29 Gallon Tank Big Enough For...

[smmetz]

I have a blue gourami in my 20 gallon. He was too aggressive with my platy in there. (the platy were moved)

The way I see it, I have 2 choices.

1. Return him and stock the 20 with more peaceful fish again.

2. Do some tank swapping. Put the gourami and my BN plec in my 29 gallon. Add another blue gourami or two. Add some tiger barbs (or some other fish that can live with the gourami) to liven up the tank then.

Do you guys think there is any hope for idea #2?
Any other suggestions besides tiger barbs for idea #2?
Perhaps a 29 gallon is still too small for more than 1 blue gourami?

 

[archamfr]

IMHO id take the gourami back.. leaves a whole choice of fish for you

 

[Don Trinko]

Blue gouramies get big and the males get aggressive. Tiger barbs are fin nippers. You have to be carefull what you put together or one fish or the other will suffer. I think the tiger barbs are to fast for the gourami's but the gourami's will probably get their fins nipped. Don T.

 

[fishwatcher]

I think tiger barbs typically are nippier if there isn't a large enough group of them. If you try 8 or so they should behave much better, but I'd keep a close eye on them and be prepared to move/return them if need be.
You could try some tetras with the gourami.... maybe something like rosy tetras or lemons. Ones with a more flat but tall body shape.
I'm not sure about more gouramis though, as this one sounds pretty aggressive. I'd just keep him and then add a school of something and the plec.
Hope this helps!

 

[vancouver]

If you decide to move your gourami to the 29g, why not make it the centrepiece fish, and add 2 schools of tetras..

I don't think tiger barbs would be the best idea.. Maybe some sort of chubby tetra like red eye or lemon? Harlequins maybe?

 

[arabballin]

if your gonna have 2 female blues and one male blue and then a group of 6+ tiger barbs i think you will fine. I did it and it worked out perfectly fine. The only thing was when one of the females died the male went crazy on the remaining female so be careful with that. Tiger barbs wont bug anything if they are in a big group. Mine would only test what ever new fish i put in for maybe an hour and then leave it alone. The thing that i think made it work is the fact that blue gourami is not timid and is also considered a semi aggressive so it balances out. When i tried dwarf gouramis, it was a disaster.

 

[vinylman]

If you like the look of Tiger Barbs but prefer something without the aggression, you can't go wrong with Pentazona Barbs.