Will this stocking work?

[Elisabeth83]

I got a new 36.5 gallon long tank and I was thinking of moving and combining the fish I have in 2 14.5 gallon tanks into the new tank.

At the moment I have divided between the 2 tanks
1 female dayi gourami (male died)
pair of licorice gouramis
pair of betta smaragdinas
10 pearl rasboras

I have some celebes halfbeaks in another tank that I'd like to this set up too. At the moment I have a male and female and I am supposed to have a few more females. I want to move them to the new tank because it's bigger , it's a lot longer and because I can then add 1-2 more females.

I'd also like to add some sparkling gouramis to the set-up I'm not sure if they will work with the other gouramis though?

I'd like to get somemore dayi gouramis too..not sure if I should just get another male or if I should get a couple more females and a male?

 

[Labyrinth]

Hi Elisabeth

Sparkling Gourami aka Croaking Gourami prefers slightly warmer water (25 or slightly higher) also it is best to keep these with smaller fish due to their small size. So IMO they are not so good with most other Gourami.

I would buy a couple more females and a male rather than just another male dayi gourami as it is best to keep female 2 to 1 with males, so aggression or attention by the male is share over more females.

But it is totally up 2 you!!

Hope this helps

Good Luck

 

[Elisabeth83]

The sparkling gourami I am talking about is Trichopsis pumilus. It's a bit smaller than the dayi gourami but bigger than the licorice gourami. The dayi gourami and the licorice gourami get along just fine so I'd think all 3 would get along?

The tank is really long it measures 45x12x16 so they all have plenty of room for their own little territories.

The temp in the tank is on 26/26.5 so that wont be a problem Yeah I will probably get a couple more female dayi gouramis and 1 male instead of just 1 male.

 

[Labyrinth]

I love Gourami, would you be able to give me the scientific name of the dayi and licorice gourami.

 

[Elisabeth83]

I love Gourami, would you be able to give me the scientific name of the dayi and licorice gourami. 

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sure


Pseudosphromenus dayi and a site to read about them is http/www.aquarticles.com/articles/breedi...menus_dayi.html

I believe the lircorice gourami I have is Parosphromenus deissneri although there are many different species of licorice gouramis that I'm not 100% sure if thats what I have. He has never shown his breeding colors so the pair have I have have always looked similar to thesehttp/philkerr.cfm-resources.com/lf/viewfish.cfm?id=111 but I guess the male is meant to look like this while in breeding colors http/aquavisie.retry.org/Database/Vissen..._deissneri.html

 

[Labyrinth]

Thanks

 

[sylvia]

Sparklers would work fine with those other gouramies (BTW, Labyrinth, they are not the same fish as the 'croaking gourami'). I'd suggest you get 3-5 with more females than males. It's also probably a good idea to get more female spiketails though just getting another male would also be ok if you are worried about over-crowding as they normaly do just as well kept as pairs. The betta smaragdina pair will be the largest labyrinths in the tank so watch them closely until all the inhabitants have settled in. Also, it sounds like they have not been with gouramies before so do be very careful. Sometimes they can act unpredictably and cause trouble. I'd also suggest you make sure you add all the gouramies at once so that new additions don't find themselves being treated as intruders... If you let the licorice, dayi and bettas settle in and then add the sparklers you're likely to experience some clashes. Now to be perfectly honest with you I would not personaly encourage cramming so many anabantoids into a single tank but they are all peaceful species and will hopefuly occupy themselves. Still, don't take any chances - watch them closely and plant the tank heavily to provide plenty of territories and retreats. Let us know how it works out and if everyone manages to get along. Good luck! It sounds like a wonderful mix of fish once they've settled in.

 

[Labyrinth]

sylvia

Croaking Gourami is another name for the Sparkling Gourami this is because this gourami croaks when breeding. Trichopsis pumilus is called Sparkling pygmy Gourami or Dwarf Croaking Gourami.

Just thought I would back my comment up.

 

[Elisabeth83]

Sylvia how come you don't think it's a good idea keeping 4-5 anabantoid species together? The tank measures 45x12x16 so it's quite a long tank. It's custom built.

The licorice gouramis, spiketail gouramis and the smaragdinas all live together in the 14.5 gallon...the male smaragdina is in another tank at the moment as the female smaragdina was beating him up but I think they should be ok living together in the bigger, longer tank.

