Fish For 15 Gal Tank

[ginceng102]

Hi! i have a 15 gal tank. i stocked it with 8 angels, 1 blue angel, 1 gold dust, 2 needle nose, 2 common plecos and 4 dwarf gourami. sadly, the gouramis attacked its tank mates . only 1 pleco survived.

i'm thinking to stock my tank with different fish. what fish do you recommend? community or single? i don't want a planted tank, its expensive.

suggestions will be a big help.

 

[Curiosity101]

Is it definitely a 15 gal? (US or UK), What are the dimensions?

Also what is the current tank stocking? Just the 1 pleco, or Pleco and 4 Dwarf Gouramis?

Just a note your tank was incredibly overstocked, this is almost definitely the root cause for the dwarf gouramis agression.

 

[lilfishie]

you will need to rehome the pleco, sooner rather than later, they get huge if i remember correctly around 18" so way to big for a 15 gal

its up to you if you want community or single, what fish do you like?

planting can be expensive but also not, a few easy care plants that do not require CO2 are ideal

 

[ginceng102]

my tank is 24x12x12. i will put the 4 gouramis in a fishbowl. so my current stock wil be 1 common pleco.

i'm thinking of stocking with guppies. will it do fine with the pleco? what other fishes are compatible with guppies?

 

[Curiosity101]

The pleco is a common pleco - Adult sized it will be anywhere from 18" up to 24"...look at the size of your tank. When fully grown the fish will barely be able to physically move. Also the waste it produces will lead to extremely toxic water for the fish! You really do need to rehome him and perhaps...if you like the look of plecos considering replacing him with:

1 Pitbull Pleco or 1 Otto Catfish

Also the 4 gouramis shouldn't just be moved, they need to stay in a tank with a mature filter. Has your main 15gal tank cycled already?
Maybe think about re-homing 2 of the dwarf gouramis at the same time as the pleco.

This should remove the agression issue hopefully and allow you to think about future stocking.

Side note: Planted tanks really don't have to be expensive or high maintenance, just get some low light, slow growing types of plants such mosses.
Tropica Plant Website -- Try that website --> Click on Plants --> In the search form select low lighting and slow growing ---> then click search. The list it comes up with will give you some ideas of plants to try.
Search on ebay or on here and you could probably get yourself some great looking and cheap plants! It really will make all the difference to your fish!

 

[Honeythorn]

my tank is 24x12x12. i will put the 4 gouramis in a fishbowl. so my current stock wil be 1 common pleco.

No. You need to rehome the pleco ASAP or take it to a fish store, and ask if they can either take it off your hands or possibly give you some store credit fo it. It will outgrow and fill up your tank. They grow to well over 12 inches and they grow pretty quickly.

You cannot keep gouramis in a fishbowl permanently . You aren't supposed to keep any fish in fishbowls as they cannot support fish. They are made and sold to make money and that is it, the companies who make them have zero idea of how to kep fish correctly, as do most of the people who buy them.

Dwarf Gouramis are notoriously weak fish who do not tolerate poor water quality and often die at the drop of a hat.

A fish bowl is very hard to filter due to it's shape, there won't be anywhere near enough swimming space, and you wouldn't b able to attach a heater properly either because of the curve in the glass/plastic. Both a heater and filter, which are essential quipment, would take up all the space in an already too small environment.

It would honestly be best for the health and wellbeing of your fish if you re-homed them and chose something far more sensible in size for your tank. The original stocking was horrific.

If you get rid of the Pleco and keep the 4 gouramis in the 15 gallons, then it's best to have just them in there since they attacked your other fish. It is evident your particular group would not tolerate any small additions to the tank and may attack and kill anything you add.


If you rehome all your current fish gouramis included, then you could try some of the following combinations perhaps -

MALE guppies would be a fine choice for 15 gallons ( do not get females, you will quickly be insanely overstocked with fry ) or indeed, male Endlers. A mix of both should also work as long as you have no females. Around 10-12 guppies or endlers, possibly 15 if you have a very good filter and very regular manitenence , with a group of 4 cories on the bottom would be a nice stocking.

