Centrepiece For A Community Tank...

[cuticom]

You've seen rams? Blah I must always be there just before they get a new shipment in, the only SA cichlids I ever see are the acaras oscars and sevs.

Pearl gouramis are very nice though, might look into those...

 

[cuticom]

So would this work for a stocking option, 30g tank
8-10 black widow tetras
6 kuhlis
2 female, 1 male pearl gouramis.

I don't hold any stock by the inch per gallon rule, so won't bother with that, but that seems like it would work well for a 30g tank, I can drop the tetras down to 6 if needed, but the kuhlis have virtually no bioload, the tetras have a pretty small bioload as well.

 

[SouthernCross]

Yeah I've seen rams maybe two or three times, they're usually tiny and don't have much colour in the tanks though. Can't remember if they are German blues or Bolivians though.

Pearls are awesome - I love mine! My male started showing the most beautiful colours when I got him his girlfriends. I keep my trio (in about a 38 gallon) with 3 platies, 10 cardinal tetras, 5 cories and a bristlenose - so I think your stocking should be more than okay, given adequate filtration of course. Nobody bothers anyone in my tank, save for some minor squabbling at feeding time.

The male pearls have the extended finnage when they mature (and they all have the long feelers)- you said something about black widows being nippers? I don't know anything about them myself, but it might be something you have to keep an eye on - although you might not have probs. My gouramis hang around the top level most of the time. They hover around and cruise slowly most of the time, but can move bloody fast when they want to.

 

[Luketendo]

How about 2-3 Pearl Gouramis?

 

[poopsydrew]

Personally I wouldnt put the black widows with any gourami, angels or other long finned-slow moving fish. The nipping gets worse with the black widows as they grow larger. I think the pelvic fins (feelers) will just be nipped sooner or later. same goes for angels etc. Not only that but most gouramis (esp pearls) are alittle on the shy side and they would probably end up hiding due to how active black widows are.
Just wanted to throw my 2 cents in, I say either a festivum like the wolf pointed out or some blue rams (maybe 1 male-3 females would be nice to observe)
Its a shame you cant own a sev where you are, I also have a red sev and it is just a great fish.

Good luck whatever you decide,

Drew

 

[cuticom]

Huh? we can have sevs, just not red sevs. Gold and green sevs are one of the easiest cichlids to get, but somehow I don't think one will fit in a 30g LOL.

Festivums are out, I'm not going to kill a tonne of fish in the hope one will arrive alive. I could do rams... how do you sex them?

What about a blue acara? or will they eat the tetras? ummmm not sure what other cichlids are available LOL

 

[cuticom]

Would a CAE work? i know their hyper aggressive, but so are the tetras, or would the CAE eat tetras and kuhlies?

Or keyhole cichlids could work, from what I've read their extremely peaceful

So am narrowing a list down for some sort of centrepiece, these are all still idea,s and each line is a new option, I don't want all of these
1 x CAE (May be too aggressive, possibly eat the loaches and tetras???)
2 x keyhole cichlids (stay small, rather shy though)
1 ram (stays small, can be quite colourful)
1 gold/blue/opaline gourami (good size, can give its won back to nippy tetras, used to hose one with serpaes, it was the serpaes who got nipped not the gourami)
1 x silver dollar (very tempting, but they can be flighty, and arent always happy by themselves)

Southerncross, your tanks a 3 foot right? did it come from crossroads? do you know how much? all I can remember is I saw a 3 foot there for a $100, but thought it was a standard 30g, be cool if its a 38...

 

[SouthernCross]

Yeah it is, but I didn't get it there. Mines 36 long 14 wide and 18 tall. Mine also came with a stand and hood, but I do remember being pissed after I got it when I went there to buy fish and they had virtually the same setup, but a smidge cheaper (like $10) but the hood and stand were much nicer, and sanded smooth already. I had to put a lot of elbow grease into smoothing and finishing mine myself, grrr!

I dunno whether you're just looking for the tank itself, or if you're getting a whole stand/hood setup. They do packages there too I think, you know, your tank stand hood, plus heater, filter, an ornament etc.

 

[cuticom]

Yah, just after the straight tank, crossroads does the glass tanks sooo cheap. When we were getting my four foot, crossroads was $40 cheaper then any store we went to, the stand was way cheaper as well.

debating whether to get a 3 foot or 2 foot, a 2 footer means smaller water changes, and I have enough big tanks already LOL.

If I got a two foot tank, 20g could I have
5 black widows
6 kuhli loaches
1 bolivian ram?

Or is that too many fish? it doesn't seem that bad to me...