Gourami mates

[Newbie Bill]

Hi - I have been wanting to add a few gouramis or build a new tank with
them, but I have read some discouraging info as far as tank mates.
2 sites say Regular size gouramis are not compatible with tetras, yes to
cherry barbs no to cories or pl*co, yes to ottos. Dwarfs are compatible
with tetras, no to cherry barbs, no ottos, cories or plecos.

Bottom line is in addition to the possibility of colorful Gouramis I would
like/have Buenos Aires, Black Skirt, Red Minor Tetras, Danios, Cherry Barbs,
Cories, Ottos and Bristle Nose pl*co. Not all in the same tank, just
looking for some diversity. Any suggestions?
Thanxx
Bill Brister

[Margolis]

gouramis will eat any fish they can get in their mouths, that is why a lot
of tetras are off the list. Cory's and pleco's do just fine though. My
dwarf gouami occasionaly nips at the tail of one of my oto's once in a
while, but they are quick enough to get away with no harm. Once the oto's
get a little more size it won't matter.

You also have to watch for other tetras and fishes that are nippers. they
can do damage to gouramis.

--

Margolis
http://web.archive.org/web/20030215212142/http://www.agqx.org/faqs/AGQ2FAQ.htm
http://www.unrealtower.org/faq

[NetMax]

"Newbie Bill" > wrote in message
om...
> Hi - I have been wanting to add a few gouramis or build a new tank with
> them, but I have read some discouraging info as far as tank mates.
> 2 sites say Regular size gouramis are not compatible with tetras, yes
> to cherry barbs no to cories or pl*co, yes to ottos. Dwarfs are
> compatible with tetras, no to cherry barbs, no ottos, cories or plecos.
>
> Bottom line is in addition to the possibility of colorful Gouramis I
> would like/have Buenos Aires, Black Skirt, Red Minor Tetras, Danios,
> Cherry Barbs, Cories, Ottos and Bristle Nose pl*co. Not all in the
> same tank, just looking for some diversity. Any suggestions?
> Thanxx
> Bill Brister


What is a regular size gourami, a larger colia (ie:labiosa) or something
from trichogaster (Blues, Golds etc). Gouramis are territorial, so what
you can mix will have more to do with the size of the tank, their size at
introduction and sequence of introduction (imo). With sufficient space,
plants, rockscaping, driftwood etc, I don't see any obvious problems
between any of those fish.
--
www.NetMax.tk

[Newbie Bill]

"NetMax" > wrote in message
...
Yes- by regular I was referring to the 4" vs 2" size - not the larger ones.
I still don't speak Latin:) I still don't have much 'tank sense'. You
mention sequence of introduction. If I was going to have a 29 gallon tank
with say 2 dwarfs - 6 red minors, 3 panda cories and two ottos what 'order
of introduction' would make the most sense? I do understand that even the
same species one fish's personality/aggressiveness may vary from one fish to
the next. Thanxx
Bill

>
> What is a regular size gourami, a larger colia (ie:labiosa) or something
> from trichogaster (Blues, Golds etc). Gouramis are territorial, so what
> you can mix will have more to do with the size of the tank, their size at
> introduction and sequence of introduction (imo). With sufficient space,
> plants, rockscaping, driftwood etc, I don't see any obvious problems
> between any of those fish.
> --
> www.NetMax.tk
>

[Margolis]

put them all in together or put the small fish in first. I am not sure what
a red minor is, but the other fish will not have a problem. I would make
that 3 oto's though also. They are catfish and like company of their own
kind just like cory's do.

--

Margolis
http://web.archive.org/web/20030215212142/http://www.agqx.org/faqs/AGQ2FAQ.htm
http://www.unrealtower.org/faq

[NetMax]

LOL, I'm not fond of the scientific nomenclature either, but the common
name of a fish can vary between pet shops, never mind between countries,
and Gouramis vary between 24" (Osphronemus goramy) to just over 2". It
sounds like you are getting Dwarf gouramis (Colisa lalia). Generally
these are considered fairly non-aggressive (though in small tanks, you
might sometimes think otherwise ;~).

Generally speaking you stock in the order of smallest and/or meekest to
largest and/or most aggressive. Many fish can be added at the same time
because they are all community fish, or they occupy different areas of
the tank, or they are all aggressive fish.

