Can anyone reccomend good gouramis for my tank?

[OohFeeshy]

I have a new tank It is about 15-20 US gallons (I need to measure it properly though) and I want....
A 'centerpiece' fish or two (this is where gouramis come in!)
And some smaller fish

So.... What gourami and what small fish? I shall leave it up to you......


Ps, I know I need to cycle it before you ask, I am currently cleaning the grime off it. I have a Fluval 2 and will be getting sand substrate and a 75 or 100 watt heater.

 

[Phantom Thief]

I would put a single pearl gourami for a centrepiece, with maybe 10 cardinals for middle level and 5-6 cories for bottom dwellers.



P.T.

 

[sylvia]

I'd suggest the same I think but I'd go for harlequin rasboras instead of cardinals cause I like them more, they are hardier and the school way better. I also think 10 cardinals/harlequuins and 5-6 cories would be pushing it a bit - maybe cut that down to 7 and get 4 cories. Don't you also have some platies to put in?

 

[OohFeeshy]

No I was going to get platys but I didn't, I'm getting a betta for my small tank. I was tinking of a pair of dwarf gouramis as a centrepiece.

 

[sylvia]

A pair of dwarfs would work but you need to let us know whether this is a 15 or 20 gallon tank. Keep in mind that male dwarf gouramies (the colorful ones) are territorial so you can't keep a lot in a small space. They should be fine though.

 

[OohFeeshy]

I will go and measure If I can bear the smell of vinegar....

 

[OohFeeshy]

Ok... 15 UK gallons and 18 US gallons.

 

[aloaring]

Could get some sparkling gouramis they are even smaller than dwarfs!!

 

[sylvia]

Or honey gouramies. But neither would make much of a 'centerpiece fish' realy. They just aren't big enough and both are usualy better kept in smallish groups IMO.

Anyway, 18 gallons should be fine for a couple of dwarf gouramies but I'd not over-do the other fish so say maybe 6 1-2" schooling fish of your choice (but probably best not danios which need more room or any of the nippy barbs or tetras) and a few (3-4) small cories OR small loaches (as in their adult size is small - not clown loaches for example!) OR a few otos.

 

[OohFeeshy]

I was generally trying to advoid otos, they seem too fragile for my liking
I almost definately want 4 or so bronze corys, or UD cats if they still have them, and for schooling fish I need to see what types of tetra I can get. If I can get anything other than neons I will probably want the minimum size school of those or replace with a couple of guppys or platys. I will probably end up with 2 female dwarf gouramis or a similar sized other gourami then, how likely are gouramis to breed?

 

[Phantom Thief]

Gouramis build bubble nests to breed, so if there is surface agitation, it means no bubble nest and no breeding

I wouldn't recommend UD cats for that tank. UD cats are generally very shy fish, and need to be kept in large schools before they are confident enough to be active. A 20g tank is not enough for a large school of them.

Stick to the cories

P.T.

 

[Raechal]

You can get 2 female dwarfs and one male and see if you can get them to breed. I think 2 female dwarfs, 3-4 cories and maybe some smaller schooling fish would look nice...like the harlequins.

 

[corykitty516]

Get one of these:

its a dwarf gourami ... uhh neon I think?... I think this is the one that has several that are the same species but different color variation.

Anyhow .... this is Castor ... he is beautiful and I love him

 

[OohFeeshy]

Hmm.... Me likes these ideas I thought the tank would only be 12 UK gallons, but now I can have more fish than I thought! As for surface agitation, there's a remote output valve attatchment on my filter, so I can probably cut down surface agitation if I wanted them to breed. Hopefully, I can go to Emsworth today, they do a lot more fish than pets at home and the tanks are far cleaner. So if I drop enough hints about getting a betta today.....