Lampeye killifish ( often called lampeye tetras despite being killifish ) are another good choice. They are small pretty silver fish with an electric blue flash over the eye. Again, 10-15 would be fine.

Platies or Swordtails could work too, again it's best to get males if you don't intend on breeding or do not have the space for the fry. around 6 males would be good.

A group of female bettas would be nice. 8 females would work very well in 15 gallons, and they are just as pretty as males, only without the huge fins.

 

[arobinson1984]

Agree with all that has been said above. The pleco really needs a tank at least 4x bigger than yours is so that need rehoming asap.

The tank was no where near big enough for even 1 angel let alone 8/9. You need a tank at least 18" deep for angel fish.

Research more on the suitablility of the fish you want before restocking the tank and making the same mistakes again.

Andy

 

[Rediahs]

I know everything people are saying is probably really discouraging... you may not even want to listen to them right now...

But I just wanted to say that I understand what it's like to be new to fish and not sure what you can and can't do... chances are you asked employees at the fish store whether you can have these fish in your tank and they said it was fine. Sadly, the fish store employees usually don't know what they're talking about, all they know how to do is keep the fish alive long enough to sell them, and usually have no practical advice to give you other than "Yes that fish is fine in your tank".

Despite it being discouraging, I hope you understand that your current setup isn't sufficient for the fish you have. You really need to either bring them back to the store or buy a bigger tank (MUCH BIGGER). If you're the brave type, you can complain to the employees... they shouldn't be selling you fish you can't keep.

If you decide to keep these fish, in that setup, they will quickly outgrow it and more deaths will follow. I guarantee it. It's scary, but do think of your fish. Do some research and you will find that these kind people giving you advice on this forum are indeed correct in what they're saying.

In your tank, I would recommend small fish like bettas, most types of tetras (not silver dollars, they grow too big), harlequin rasboras, guppies, platies, danios... these are fish that are appropriate to a 15 gallon. Not common plecs and angelfish.

 

[ginceng102]

ok. now i know how to stock. i'll just donate my pleco to my cousin's 75 gal tank and put my dwarf gouramis in a 10 gal tank.

i will stock my tank with new fishes such as guppies, neon tetras, etc.

what other fishes can i put with guppies?

thank you so much for all your replies! now i've learned from my mistake. thank you so much guys!

 

[Curiosity101]

4 dwarf gouramis wont co - exist happily in 10gals, I really would recommend re-homing 2 of them and then keeping 2 in the 15gal.
What is the female to male ratio?

Here's a couple of examples for the 15 gal
2 Dwarf Gouramis
4 Male Guppies
5 Neon Tetra


Or

2 Dwarf Gouramis
4 Male Guppies
4 Cory Cats

 

[ginceng102]

would this be a good stocking:

10-15 male guppies
10-15 neon tetras
4 cory cats

 

[Mr Spoon]

would this be a good stocking:

10-15 male guppies
10-15 neon tetras
4 cory cats

I would say thats too many fish, you need to half those numbers at least or you will have more problems. I'm just setting up a simular size tank and planning on putting - 6 cory's, 8 tetras and a bristle nose pleco.

 

[ginceng102]

what kind of problem can it bring up?

what would you suggest on the number of guppies, neon tetras and corys?

 

[Curiosity101]

4 male guppies
5 neon tetras
4 cory cats

Is a more reasonable stocking level.

What are you going to do with the dwarf gouramis..?

The problem would be that your filter wouldn't be able to house enough bacteria to cope with the levels of waste produced by that many fish. This in turn would cause ammonia to build up in the water, this in turn would poison your fish. Also as they grew, but while your filter could still cope with the waste, you'd find you had extremely high nitrates by the end of the week and would more than likely have to do 30-40% water changes every few days.
Just thought, high levels of ammonia and nitrates would cause the waters pH to drop considerably as well. This would cause additional problems for the fish on top of the fact they were being poisoned.

 

[Mr Spoon]

I agree with curiosity. Bad water conditions, fish will be stressed and more prone to disease.