Gourami questions for my cousin

[pleco510]

Ok my Uncle just called me up and said that he was given a 29gallon from one of his friends and that my cousin wants to stock it up with 3pairs of gouramis.

I asked him where did my cousin get this idea and he said she read it in the The Simple Guide to Freshwater Aquariums.

Now according to the book you are supposed to cycle the tank with a pair of blue gouramis, then add a pair of moonlights and then a pair of pearls.

Now this seems waaaaaaaaaaaaay too much fish in a 29gal since gouramis can grow from 4-6inches. I told him that I wouldn't recommend this stocking scheme but my cousin seems very adamant about it so I want to double check.

Any info would help.
Thanks.

 

[ostrow]

Blue Gouramis, if I'm right, pretty much max at 4". So I think the total for the 6 fish would come to more like 30" total. Seems reasonable.

 

[Rose]

Your asking for trouble if you stock that tank with those fish. The Blues and Moonlights Gouramies are aggressive and will terrorize each other. The Pearls will not stand a chance in a tank with them. Pearls are more docile than the others. Gouramies in general do better with one species and either just one or large groups with tons of hidding places. If you think you have enough hidding places you don't add more. Gouramies aren't the best fish to cycle with either. The Blues and Moonlights are esentially the same fish just color and pattern variations which spells trouble.

I am a Gouramie guru and have had many different kinds in many different combos and so on and so forth. Have spent countless hours resurching them and what not for several years.

My suggestion for your cousin is to pick one and stock just that. I would do the Pearls rather than the other two mainly for aggression issues. Don't get me wrong you will still have a dominate male but the aggression will be spread about equally. The aggression isn't as bad as it'll get with the other two. The other thing your cousin can do is have ONE Pearl gourami and a school of Cherry barbs. Stunning to see. The gourami will pretty much leave the barbs alone and tend to his own buisness.

If you need more questions answered or what ever just ask. Rose

 

[pleco510]

Thank you for all the help!

 

[ostrow]

Rose knows a lot more than I do on this subject. Another warning is that some say you can mix fish and it turns out they don't like each other.

I have only dwarf gouramis (another thought to pair with blues, by the way). They had me wondering in an earlier post if they were being aggressive, but I think I was being a bit overly cautious. My dwarf flame and dwarf neon gouramis get along great, and apparently these would get along well with the blue gouramis, which seem quite peaceful as well.

But as Rose said, others may be aggressive.

As for overstocking, though, I don't think you are in any danger in terms of numbers/size. Just need the right mix.

 

[Rose]

Dwarfs and regulars don't mix real well. the regulars will stress the dwarfs out with all the aggression. Dwarfs aren't all that hardy to begin with due to all the imbreeding. Lots of inbreeding with these guys makes them hard to keep for more than a year. Rose

 

[pleco510]

Thank you Ostrow & Rose for all the info!
I pointed out my uncle to the fishless cycling website and I think after the tank has been cycled my cousin's gonna get some platies or guppies.
I told my uncle that they're livebearers and that he'll be calling me up in a couple months about how to setup a fry rearing tank but he said my cous won't have it any other way. Aye.

 

[Rose]

Good luck with the cousin . If you need more help just holler. We'll be more than happy to help out. Rose

 

[ostrow]

Well, I cycled with platies and all was well. And as for fry, I've had 6 platies since March -- 4 fem 2 male -- and no babies ever. I know this is unusual, but not ever pregnant. Don't get it myself, but who's complaining? B) B) B)