I was thinking of maybe getting rid of the Vaterifloris rasboras (pearl rasboras) because they are so big compared to all the labyrinth fish I have. They look funny swimming in the tanks with all the small fish. I'd probably replace them with a different small shaoling fish.

I want to get somemore of the spiketails as they are gorgeous little things. I do want to get some of the sparkling gouramis too.

I don't think I will be moving the halfbeaks into the tank as they don't fit in with my asian biotope so this is how I would like the tank to be stocked:

pair of licorice gouramis
pair of betta smaragdinas
3-5 spiketail gouramis
3-5 sparkling gouramis

and some kind of small shoaling fish..maybe some dwarf rasboras.

 

[sylvia]

Elisabeth it isn't the number of species that concerned me - it's the number of fish in total as you may have up to 15 gouramies in there after adding the sparklers and extra spiketails. Even in a 35 gallon that's a lot of gouramies which all need to have territories and hiding places to themselves. It also sounded to me like the bettas were seperate from the other gouramies. I don't know whether you're aware of this but smaragdina are very similar to splendens in that they will fight similar species if they are not used to being with them. For example, some breeders jar the males and they turn out just as aggressive as your typical splendens while others raise them together so that, with ample room, they can get on together. I do think, considering the dimensions of the tank and the fact that you already have the betta, licorice and spiketails together, that it will be ok as long as you put them all in at the same time to avoid stressing them (as a result of territorial disputes) too much.

Labyrinth I know sparkling gouramies (trichopsis pumilus) are also called the dwarf/pygmy croaking gourami but you called them 'croaking gouramies' earlier. Croaking gouramies are trichopsis vittatus - a different species. It looks like you already know this and was using the term 'croaking gourami' more collectively than I interpreted it as meaning but I wasn't sure whether you did earlier so I thought I'd mention it in my previous post just to clarify.

 

[Elisabeth83]

Hmmm..maybe I need to re-think the stocking then

Maybe I'll have to set up a 3rd asian biotope tank. I was hoping with getting this bigger tank I could combine the two smaller tanks and add a couple more fish.

edit: What if I moved the betta smaragdinas out to their own 12 gallon tank? Could I then add more spiketails and some sparklers?

edit again: Or instead of moving the smaragdinas out get rid of the single spiketail female and add some sparklers?

 

[sylvia]

I think it would be best to move the smaragdina pair out into their own 12 gallon and then add the sparklers and extra spiketails to the big tank but the second option would be worth a try as well if that's what you would preffer. It's just that sparklers look quite similar to female bettas so the first might be the safer option.

But like I said, I do think your original plan could work. Just keep a close eye on them all and be prepaired to make changes to stocking when/if necessary.

 

[Elisabeth83]

I'm thinking of putting licorice gouramis, spiketail gouramis and sparkling gouramis in my (now empty) 30 gallon instead how does that sound?

I'd only be keeping 1 pair of the licorice gouramis so what is a good number to get of the spiketails and the sparklers?

Besides those fish what smaller bottem dweller or small shaoling fish could I add or would it be best not to add anything else?

Would the sparklers, spiketails and licorice gouramis be too shy without a shoaling fish?

 

[sylvia]

I think that's probably a better idea. I'd put in the pair of licorice gouramies, 5 sparklers (2 males, 3 females) and a trio of spiketails. A note on the spiketails - seeing as you already have one, try to get some of a similar size to avoid hierarchical disputes.

I'd also personaly want some small shoaling species - not just to bring out the fish but also to balance the tank out. Seeing as the above gouramies all stay small, you'd have room for a few bottom-dwellers as well if you wanted.

Personaly I'd go for spotted rasboras as the schooling fish because they are small, active and closely schooling. In addition to these, maybe consider myer's hatchetfish (the smallest hatchet) or pygmy cories as top-dwelling or bottom-dwelling inhabitants respectively.

If you don't want to add anything besides the gouramies that would be fine but, IMO, adding something extra would be pleasing aestheticaly and, also, there's the benefit of having other fish to distract their attention a little as well as to make them feel more comfortable in their environment.

As always, be careful not to over-do it and end up overstocked and I'd suggest heavily planting the tank to reduce the chance of problems occuring and to make the gouramies feel safer and thus encourage them to be more out-going.