What fish with gouramis?

[[email protected]]

Hello, I have 2 blue gouramis, 3 golden gouramis, 3 tetra cardinals
and 1 tetra rummy nose. All in a 33 gallon tank with 2 live plants.
Everyone is doing great and I wonder what other hardy fish(not easily
ill) I can put with them without breaking the harmony. My water is
lightly hard, pH around 7.5, temp 73F or higher.

Thanks alot!

[Dick]

On Thu, 12 May 2005 04:02:50 -0400, wrote:

>Hello, I have 2 blue gouramis, 3 golden gouramis, 3 tetra cardinals
>and 1 tetra rummy nose. All in a 33 gallon tank with 2 live plants.
>Everyone is doing great and I wonder what other hardy fish(not easily
>ill) I can put with them without breaking the harmony. My water is
>lightly hard, pH around 7.5, temp 73F or higher.
>
>Thanks alot!

You might want to consider leaving well enough alone. My Blue
Gouramis are about 5 inches in length (after 2 years).

I notice you don't list any scavengers. Plecos help maintain a tank
and look like prehistoric creatures adding an interesting contrast to
the "pretty" fish. Real Siamese Algae Eaters are gentle and help
maintain a tank (they are social so I suggest adding more than one).
SAEs do get large, but I have one in a 10 gallon community tank that
seems quite content. Clown Loaches are cheerful and colorful, but
most suggest adding 3 or more as they are very social critters.

I am not suggesting small fish. I find they seem less visible when
living with larger fish. I do have Serpaes and Bleeding Heart Tetras
in with the Gouramis.

Consider what strata the existing fish use and think about areas that
aren't being used, this is where I see scavengers as I think the fish
you now have occupy the top and middle of the tank. Also think adult
size, not purchase size. I really enjoy my SAEs, but they have
doubled in size from what I bought. Fortunately I have room for them,
but there are 8 in my 75 gallon tank, all 4 inches or longer and
dominate the tank visibly. Almost pan size! <g>

A final consideration, feeding habits. Special diets are a pain.
Hard to get the special food to the special fish.

dick

[Uncle Davey]

Uzytkownik > napisal w wiadomosci
...
> Hello, I have 2 blue gouramis, 3 golden gouramis, 3 tetra cardinals
> and 1 tetra rummy nose. All in a 33 gallon tank with 2 live plants.
> Everyone is doing great and I wonder what other hardy fish(not easily
> ill) I can put with them without breaking the harmony. My water is
> lightly hard, pH around 7.5, temp 73F or higher.
>
> Thanks alot!
>

You could put some Corydoras in there. They are compatible, hardy and will
also use the bottom area of the tank, balancing the gouramis' tendency to
use the upper half. Corydoras that can be recommended to the beginner
include aeneas and paleatus, both of which come in a 'golden' form, a type
of albino, like your golden gouramis, if you like man-made fish. The golden
gourami is a colour variant of the blue gourami, and many blue gourami
breeds are artificial also. Your fish may not have seen a natural
watercourse for a dozens of generations. That's one of the things that
accounts for their hardiness in captivity, of course.

However, you do have a problem, waiting to happen...

I wouldn't be surprised if the gouramis had those cardinal tetras one day,
and if they don't get them down, only lodged in the throat, then that proves
fatal for the eater also, as they have labyrinth organs to breath with.

Best,

Uncle Davey

[Gill Passman]

"Dick" > wrote in message
...
> On Thu, 12 May 2005 04:02:50 -0400, wrote:
>
> >Hello, I have 2 blue gouramis, 3 golden gouramis, 3 tetra cardinals
> >and 1 tetra rummy nose. All in a 33 gallon tank with 2 live plants.
> >Everyone is doing great and I wonder what other hardy fish(not easily
> >ill) I can put with them without breaking the harmony. My water is
> >lightly hard, pH around 7.5, temp 73F or higher.
> >
> >Thanks alot!
>
> You might want to consider leaving well enough alone. My Blue
> Gouramis are about 5 inches in length (after 2 years).
>
> I notice you don't list any scavengers. Plecos help maintain a tank
> and look like prehistoric creatures adding an interesting contrast to
> the "pretty" fish. Real Siamese Algae Eaters are gentle and help
> maintain a tank (they are social so I suggest adding more than one).
> SAEs do get large, but I have one in a 10 gallon community tank that
> seems quite content. Clown Loaches are cheerful and colorful, but
> most suggest adding 3 or more as they are very social critters.
>
> I am not suggesting small fish. I find they seem less visible when
> living with larger fish. I do have Serpaes and Bleeding Heart Tetras
> in with the Gouramis.
>
> Consider what strata the existing fish use and think about areas that
> aren't being used, this is where I see scavengers as I think the fish
> you now have occupy the top and middle of the tank. Also think adult
> size, not purchase size. I really enjoy my SAEs, but they have
> doubled in size from what I bought. Fortunately I have room for them,
> but there are 8 in my 75 gallon tank, all 4 inches or longer and
> dominate the tank visibly. Almost pan size! <g>
>
> A final consideration, feeding habits. Special diets are a pain.
> Hard to get the special food to the special fish.
>
> dick