In your case, you could add the otos (3 or 4), the pandas (4?) and Dwarfs
(3 males) at the same time. If a red minor is some type of a tetra (5),
it can probably be added at the same time. I tweaked all your numbers to
what I think would work better. The dwarfs will probably be males, and
only having 2 can be problematic. With 3, any attitude is more spread
out.

Not mentioned is that the tank will need to be cycled, and you should
quarantine the fish, or the entire group will become your defacto
quarantine.

FYI: in email, you top-post, but in newsgroups, you bottom-post (don't
ask why, it's just the way it's usually done, in case you were
wondering).
cheers
--
www.NetMax.tk

"Newbie Bill" > wrote in message
m...
>
> "NetMax" > wrote in message
> ...
> Yes- by regular I was referring to the 4" vs 2" size - not the larger
> ones. I still don't speak Latin:) I still don't have much 'tank
> sense'. You mention sequence of introduction. If I was going to have a
> 29 gallon tank with say 2 dwarfs - 6 red minors, 3 panda cories and two
> ottos what 'order of introduction' would make the most sense? I do
> understand that even the same species one fish's
> personality/aggressiveness may vary from one fish to the next. Thanxx
> Bill
>
>>
>> What is a regular size gourami, a larger colia (ie:labiosa) or
>> something from trichogaster (Blues, Golds etc). Gouramis are
>> territorial, so what you can mix will have more to do with the size of
>> the tank, their size at introduction and sequence of introduction
>> (imo). With sufficient space, plants, rockscaping, driftwood etc, I
>> don't see any obvious problems between any of those fish.
>> --
>> www.NetMax.tk
>>
>
>

[Newbie Bill]

"NetMax" > wrote in message
...
>
> Fish are not very suitable for providing the organic waste needed to cycle
> a tank, as the resulting build up of ammonia burns their gills. When
> someone says a particular fish is good for cycling, it means the fish is
> more prone to survive the experience, but we cannot really say that the
> resulting damage to their gill tissue will not affect their health or
> longevity. Survivors are usually very prone to common diseases such as
> Ich, or will not reach their full potential. You can try to keep the
> ammonia levels (and nitrites) low enough to minimize the damage, but this
> does require significant effort on your part. I would recommend you
> fishless cycle (using something other than live fish to kick start the
> cycling process). The most common method is to use liquid ammonia. This
> provides the waste to start the cycle, but at the other end, you can also
> boost the bacteria which is ultimatley what you are trying to grow, by
> using aged filter media from a friend's tank. A product 'Bio-spira' is
> supposed to greatly accelerate the process, so that you don't even need to
> artificially cycle, but just add fish, but I have no experience with it.
> If you can't locate Bio-spira, then research fishless cycling (check the
> links page on my web site). Typically, fishless cycling will take several
> weeks, however cycling with fish will take slightly longer. With fish,
> you have something to watch for those weeks, but it's a chore to keep them
> from suffering or dying so I don't recommend it unless you have an aged
> filter or Bio-spira to get you started.

Thanxx yet again. Actually all of my tanks I have cycled without fish.
Frankly, since I see mostly discussion about cycling with this fish or that
I thought I musta missed something. I did have an 'interesting' cycle on my
29 gal. I used Fritz Zyme and a used filter pad. The tank cycled in 3
DAYS. I added a splash more of ammonia to confirm. It did take 2 more days
to return to zeros. After 5 days total I added 3 Buenos Aires Tetras. For
2-3 days I did have a trace reading or Ammonia or Nitrite. But since then
it has always been perfect, with more fish. About 3 weeks later I started a
10 gal with the remainder of the bottle (but the proper portion) with a new
pad. It took 20-25 days. I have also read mention of using aged substrate,
but I have not tried this yet.

I really love the people who call them pets and not just fish. I really
don't look at my fish/pets as expendable. I suppose I don't follow all the
precepts of the best 'pet owners' . I do have a tendency to fill my tanks
closer to max suggested loads than conservative safe loads and I don't have
the budget to provide the best possible pet keeping supplies. So I am HERE,
trying to enhance my fishkeeping experience, without my pets suffering for
it.
Thank you all for helping me and my pets!!
Bill