4 Opaline's

[PaulEbs]

Hi,

I have a 40 gallon planted tank with a good mix of fish. The only large fish is an 8 yr old opaline gourami, and was wondering if adding 3 or 4 more to the tank would start any agro.

My current gourami is excessively peaceful, and has lived with others before. His previous tankmate was a large golden angel, and they got on perfectly.

I think gourami's have so much character, which is why I want to go down the route of stocking my tank with more.

The current occupants are:

6 Skunk Cories
2 Zebra loaches
3 Harlequinn [soon to be 6]
2 BN plecs

The tank is filtered well with a Fluval 405 and I recon it could support another three or four 5" fish.


Your opinions please.

 

[sylvia]

If you can get large females (ie fully grown like your male - 3 or 4 would be fine), it might work. However, there are no guarantees. Have you ever kept him with other gouramies before? At 8 years, he is also getting quite old. You don't want to be stressing him out. You should, if you go ahead with this, ensure there are plenty of hiding places and especially floating plants in your tank.

 

[PaulEbs]

Thanks for the response.

Thinking about it, I really wouldn't want to stress my prized fish.

Would I be better off leaving him the reign of the tank, and providing a peaceful retirement?

Cheers,

Paul.

 

[sylvia]

I think so - but, of course, it's up to you. It would be fine to add some more schooling fish (I see you have more harlequins planned) or some more loaches etc. Just anything that isn't territorial would be fine really, if you're trying to give him a 'peaceful retirement'.