36 Gallon

[beanbro]

Hello everyone,

I am new to fish keeping and I am loving it so far. I started off with a 10 Gallon tank and I have 5 glow tetras and a Dwarf Gourami. MY wife recently got my a 36 gallon bow front for my birthday. I will be transferring my current fish to that tank once it is done.

I want to add more fish but I want to make sure that I do not over stock the tank. The end goal I had in mind is to have the following:

3 - Pearl Gourami
1 - Dwarf Gourami
8 - Glow Tetras
4 - Otto's

If this is too many fish what would be the best options to go with? should I reduce the amount of pearl's or am I completely miss thinking this? Below is also my current equipment.

Tank -36 Gallon bowfront Top Fin
Heater - 200W
Filter - Top Fin PF40

I appreciate all the insight.

-Jacob

 

[Utar]

You could end up with problems between the Pearl Gourami and the Dwarf Gourami. I would do either or just to be safe.

 

[beanbro]

So if that is the case and I already have a dwarf would it be acceptable to have 4 dwarfs with the rest of what I stated I was going to stock with?

 

[Essjay]

Only if 3 of them were females. Two males would fight as this species is at the aggressive end of gourami behaviour.

 

[Utar]

Only if 3 of them were females. Two males would fight as this species is at the aggressive end of gourami behaviour.

Yes I agree it should be one male and two females.

 

[beanbro]

So my plan is to stock it with:

1M/3F - Dwarf Gourami
8 - Glow Tetras
4 - Otto's

And you think this is not over stocking a 36 Gallon?

 

[PheonixKingZ]

Oh no, totally not overstock. You could safely add 2x the number of tetras you have in there.

I believe Ottos are social creatures? Maybe look into getting some more of those guys.

 

[beanbro]

Oh no, totally not overstock. You could safely add 2x the number of tetras you have in there.

I believe Ottos are social creatures? Maybe look into getting some more of those guys.

So maybe I will do 14 tetras and 6 ottos?

 

[Razzmatazz]

I have a 36 bow and have twice the amount of fishes. Currently I have 8 neon tetras, 7 harlequin rasboras, 5 panda cories, 4 otos, 6 rummynose tetras and 3 hillstream loaches. Tank is heavyly planted too. Depends on your filtration and are you willing to do weekly water changes?

 

[beanbro]

for my filtration I have a top fin 40 I was planning on adding a pre filter sponge and some sponges up top. I don’t mind doing weekly changes. My thought process was to have a few large fish with smaller fish to accent it.

 

[Razzmatazz]

Oh, i also got a pair of honey gouramis. Im not familiar with the top fin hob but i would supplement your filtration with a sponge filter. I use a Hygger double sponge filter i got on Amazon for less than 20 bucks. You need an air pump of course to drive it. Dont add the otos right away since they are strickly herbivours. Wait till you tank starts growing algae and lots of it. Mine will occasionally munch on algae wafers but i think they prefer the real stuff.

 

[beanbro]

I agree that was my plan to wait on the ottos. I will look into that sponge filter, and an air pump is on my list to get also. Are there any other larger fish that would be good with my dwarf gourami?

 

[Razzmatazz]

I really cant suggest any large fish since i dont have any and dont really plan on getting any. But when you have a school of smaller fish swimming together, its a thing of beauty lol! My neons and rummynose all school together and i dont want them to start hiding cuz of a bigger fish. I could be wrong on that but i dont wanna chance it.