Gouramis - Need Some More Info

[benthyer]

Hey,
 
I have just set up my first tank and now have my water parameters and have been given some advice on what to stock in my tank and have been told about Gourami's. What I need to know is what Gourami's would be ideal. I have been told about the Pearl Gourami's but was concerned about the agression the male can show and the chances of them breeding.
 
What other choices are available to me?
 
Thanks
 
 

 

[BerryAttack]

first you need to cycle your tank, if you don't then there is really no point on getting fish.
 
what is the size of your tank?
stats of water?
how long you have cycled it?

 

[Meeresstille]

That kind of depends what size tank you have.  Pearl Gouramies need about 110 litre tanks. 
 
Do you know about fish-in cycling and fish-less cycling a tank to build up the beneficial bacteria in the filter?

 

[pumpkinnose]

There are neon blue, flame, Dwarf, Honey, Moonlight, Kissing.  There are all kinds. You may just want to do some research and see which might do better in your tank.  I know that they need plenty of places to claim territory but then my hubby has 3 (2 neon blue and one flame)  and I have one that has claimed an area in front by a plant and the other two I'm not sure.  The other two just kind of go where ever they want or else they really enjoy seeing me...lol.  Of course these 3 are rather young as we have only had them for about 2 weeks so we haven't seen any problems with them yet.

 

[benthyer]

I was planning on doing a fishless cycle but got bought some fish so its now a fish in cycle. They have been in since Tuesday now and I added the the start up bacteria to help the cycle.

My tank is 115l (30 US Gallons) and measures 99cm across, 29cm back and 39cm deep.

The params after my test yesterday are:

pH: Somewhere around 8 - 8.2
Ammonia: 0.25ppm
Nitrite: 0ppm
Nitrate: somewhere between 20 - 40ppm
Temp: 26C

I only have fake plants at the moment and need more decor but will be adding this over the next few weeks hopefully.

 

[Meeresstille]

Your Nitrates are quite high, you may want to check your tap water's parameters too, so you know if you already have readings coming from the tap.  
 
Since you have fish in the tank try to do as many water changes as needed to bring any Ammonia and Nitrite readings as close to 0 as you can. Your pH is quite high as well, which makes Ammonia more toxic to your fish. So getting those Ammonia readings down is right now really important!

 

[Ninjouzata]

What brand of bottled bacteria did you add? Most of them don't work, but there are a couple brands that do.

 

[DreamertK]

I don't think the NO3 is high, it's about what you would want it to be, but not too much higher. It's probably from the tap, though you'd want to check NH3 from the tap because thats the real killer.
 
PH is pretty high/alkaline/basic. You might want to try looking for fish that would like basic water better, some fish are very particular on the pH conditions. Pearls might not tolerate such conditions, and regular opaline gourami's are right on the edge of what they prefer. Dwarf/honey gourami's prefer acidic water to basic and probably wont do too well at all. The banded rainbow fish come from slightly basic waters, they might be a good idea and grow to the same size as opaline/pearl gourami.
 
You can also try adding a crap-ton of wood to add tannins to the water to lower the pH a little bit.

 

[benthyer]

The bottled bacteria I used was Nutrafin Cycle.
 
I have just done more tests on my tank water and it is pretty much the same except Nitrites has gone up to 0.25ppm as well.
 
I also tested my tap water and it has nitrates in it already, at pretty much the same level as what's in my tank. Obviously that would mean that doing water changes won't fix this high level so how would I go about getting this lower?
 
I will look into getting some wood as well to try and lower the pH

 

[cynic]

You cant. Do anything about the tapwater unless you use rainwater.

With the number of changes your going to be doing just use it as your baseline.

Any correction you do will be rendered useless by the next waterchange that could be done the same day.

Fish in cycle is a lot of work. Will your LFS let you have any material to kickstart the process.

 

[benthyer]

Ahh OK. I will give them a call and see what they say or I might even have a friend who can help me out.

 

[DreamertK]

What about collecting the tap water you'll put in your tank, put in the dechlorinator (often removes some NH3/NO2 ), and waiting 24 hours to do the WC?
 
What you want to be looking for is mature media. Even a small bit will speed up the process exponentially. Dont obtain tank water, that does nothing.

 

[Meeresstille]

With Nitrates at that level coming from the tap after your tank is cycled you will see it going higher still from the converted fish's waste. Without using rainwater or Reverse Osmosis water what could help keeping the Nitrates at the lowest possible would be to plant heavily. For that you would need good lighting and probably CO2 to help the plants to be able to eat all that Nitrate!
 
If you know someone with a mature aquarium they could also give you some tank water in which they have rinsed their filter sponge. All this gunk is rich in bacteria, just add it to your tank, close to the filter intake tube. The filter will suck it all up into its housing seeding your media! Great stuff! Just make sure your friend's tank is not dealing with any diseases at the moment!

 

[Ninjouzata]

I don't recall if that bottled bacteria brand works or not. I've heard Tetra Safe Start & Dr. Tim's One & Only are good, so if you want to pick up one of those that might be good. Even better of course with some mature media, if you can find any

 

[benthyer]

I will have a look for the ones you have mentioned. I am also still trying hard to get some mature media but to no avail so far. No one around my area seems willing to share