I have Clowns, a Pl*co, Neon Tetras, Platy, Guppies and some, I now believe,
are "false" SAE's in with my Blue Gouramis.....everyone is pretty peaceful
together once I got the male/female ratio correct with the Gouramis. The
Clowns however need quite a bit of space...and you do need to get at least
three. Like the Gouramis they will also grow big, but are really great fish
to keep.

In a 30gall(UK) tank we have Harlequins, Glowlight Tetras, a Pl*co and a mix
of platy and mollie fry (camping out til they go to the shop) - these
cohabit very nicely with a couple of Pearl Gouramis.

All of the above eat pretty much the same diet.

Gill

[[email protected]]

My two gouramis are finally starting to tolerate each other.
I had a male gummy and added what I thought was a female (it's silver).

the male was chading the other one everytime it would see it, now I see
them close to each other and sometimes I even see the silver one
chasing the male. :)

Much more peacefull. :)

[Uncle Davey]

Uzytkownik > napisal w wiadomosci
ups.com...
> My two gouramis are finally starting to tolerate each other.
> I had a male gummy and added what I thought was a female (it's silver).
>
> the male was chading the other one everytime it would see it, now I see
> them close to each other and sometimes I even see the silver one
> chasing the male. :)
>
> Much more peacefull. :)
>

Are these the dwarf gourami you're talking about, (Colisa lalia) by any
chance?

Sometimes the female of them when it is getting eggbound tries to bully the
male into breeding, as they are one fish which can end up dead by not
getting rid of its eggs on time.

In fact it's easy to get eggs out of gouramis - what is much harder is
getting the fry to survive. They are very small, and still they need good
access to a crystal clear surface with warm air above it.

Best,

Uncle Davey

[[email protected]]

Yes they are dwarf goummies. I have no clue if the female is ready or
not. :)
I don't even know if it is really a female, it was sold to me as it is.

[Ozdude]

> wrote in message
oups.com...
> Yes they are dwarf goummies. I have no clue if the female is ready or
> not. :)
> I don't even know if it is really a female, it was sold to me as it is.

Female Dwarfs are silver with rounded fins. The males are colour striped
with angular fins and they flare them regularly- very bright and not at all
like the female.

I have two females who have become egg-ready very quickly and my male is
busy building a bubble nest as fast as he can - the females, I noticed since
I got them seem to get a faint orange line which runs approximatly from
their mid dorsal to caudal (middle of the body to the tail) when they are
getting ready. They also get "plump" like they've eaten too much.

Oz

--
My Aquatic web Blog is at http://members.optusnet.com.au/ivan.smith
>

[[email protected]]

On Thu, 12 May 2005 04:02:50 -0400, wrote:

Thanks everyone for your answers! I forgot to say that I have 3 apple
snails in there as well. But the idea of the scavengers is a good one
too! As for the the small tetras, Uncle Davey, I wouldn't get worried
right now as they seem to be ignored by the bigger gouramis. They
occupy mostlty the bottom and the middle part while the others like
the top. Plus, right now they can't fit in their mouths as they are
quite young too.

Thank you for your advices and suggestions ! :)

[Uncle Davey]

Uzytkownik > napisal w wiadomosci
oups.com...
> Yes they are dwarf goummies. I have no clue if the female is ready or
> not. :)
> I don't even know if it is really a female, it was sold to me as it is.
>

If it's silver, and rounded at the belly, then it's a female.

