part, that's for before fish are in the tank.

Cycling Your New Fresh Water Tank: Read This First!

Cycling Your First Fresh Water Tank What is Cycling and Why is it Important? Fish waste, and especially fish breathing, plus uneaten food and other organic matter breaking down in a tank all produce Ammonia. This can quickly become toxic to fish if it is allowed to build up to any measurable...

www.fishforums.net

The plants you have in there will help enormously, but it is worth keeping an eye on those levels.


I'm also sorry to tell you but there are problems with the fish you have. Please understand that we want what's best for your fish.
Bettas are not community fish, and bettas and gouramis should never be kept together.
A 10 gallon tank is perfect for a betta on his own. If he could talk he would thank you for this.

Could you manage another tank of at least 20 gallons? That would be the perfect set up for a gourami, 6 or more cories and 6 or more barbs. 10 gallons is too small for each of these fish, I'm afraid.
Seriously Fish is the best website for research; it is written by experts while other sites are written by people with little actual knowledge. These are the profiles for the fish you have, you will see what I mean about tank size and fish numbers.

Trichogaster lalius (Dwarf Gourami) — Seriously Fish

www.seriouslyfish.com

Puntius titteya – Cherry Barb (Barbus titteya, Capoeta titteya) — Seriously Fish

www.seriouslyfish.com

Corydoras panda (Panda Cory) — Seriously Fish

www.seriouslyfish.com

Thank you for the advice! Obviously I want what’s best for my guys as well. That’s precisely why I created this account. Now I’m really confused because I’ve spent hours at my LFS’s talking with the fish guys and they all told me it would be fine to have all these guys in a tank together. I’ve been thinking about returning or rehoming gourami and this just solidified my decision. I don’t even want my money back, I just want everybody to go to a home where they’re happy. I guess I should return the barbs and corys as well?

However for some clarification, my gourami is already about 2-2.5” in length and from what I was told they don’t get much bigger than that. My barbs are all male and seem to get along quite well (my fiancé has all females and they fight more than my guys).

I’ve also seen plenty of community tanks with bettas in them, and others with bettas AND gouramis, among others. Agh this is all so confusing.

I also don’t have the space for another tank, especially not a 20gal. And I don’t have a test kit yet as my LFS was out (getting one tomorrow morning). I’ve been monitoring them very closely and so far they seem happy (I think?).

Should I really keep my betta completely by himself? Absolutely no other creatures? Mine seems to get along quite well with the corys, but apparently the tank itself is the issue there. My priority is my betta so I’ll do what I need to to keep him happy and healthy.

I’m aware this was a hasty setup (like I said I was grieving the loss of my dog) but I’m doing my best to try and catch up. Any other tips and advice would be great.

 

[CassCats]

You could look into corydoras hastatus, but... i would check your GH if you can first. And tread that cautiously as bettas can snap randomly with community living.

 

[Essjay]

Any other tips and advice would be great.

The most important tip I can give you is not to believe anything a shop says. Most of them haven't a clue and will say anything to get a sale. Always do your own research so you know if you can believe what the shop said.
The website I mentioned in my first post, Seriously Fish, is the best starting point for research.

 

[Christen26]

As it's only been a week, are you testing for ammonia and nitrite every day? If not, that's what you need to do as the tank will not yet be cycled, and if either show above zero, do a water change to get them down. The first part of this explains why; ignore the second part, that's for before fish are in the tank.

Cycling Your New Fresh Water Tank: Read This First!

Cycling Your First Fresh Water Tank What is Cycling and Why is it Important? Fish waste, and especially fish breathing, plus uneaten food and other organic matter breaking down in a tank all produce Ammonia. This can quickly become toxic to fish if it is allowed to build up to any measurable...

www.fishforums.net

The plants you have in there will help enormously, but it is worth keeping an eye on those levels.


I'm also sorry to tell you but there are problems with the fish you have. Please understand that we want what's best for your fish.
Bettas are not community fish, and bettas and gouramis should never be kept together.
A 10 gallon tank is perfect for a betta on his own. If he could talk he would thank you for this.

Could you manage another tank of at least 20 gallons? That would be the perfect set up for a gourami, 6 or more cories and 6 or more barbs. 10 gallons is too small for each of these fish, I'm afraid.
Seriously Fish is the best website for research; it is written by experts while other sites are written by people with little actual knowledge. These are the profiles for the fish you have, you will see what I mean about tank size and fish numbers.

Trichogaster lalius (Dwarf Gourami) — Seriously Fish

www.seriouslyfish.com

Puntius titteya – Cherry Barb (Barbus titteya, Capoeta titteya) — Seriously Fish

www.seriouslyfish.com

Corydoras panda (Panda Cory) — Seriously Fish

www.seriouslyfish.com

Hi everybody. I just recently purchased an aquarium and some tank mates for my first ever betta fish (I’ve always wanted one and impulsively bought him out of grief the day my dog died). I had an aquarium when I was younger so I’m not exactly brand new to fish keeping but I’m definitely no expert.

My current babies are: a double half moon betta named Sparrow (the apple of my eye), three panda corys, three cherry barbs, and one powder blue dwarf gourami, all in a 10 gallon tank with some amazon swords, moss, moneywort, and some large-ish rocks. I plan on getting two more corys and maybe a few tetras but I’m not sure if that would crowd the tank too much.

I’ve been doing nonstop research and am learning so much. I feel like I’ve also really gotten to know my betta’s personality even though it’s only been a week. I’m so excited for this journey and I feel like it’s really been helping me with the grief of my dog’s passing. Any advice and tips are extremely appreciated. Wish me luck!

Hi, I'm new ... yet to intro myself. I know this is a few months old, but what did you decide to do? You've got some great advice in the replies. But I've heard you can tank a betta with gourami (they are related evidently), but I think two males is ill advised. But I disagree that a betta cannot go in a community tank. If I recall, when I was a kid, we had ours in a community tank. Just one though. I have an ancient fish book. I'm going to look it up. I'm having issues with my dwarf gourami. One died a few days ago. I have a female left. She's a bizarre little cookie. I'm filling a fluval 15. I'm learning all about this cycling stuff. I've never done it before. So much to learn.

 

[Christen26]

The most important tip I can give you is not to believe anything a shop says. Most of them haven't a clue and will say anything to get a sale. Always do your own research so you know if you can believe what the shop said.
The website I mentioned in my first post, Seriously Fish, is the best starting point for research.

This is great advice. I found out the hard way too. But the guy who sold me fish, is willing to replace the ones that died. They want sales, we want compatible and healthy fish!