What can I put in here?

[fishwatcher]

I have a tank which I am wanting to add a gourami or 2 or 3, depending on what you think. I'd like either dwarf or sparkling gouramis.
My avatar is my tank, and the sig is what is in there.
What are your opinions, oh respected masses of the fish forum?
My stats now are ammo 0, nitrites 0, nitrates 0, temp 76, ph 7.0. I do 2 25% changes/vac a week.
Thanks!!

 

[Ethos]

How many gallons is the tank "In the Avitar"?

 

[fishwatcher]

It's a 10-gal.

 

[Ethos]

Um......Dont tell anyone I said this, because I dont want everyone to hate me, But you might be able to put 2 Dwarf flame Gouramis.....Maybe 1 Pearl.........But I dont think pearls like to be alone.......maybe 1 Opaline......
But I think gouramis might be too agressive tword what else in in your tank now......

I have an over stocked problem myself.
I have 1 Gold gourami, 1 pearl, and 1 opaline gorami in my 10G. Thats all I have in there...
I am moving them up to a 29G soon though.

So like I said, 2 dwarfs.....Maybe 1 of something.....But I still think the gourami will be too agressive twords what else you have in your tanks.

 

[Annastasia]

Mmm...the only thing I can think of to put in there, without overstocking or fighting is 1 male Dwarf Gourami. Or female. Though the females can be preeeeetty hard to find!

Since you have female Guppies, the Gourami should be okay. It's the male Guppies they usually have a problem with.

I can't see a Pearl or a Opaline in a 10 gallon for long. They'll get too big...and overstock her tank...

 

[sylvia]

I wouldn't put any more fish in there. You are fully stocked and you should remember that the cories you have all grow to a decent 2-3" and are very active fish. Realy, cories like these should be in at least a 15 gallon. The guppies would be fine with gouramies BTW - it is bettas that have problems with male guppies because of their similar appearance Also, I wouldn't put a pearl in there. Pearls do quite a bit of swimming and, as they get to 5", would be seriously over-stocking your tank. Opalines (three-spots) are not a good choice for a different reason - and that's their aggression. Especialy considering they get to 6" and are very territorial, they would do terribly in an over-crowded tank with peaceful fish. A single dwarf would be possible as adding a 2" fish to the bio-load in your tank will not be over-stocking your tank TOO much. However, dwarfs can be quite sensitive so putting them in a stressful, over-crowded, environment is asking for trouble. As for sparklers, these are tiny but do better in small groups (say a trio) in a heavily planted tank. You may have room for one, but not for three so I wouldn't get sparklers either. What you could attempt is a single male honey gourami. These are hardier than dwarfs but don't exceed 1.5". They are otherwise very similar and males develop lovely coloring when in breeding condition. Don't confuse them with colisa lalia (the dwarf). Honeys are colisa chuna/sota. With females, I always feel it's better to keep them in a group but the males, at least, being territorial fish, do fine singly, so I would stick to picking out a male (brighter, pointed/longer dorsal, may display its territoriality if you observe them for long enough in the LFS). You are still over the limmits when it comes to bio-load though (and physical space for the cories) and I personaly wouldn't reccomend adding anything more at all.

I should add that I have no idea how you can have 0 nitrAtes with your tank fully stocked and not realy that heavily planted. If you are using a test that uses those strip things, you may want to get a new one Better yet, get a liquid-based one. Otherwise, I guess you have some super-fast growing plants or do huge water changes every day If, in fact, BTW, this is the case, you could get a trio of sparklers or a single dwarf (prefferably male) gourami as you evidently are not, as far as bio-load is concerned, over-stocked (however, the cories still need more space). Just check these realy are your stats first though (I suspect they are not).

 

[fishwatcher]

Well, I have removed the neons that were in there, there are still 5 cories, though I may be returning one (the leopard) bc I can't find another one for him to be with, and he seems a little lonely. I am thinking of also removing the guppies, if that is necessary to have the gouramis. That will leave me with 4 cories. I think I may try 1 or 2 dwarf male gouramis after I take back everything else.
I did get a "real" master test kit (liquid) last night. My nitrates are 10. I do really good water changes/vacs twice a week, so maybe that's why they aren't higher, and the plants have grown quite fast.
So if I remove 1 cory, could I still keep the guppies and 1 or 2 gouramis, or should I remove them too? (This is allowing that I do the big, frequent changes/cleaning.)
Thanks for all the help!

 

[Ethos]

If I were you, I'd add 1 male gourami. Thats it.

PS: I was just giving your some options...

 

[sylvia]

I agree, stick to one male dwarf. 2 in a 10 will probably end up clashing and fighting. You could try a male/female pair though (if you can find a female), provided you provide her with plenty of hiding places.

I would remove the cory AND guppies.

If you are going to remove the cory/guppies, a trio of sparkling gouramies is a better option if you want to add more than just one fish (that is, instead of the single dwarf or dwarf pair).

 

[Squishiebabe]

I have the same problem....3 MALE guppies though, in a 10gal, no cories.
Could I put a Dwarf or Honey Gourami in there? I only really want maybe 1 male, or 2 female, preferably one.

 

[sylvia]

So you're saying you just have 3 male guppeis in a 10 gallon? As long as it's cycled, a trio of honeys (that is 1 male and 2 females) would be fine. Make sure you have plants and ornaments for them to retreat to and build a territory around though. You could also go for a single male honey instead OR a couple of female honeys.

edit: OR you can get a single male dwarf OR 2 female dwarfs.

 

[fishwatcher]

Is there a reason that it's ok to add a dwarf gourami with 3 guppies, but not with cory cats?

 

[Squishiebabe]

Maybe they wouldn't get along as well? I'm sure a cory or two looks a lot scarier than a few tiny guppies...lol...My guppies couldnt scare plankton, let alone anything bigger.
You have a few more fish than me as well, My tank at the moment only has about 4 1/2 inches MAX in it.
I'm sure you'll find some way to get what fishies you want, good luck (and tell me if you do get the gourami, I'm interested in how everything goes.)

 

[sylvia]

Is there a reason that it's ok to add a dwarf gourami with 3 guppies, but not with cory cats?

Yes, I wouldn't have said so otherwise

Male guppies only get to about 1" each. Cories get to 2-3" and need to be in groups of at least 4 (which already means you are pretty much fully stocked with just the cories). They are also much too active, IMO, for a very small tank (though I know many disagree).

If the cories were pygmies though, for example, they would be fine with a dwarf gourami in a 10 gallon as they stay small. It isn't to do with compatibility in this instance. It's the sizes the fish get to and the tank's bio-load and the fact that dwarfs are not hardy fish so would not be able to cope with bad conditions brought on by over-crowding.

I'm getting deja vu - didn't I say this before?

Sorry if I'm repeating myself but you asked.

 

[fishwatcher]

Ok, so it's just the size of the tank, not the actual fish then. That's the part I wasn't sure about. Say, if they were in a 20 gal, they would be ok together. Sorry to make you repeat yourself!