The male should be given floating plant material with which to construct his
bubble nest, and some peace from other fish, or else he might not bother
getting the female to release the spawn, with possibly fatal results for her
if she goes eggbound.

Uncle Davey

[[email protected]]

I discovery somthing about apple snails.

They can get out of the water.

i was shocked to find that out... How long can they stay out of the
water?

I am about to get a new lightning hood and the tank will be open... I
don't want the snail to crawl out of the tank and die.

[Derek Benson]

On Thu, 12 May 2005 04:02:50 -0400, wrote:

>Hello, I have 2 blue gouramis, 3 golden gouramis, 3 tetra cardinals
>and 1 tetra rummy nose. All in a 33 gallon tank with 2 live plants.
>Everyone is doing great and I wonder what other hardy fish(not easily
>ill) I can put with them without breaking the harmony. My water is
>lightly hard, pH around 7.5, temp 73F or higher.
>
>Thanks alot!

Some of the barbs would be fine in this tank: Rosy Barbs, Gold Barbs,
Cherry Barbs, Checkerboard Barbs would be my recommendations. Not the
Tiger Barb, as these can sometimes be fin-nippers particularly if
they're not in a large group. These barbs will all scavenge around in
the gravel after food that's sunk to the bottom.

-Derek

[[email protected]]

On Fri, 13 May 2005 19:46:48 +0200, Derek Benson >
wrote:

>Some of the barbs would be fine in this tank: Rosy Barbs, Gold Barbs,
>Cherry Barbs, Checkerboard Barbs would be my recommendations. Not the
>Tiger Barb, as these can sometimes be fin-nippers particularly if
>they're not in a large group. These barbs will all scavenge around in
>the gravel after food that's sunk to the bottom.
>
>-Derek

Thanks to all who replied!!

You are all right with the fact that I could use a couple of
scavengers... I just didn't really think about it. There is almost no
food that sinks at the bottom since I turn off the filter and the
bubbles during feeding time, but scavengers sure can't harm. It will
give a little more life to the aquarium also.

Uncle Davey, for the moment the gouramis don't seem interesting in
eating my tetras at all. I even wonder if they notice their existence!
The gouramis are all quite young and the cardinals and the rummy nose
can't fit in their mouth right now... but I didn't know that they
could be seen as a meal by my bigger fish :/

Thanks again people!

[Elaine T]

wrote:
> I discovery somthing about apple snails.
>
> They can get out of the water.
>
> i was shocked to find that out... How long can they stay out of the
> water?
>
> I am about to get a new lightning hood and the tank will be open... I
> don't want the snail to crawl out of the tank and die.
>
Mine survived an overnight exploration but has a hole in his shell now
from falling onto the tile floor. They have a lung, so they can stay
alive for quite a while. I check for mine twice a day now.

--
Elaine T __
http://eethomp.com/fish.html <'__><
rec.aquaria.* FAQ http://faq.thekrib.com

[Gill Passman]

> wrote in message
...
> On Fri, 13 May 2005 19:46:48 +0200, Derek Benson >
> wrote:
>
> >Some of the barbs would be fine in this tank: Rosy Barbs, Gold Barbs,
> >Cherry Barbs, Checkerboard Barbs would be my recommendations. Not the
> >Tiger Barb, as these can sometimes be fin-nippers particularly if
> >they're not in a large group. These barbs will all scavenge around in
> >the gravel after food that's sunk to the bottom.
> >
> >-Derek
>
> Thanks to all who replied!!
>
> You are all right with the fact that I could use a couple of
> scavengers... I just didn't really think about it. There is almost no
> food that sinks at the bottom since I turn off the filter and the
> bubbles during feeding time, but scavengers sure can't harm. It will
> give a little more life to the aquarium also.
>
> Uncle Davey, for the moment the gouramis don't seem interesting in
> eating my tetras at all. I even wonder if they notice their existence!
> The gouramis are all quite young and the cardinals and the rummy nose
> can't fit in their mouth right now... but I didn't know that they
> could be seen as a meal by my bigger fish :/
>
> Thanks again people!
>
>
My Gouramis don't touch my Neons and the male is now well over 3 inches....I
think they might feast on them if there is a death and they can beat the
Clowns to it but they certainly don't go for them when they are alive....now
Platy fry is another issue....

Gill