Do I Have The Room?

[severina]

I have a 55 gallon tank that has just finished cycling. I've fallen head over heals for the 3 spot gouramis! I've read its good to keep them in a group of their own kind with only one or 2 males, so I was thinking maybe 5 of them (4 females and one male.) Their tank mates would be a plecostomus, 6 albino corycats, and I was thinking a school of tiger barbs also (I'm in love with those too.) So for you guys who are really experienced with gouramis and the like, is this too much for my 55 gal? Or if there is some incompatability, what you you recomend instead? Thank you

 

[Miss Dib Dabs]

Sounds fine...except there could well be clashes with the tiger barbs. Three spots are notoriously aggressive once spawning starts and being that barbs occupy the same tank space they could well end up beaten up or killed, depending on how aggressive the male is. My male, BB, wouldn't tolerate the synos in his tank once they spawned and they don't even share the same tank space!! He's fine with the b.n's and the very well hidden otos.
Hugs,
P.

 

[severina]

Hmm...is there another schooling fish you could recomend instead of the barbs, that could maybe fight off the gouramis? I was actually thinking maybe I could put the 7 female bettas in there that I'll be getting in a few months. *ponders this*

 

[sylvia]

Female bettas will absolutely NOT work. It's a good idea to avoid ever keeping bettas with other gouramies. All of them being similar fish, they tend to fight.
Also, don't get more than one male three-spot. Males will fight over the females and can even do so to the death.
IMO, tiger barbs are best avoided because they nip - not so much because the three-spots would be aggressive. However, aggression is also a factor but only if they were to breed once mature. Do you plan on letting them do so? If the tank is not heavily planted or there's a strong current, you shouldn't actualy have long-term issues with breeding aggression anyway as the bubblenests won't be built (and you can always destroy them as soon as you see them) and fry won't survive.
Anyway, a better option for schooling fish might be rosy barbs, golden barbs, spanner barbs, ember barbs, zebra barbs, clown barbs or one of the various ranibowfish species such as melanotaenia praecox or one of the slightly larger ones. Do avoid anything slow or that likes to spend most time at the top of the tank. Barbs are generaly an ideal choice because they tend to stick with the lower levels.
Be aware that, if you end up with a particularly aggressive male and he breeds, you could well end up not only with dead schooling fish, but with dead cories and dead female gouramies as well. Some are real devils and the only solution may be to replace him. Having said that, the more females you have, the less likely any male would be to go for other fish and certainly the less likely one of the females will turn up dead.
Obviously, the most simply solution to all the problems is to stick a female-only group! There are so many colors to choose from with three-spots, and the females still form hierarchies etc, so you don't actualy miss out on anything much provided breeding is not a concern.

 

[severina]

No..I don't plan on letting them breed, but I wanted the male there just to maybe have the choice in the future. Which I guess would be a bad idea in a community tank, I'll probaby just stick to females as you've suggested. So tiger barbs bad? I'm really disappointed, I love those little buggers. I'll look into more schooling fish. I have plenty of time, since I'm only putting them in one type of fish at a time.

Thanks for your help

 

[sylvia]

The tiger barbs could still work if you got a large school - say 9 or more. However, also get 4-5 female three-spots. This kind of combination works because, first of all, the barbs are less likely to attack other fish when they are in such high numbers and they are less likely to target a single female. Also, the females are less likely to attack the barbs, even if they do try to nip the girls occasionaly, because they'll be distracted by each other.

Getting a minnimum of 4 female three-spots is also best generaly because they are less likely to bully each other.

Still, a better option would be any one of the less nippy barb species. If you want something that looks like a tiger barb, five-banded barbs and ruby barbs may be your best options (these barbs can also nip, mind you, but are less notorious so, in a school of at least 7, should do fine).

http/species.fishindex.com/photo_2010pun...tiger_barb.html - 5-banded
http/www.asianaquariums.com/jpg/indigeno...Ruby%20Barb.jpg - black ruby

 

[severina]

I've been looking at the rosy barbs...those look really nice, still haven't made up my mind yet. The Rubies look really awesome though!