20 g dwarf gourami tank mate?

[Pwojo]

Hi what is a good tank mate for my dwarf blue cobalt male gourami? Tank is 20 gallons. I have three Cory catfish, four snails and six mail cherry shrimp (gourami doesn’t seem to mind them)

 

[Blackghostknifekid]

add more corys.

 

[Blackghostknifekid]

you could ad a small shoaling fish neons, barbs whatever.

 

[Byron]

Definitely increase the cories. In a 20g, I would aim for 9-10 miniimum. Same species of mixed, but if the latter try to get say 3 of each species. This increase will make a big difference in their health and well-being.

As for other fish, the tank size is limiting. With the gourami, you want peaceful shoaling fish, no species even remotely prone to fin nip. Rasboras are good for this, the smaller species, such as Trigonostigma espei or T. helgeli, a group of 9-11. These swim mid-water, so you have a nice mix of substrate fish, mid-level fish, and the gourami cruising upper/mid level.

 

[Pwojo]

Definitely increase the cories. In a 20g, I would aim for 9-10 miniimum. Same species of mixed, but if the latter try to get say 3 of each species. This increase will make a big difference in their health and well-being.

As for other fish, the tank size is limiting. With the gourami, you want peaceful shoaling fish, no species even remotely prone to fin nip. Rasboras are good for this, the smaller species, such as Trigonostigma espei or T. helgeli, a group of 9-11. These swim mid-water, so you have a nice mix of substrate fish, mid-level fish, and the gourami cruising upper/mid level.

So between the Cory’s and rad peas I can add 6 Cory’s and 9 rasboras so add 15 fish? Can 20g accommodate this? Is there another gourami I can get? A female as a tank mate for the male dwarf cobalt?

 

[Byron]

So between the Cory’s and rad peas I can add 6 Cory’s and 9 rasboras so add 15 fish? Can 20g accommodate this? Is there another gourami I can get? A female as a tank mate for the male dwarf cobalt?

Yes on the numbers in this tank.

No on another gourami. This is more a risk than a stocking problem. The gourami you have seems settled, don't rock the boat. All male gourami are territorial, some more than others. He might well decide he has his space, intruders are not welcome.

 

[Pwojo]

Yes on the numbers in this tank.

No on another gourami. This is more a risk than a stocking problem. The gourami you have seems settled, don't rock the boat. All male gourami are territorial, some more than others. He might well decide he has his space, intruders are not welcome.

How about five Trigonostigma espei and five neon tetras?

 

[sharkweek178]

How about five Trigonostigma espei and five neon tetras?

That's not enough of either. Schooling fish need to be in groups of at least 10.

 

[GaryE]

Buying fancy gouramis has a Russian roulette side to it. If you have a healthy one, you are very very lucky. The odds against getting two healthy ones?

I would also add Corys. And Bororas, the little dwarf rasboras.

 

[Byron]

When it comes to numbers of a species that we term shoaling (some use schooling, though technically that is a bit different, but no matter) there must be a decent number of that species. Primarily this is a defense strategy, but sometimes a species may be prone to develop an hierarchy. The important thing though is that there is scientific evidence that fish are seriously impacted by not having a decent number. Groups of three and groups of five developed aggressive tendencies, while groups of ten did not. The smaller groups also showed a latency to feed, and this is indeed suggestive of the seriousness to the fish. So a group of six neons and six rasboras will be under stress, whereas a group of ten neons or ten rasboras will not have that level of stress. This means that when one is deciding on fish for an aquarium, you must ensure that you can provide what the fish need and expect. Sufficient numbers of fewer species is better than too few of several species.

I suggested Trigonostigma species because these are very peaceful, they are not active swimmers (which can annoy sedate gourami), they remain mid-water (many shoaling fish do not), and they are not so small that the gourami might decide to have a meal. Having said that, the Boraras species of dwarf rasboras are excellent tankmates as well, just make sure you have thick floating plants for all these.

 

[Fishies4Ever]

I would add 3 more Cory’s of the same species and a school of 10 small neons or dwarf rasboras.