"center Piece" Fish

[dthoffsett]

I have a 29gal bowfront that has been running for about a year as an african cichlid species tank (yellow labs). In the next couple of months I'm going to be moving the labs to a 75gal tank that I'm setting up and that leaves me w/an empty tank (well almost empty, the bulldog pleco is staying), and I can't have an empty tank. So, I'd planned on heavily planting it w/silk plants (not quite ready for real ones) and adding 6 lemon tetras and 6 orange von rio tetras, along with the pleco I have, and 5 cories. Someone on the tetra forum suggested adding a gourami or two for a center piece fish. My only concern is that I'm running a fluval 204 on the tank (180gph). So my questions are: Is my filtration too strong for a gourami? If not, what kind would you suggest?

Thanks everyone Dawn

 

[AMS]

Nope the GPH on your fluval shouldnt be a problem. Hmmm, there are quite a few gouramis to pick from. Id go with a pearl, opaline, or gold.

 

[dthoffsett]

Thank you very much for answering. I really like the Opaline Gourami my LFS carries. Should I get just one or two?

 

[TammyLiz]

With Opalines I would get either one or three, but not two. The stronger will pick on the weaker, and if there is only one weaker its hard on them. Make sure if you get more than one, don't get two males. Either one male and two females, or three females. And make sure they are all the same size. The original batch of three opalines that I got ended up getting had two males, and the weaker one was picked nearly to death. Not a good thing, and you'll want to avoid that if possible. Those guys don't like each other.
That said, with the amount of stock you're planning on having in there, you'd be overstocked with three so you may just want to stick with one unless you are ready to do extra work doing lots of water changes.

 

[KimA]

May just have been mine, but I had both Opaline and Gold Gourami in with Cardinal Tetras, and the Gourami treated them like a free meal (unfortunately ended up losing several Tetras one night before they were whisked off to another tank for their own safety).

 

[dthoffsett]

Thanks for your suggestions. I think I'll go w/the 1 opaline. Can't wait until I get everything setup. I believe I have caught a serious case of MTS. All I can think of are new tanks I'd like to try.

 

[itsmedeanna64]

Very interesting to read your post. I can relate! A few weeks ago I made the mistake of getting 2 powder blue G's for my 55 gal. Come to find out I am almost sure both are male now. I wish I hadn't gotten but one. They chase and pick on each other. No damage, just one chases one for a while, then he turns around and chases the other for a while. I have found that most of the time they stay on oppisite sides of the tank now. They are beautiful fish though. Oh and I do have them in with 14 Neons and 5 Black Skirts. They ignore all the other fish...so far! My LFS has G's posted as 'Calm Community Fish'. I think they should be Semi Agressive myself!