15 Gouramis In One Tank

[Fizban]

i think theres anuth room in the tank its a 6 foot long one if u think its not big anuth feel free to say so...............im curus about some things i am hearing on here and other sites like i saw hear they tend to attack each other some times i have 6 difrent typs in the one tank and never had any problems like that they all seem very happy and feed together and stay together alot of the time no shy ones ether i gather i some of both male and female the only times they start going after each other a bit is if i put a breeding pair together in my small tank to mate them and they dont fight just chase each other a bit befor breeding if there male and female other wise they dont do any thing my qestion is why have i had no problems with fights oh i did not no until i saw it on the net that they may fight and i have had them for over a year now and there not babys ether

 

[Miss Dib Dabs]

Not sure I understand what you're asking hon. Are you thinking of adding more gouramies to those you have? It really isn't easy to comment not knowing what else is in the tank and what types of gouramies you have already. How many gallons does the tank hold etc. I'm assuming it's a good size as it's 6ft long.
Please answer the questions above tho and give us some clues as to what species of gouramies you have currently and we can go from there.
Hugs,
P.

 

[sylvia]

How many gallons is your tank? With most gouramies, as long as each has about 10 gallons to itself and females out-number males, they'll get along ok. The only real problem I can see with your tank si that you mentioned in another post you had three-spots and 2 male three-spots often will attack and kill each other f they feel crowded or stressed. Your tank sounds large enough to handle them though. Having said that, adding mre gouramies would not be a good idea. You don't want to push it too far...

 

[Fizban]

sorry for the strang way i typed that i was half a sleep at the time what i mean is my fish seem very happy yet i have lots gouramies both male and females i think and there difrent typs i saw on other qestions on this site where a lot of peepl have truble with there fish being shy or attacking each other dont get me wrong im glad there all happy but is it normal to have lots of them and difrent typs with no problems the typs i have is 1 Dwarf Gourami 2 opaline gouramis 3golden gouramis 3 moonlight gouramis 3 Blue Gourami and 3 others i dont no the typ of but look like the Blue Gourami only a brown color and one of them and a Blue Gourami had frys .........tank mats are 2 Guppys 5 Algae Eaters there some typ of small kind and i dont no there real name but there a typ of Algae Eater 3 mollys and 1 i think silver shark and one gold fish all of them get along 100% as for how much water the tank take im not shore cuz im not good with that sort of thing but its a wide 6 foot tank and is realy big in the fish shop it was as big as they had ,,and i guess the size and number of fish im keeping are about right for it any way i was asking what your thorts were about it all cuz as i said they never try to evan nip each other ........unless the male is with the female in a breeding tank and hes trying to get her intrested so im just asking for any thorts

 

[sylvia]

Just so you know, all the various gouramies you listed you have except the moonlights and dwarfs are the same species - golds, blues and opalines are all termed 'three-spots' and the scientific name is trichogaster trichopterus. Having so many of these is probably why you ahve no aggressiona s they devide it up amongst themselves. Also, like I said before, you're tank's pretty big by the sounds of it so should be enough to support them all.

Moonlights get to 7"
Three-spots get to 6"
Dwarfs get to 2"

 

[Fizban]

dose that mean the blues and golds could breed with each other???i think maby the golds i have are not of age to breed yet but i would be intrested in noing if that works ?

 

[Miss Dib Dabs]

Yes they can breed, as will opalines. I have a gold male and gold,blue and opaline females. Am hoping to get some lavenders from them.
You may find as the rest reach breeding age they become more aggressive. Hope not but it's a possibilty. And you mention having a goldfish in with these tropicals! You do realise doing so will shorten the life expectancy of the goldfish because of the warmer water. They are also big waste producers and can reach a big size. It ought to be in a coldwater tank with good filtration.
At a guess the smaller algea eaters you mention could be otos.
Hugs,
P.

 

[Fizban]

the algea eaters are not that unless they realy change what i have look like little fat heads with tails always on the bottem eating and they have a small bit of red on there side they have a kind of cat fish like head and are short and fat

 

[Miss Dib Dabs]

More like this?
Hugs,
P.

