Firemouth,angel,kissing Gourami

[GShorty1981]

I currently have a 7" Kissing Gourami and a 1" Firemouth,In a few weeks i am going to add a Large Adult Angel fish.

What dither fish should i add later on?

My short list is...

5 x Tiger Barbs....but concerned they will beat up my adult Angel when i get him.

5 x Serpae Tetras

5 x Black Widows (dont really like these very much but they are of similar size to Tiger Barbs)

Decor is 2 x 2ft fake plants,1 x 2ft Java Fern that i have tied to a piece of Bog Wood,black gravel and 2 black small plant pots (big enough for my FM when he gets bigger)

 

[foley69]

i would go for tiger barbs they are very active and comical fish and can take care of themself get a nice group of six that will liven the tank they might nip the angel though i would go for barbs though

 

[GShorty1981]

I have had them kill small Angels before,im concered they might kill a adult or maybe kill my 1" FM,whats the chances of this happening? i love T.Barbs to.

 

[foley69]

if you buy them small say just under and inch then they will be fine dont forget a firemouth is a cichlid that has aggression a few tbarbs wont bother it he is in the tank before him they are coming into HIS tank so it will be fine...just try and get them small and you will be fine

sorry spelling is terrible

 

[Colin_T]

I wouldn't get tiger barbs, serpae or black widow tetras because they are all renowned fin nippers and will cause problems to the angel. Also the pink kissing gourami might hammer the pearl gourami.

Good dither fish could be large tetras like congos and African longfin tetras, giant danios, rainbowfish and some of the more peaceful barbs, perhaps ruby or rosy barbs but you will have to watch them with the angelfish.

 

[foley69]

true point but if you scrap the pearl gourami and go for something that can look after itself a bit more

 

[GShorty1981]

Hmm i kept a Kissing Gourami with Blues and Pearls and Snake Skins before and they pretty much ignored eachother except the Pearl and Blue used to argue now and then.

My FM is terrified of my Kissing Gourami at the moment,i wanted to get a bigger firemouth but couldn't find one anywhere..I did get him for free tho,which is cool. (the KG ignores the FM tho,not interested in the slightest but the FM just hides all day).

I kept Black Widows with Angels before and they were fine,I don't find them as bad as Tigers...Never kept Serpaes before.

I suppose it would be best to introduce the Angel first so he can boss the tank as the FM is far to small to be a threat to one.

I think i would be far to over stocked if i kept a shoal of large tetras becasue Congos get quite massive dont they?

My tank is 145 litres running a Ehiem external meant for 250 Litres...how far can i safely overstock it?

Its newly Cycled,i added the FM last week and added the KG this week (got him cheap £10) i wasent going to add anything else for a few weeks then add them one at a time.

What would be a good alternative to a Pearl Gourami? i think my Cichlid space is taken up by the Firemouth at the bottom and Angel at the top.

 

[foley69]

why not get just one more less aggressive cichlid like a sajica or a jade eye and serpeas are worse than tbarbs in my experience had 4 of them and they savaged my loach poor guy if not another cichlid why not get another angel

 

[GShorty1981]

Again its space really,Pearls only get to around 4" Angels get to around 6" not including there big fins and i think im pushing it as it is.

I quite like Festivums,i dont really like Sajicas,it is quite limited for new world cichlids around here it always tends to be Convicts,Firemouths,Very bad quality Kribensis,Niguagua's,Severums,Discus..and a serious lack of Angels.

I have seen a few Keyholes around but i find them kinda boring.

I liked the idea of 4 different medium sized fish with a shoal.

I'm definitely going to add the Angel next (probably a koi or a marble) I'm going to keep a eye on my water stats for a while tho as the Kissing Gourami is pretty chunky and bound to produce a heavy bio load in a newly cycled tank....then i'll look into shoals after that.

I wish my tank was a bit bigger then I would of had a Severum,Festivum,Kissing Gourami,Firemouth then a few shoals of different small fish,probably all mentioned.

 

[GShorty1981]

What would be the best Plec choice? I have 5 Bristleys reserved in view of making pairs but they are tiny and will get munched so may have to forget that idea.

I dont want anything expensive like Gold Nuggets etc.

 

[GShorty1981]

Hmmm baby Firemouth not looking good just sitting on the floor under the bog wood motionless except for the odd fin movement 26c,Am 0,Nitrate 0.5,Nitrite 0,PH 7.3. and been in a well filtrated 32 gallon tank to himself for a week.

Usual case of bad quality baby Cichlids from the LFS i think.

I have had the same problem with Oscars,Severum,Festivum,Convicts in the past being tiny and dying within a few days...the only luck i ever have is if they are fat and over 3"

If he dies I'm gonna have to hope Maidenhead order a sub adult in for me

Could be normal tho,i know FM's hang around at the bottom alot from having one before.

Edit:

He keeps swimming around then hiding back in his spot,i think hes scared of the Gourami who is over ten times the size of him in body mass

 

[juanveldez]

if its the 32 in your sig I wouldn't add anything with the addition of the angel and the new gourami your tank is going to have a large bio load and there isn't going to be much room for other fish.

the thing about dither fish and this is often over looked by people is that you also have to look after their well being. just like any other fish you don't want them to get the crap kicked out of them and you don't want them picking on your other fish I would think that most tetras would be too nippy for the gouramis and the angel.

 

[GShorty1981]

well that would only be a eventual growth of 23" of fish in a 32 gallon tank (plus the fact the firemouth and probably Angel + Gourami will have alot of growing to do meaning more time for the filter to adapt) which only contains a thin layer of black gravel,2 small black plant pots and 3 long plants with big Ehiem external filter that adds to the litreage also because it sucked out over a quarter of my tank on its initial fill..so much like a sump i reckon that holds a further 35 litres easy.

They would have plenty of room IMO,if you saw my 7" Kissing Gourami in my tank you would see he has a ton of space in a tank that is 33" x 16" x 20"

I would understand if they were big eating monster Cichlids that produce a ton of waste but it is 4 of the most slowest moving,clean,peaceful biggish fish around (the FM may be a exception...but it is still a slow moving fish).

So adding 5 dithers that are robust enough to not care about the bigger guys ie: Tiger Barbs,i dont see that as a massive hit on the bio load if added slowly.

If i get any type of Ammonia reading then a extra water change is only 2 minutes work...hell i'm used to it after keeping a reef tank...and the water changes on that used to take hours.

As far as Aggression goes,i used to keep a 6-7" Kissing gourami in a tank with neon tetras amongst other things as the tank i bought back then contained both and i just left them together and there was no aggression there.

The only question mark is the Firemouth which from past experience is as as much aggressive as a overgrown Kribensis,which is nothing...Angels are also commonly kept in community's.

Not trying to say your talking rubbish at all,but just pointing out that its not so over the top as you may think.

 

[GShorty1981]

Gah! getting ammonia spikes and my gourami is 'sitting' on the bottom a lot (like the Firemouth was the other day...however he is fine now and mega confident),dont know why cos i cycled it for 5 weeks (2 weeks with dead prawn) and the levels were fine,added the Firemouth in on the 6th week and the Gourami on the 7th feeding every other day at the moment also to keep waste minimal.

Just done a 10% water change and a gravel hoover plus topped up condensation so more like 15%

Shall I do one every other day? never had this problem before

I wasn't going to add the Angel for another month anyway.

 

[GShorty1981]

Oh well i will anyway,i'll do one everyda until its stable.