 

[Fizban]

yep thats cool i never thort i would find one on the net

 

[Miss Dib Dabs]

Planet catfish is an excellent site and has a great many of the truly enormous family that is the catfish species. And if you have a description then you only need to use google and go from there. Besides which, corydoras were just about the only thing I could think of that qualified.
Hugs,
P.

 

[Fizban]

the peepl here should buy a fish shop they no more about selling fish then the place i buy fish off evan if your buying 2 fish that could kill each other they wont say any thing im not shore if they just dont no or maby they get more money when you come back to buy a replace ment fish the only thing i like about that fish shop is they sell the fish cheaper then any place i have been too ......sad thing is they dont sell many plants and when i buy them the plants are eaten or riped out i am going to see if one of the other shops that cost a fair bit will order in some of the fast grewing ones i found out about on the net my fish tanks inside as well and dose not get much sun light its too big to put near a window so i need low light plants ...l..........could the not much sun light be bad for the fish ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,oh and do fish sleep and if so how can u tell if they are ?

 

[sylvia]

Yes, fish do sleep. You can tell because they'll hover in one place (or in the case of catfish rest on the bottom somewhere) and won't move around much. Also, many need it to be dark to sleep and keep in mind that they cannot close their eyes so sudden movement can wake them up. They do need to sleep a full night (or at least about 6 hours) or they can actualy become quite lethargic. Many nocturnal catfish deffer in that they nap several times a day rather than sleeping through the dark hours.

Also, if your 'algae eaters' are cories, you should know that they do not eat algae and need to be given ordinary fish foods like their tankmates do. Also, any algae eater cannot live off algae alone - they need a supplement of fresh vegetables, algae waffers, spirulina flake and similar foods suitable for herbivores.

What was your sunlight point? You're not supposed to put tanks in direct sunlight as it makes the water temperature fluctuate and also encourages algae growth. You're supposed to get fluorescent lights for the hood instead. That solves all your problems. if you put them on a timer you can have them turn on and off at regular intervals. I have mine on for 12 hours to mimic the tropical days that most of these fish experience in the wild but, if you ahve strong lighting, it's best to keep them on for a maximum of 8 to discourage algae growth. Plants only need 8 hours of light anyway and the fish don't realy need light at all. Having said that, some tetras and most livebearers use the light to orientate themselves - if the light's coming from the side they'll swim horizontaly and this can lead to serious health problems.

 

[Fizban]

thats intresting im near 100% shore the fish are the same as in the pic u called them cories right dose that mean they dont need any algae waffers? oh and i get as many plants as i can but as i said befor the place i buy from has not many at all and not that big ones ether the fish kill them by eating them in no time i feed them vegetables i would feed them some live food but cant buy any in the place i live very small town so i am going to try catching some worms and other little things i herd they will eat .......my sunlight point is well i would say thay probly have little or 0 sun light its hard on the plants i put in there too .............as for fluorescent im not shore on them for 2 reasons one main thing is its a realy big tank and so the light would need to be a fair size and the house i rent is small the fish are in my main room and the main rooms small too so the light would be bad on any one who comes rownd and would be too bright on the small room i think ..................second im not shore on the typ dose it need to be a cirten typ or do you need a cirten watt

 

[Miss Dib Dabs]

Slightly o/t, my syno angelicus (fondly known as Angelicus) sleeps upside down either at the top or bottom of his large rock cave. Normally with one eye at a gap so he isn't totally blind to the outside worlds happenings. And he gets excited when you talk to him too. Wags his tail like a dog.
Ok sorry. I'll shut up now. )
Hugs,
P.
P.S:As for cories, as Sylvia has already said, they need suitable food to eat. Mine live on a mixture of what goes in the tank (From flake food, catfish pellets, live/frozen foods and plec food tablets) but seem to be very fond of the plec food. Between the 3 of them and the peach spot plec that lives with them they get through 6 tablets daily and none are overweight/fat for it. They won't touch algea wafers so that should tell you they aren't really fond of it.....but then my bristlenoses won't touch them either, much preferring the plec food which gets leapt on within seconds of it floating down to them.
Oh and by your lighting q are you saying that the tank has no light source but daylight? While many catfish are happier that way your other fish and live plants will suffer for it and it could do long term damage.