Help Me Stock My 30 Us Gallon

[Taridan]

Well, its the 30 gallon in my signature, it has 2 hob filters, one that came with the 30 gallon one that came with a 10 gallon, and an airstone/bubbler. The Pleco would stay in it, as well as the two Variatus, but I would probably take the female betta out.

this would leave me with not really any space for a bottom dweller, but what I was thinking was

have:
1 common pleco
2 variatus

Get:
4 more variatus, probably 3 female and 1 male
perhaps 1 keyhole chichlid and 3 dwarf gouramis?

I needed to know if a) this would over stock the tank, or B) this would create fights. from my understanding,
the variatus get a max of 2 inches the keyhole gets a max of 3.5 and the dwarfs get a max of 2 inches?

12 = 6 vatiatus
3.5 = Keyhole
6 = dwarf Gourami's
10 = Pleco
31.5 inches of fish for a 30 gallon

thats if my Pleco grows the full ten inches... he spent the first year of his life in a 10 gallon, now, in my 30 he grew from 5 inches to 7 and seemed to have stopped... I'm thinking the tanks my friend kept him in may have stunted his growth?

Any Ideas, suggestions or comments are greatly appreciated.

 

[avirex]

well some websites say dwarf gouramis get to be 2 while others say 3.5

well when u measure fish do u measure from the nose to the backfin
or where the back fin starts...


anyways

a common pleco is 2 big for a 29 gallon

those get to be around 20 inches and should be kept in 100+ gallon tanks

i had 1 when i was a noob n had to return it =( i loved him he sat under my lil log all the time =(

sorry but tucker gotta go back to the lfs...

 

[catxx]

the inch per gallon rule doesn't apply to large fish, only small slim bodied fish such as tetras, it should only be used as a rough guide not a complete rule.
(you wouldn't keep a 10 inch oscar in a 10 gallon )

 

[Taridan]

Unfortunately thats not an option, as no pet stores near where I live will accept fish the didn't originally sell you. My fiancee has a 55 gallon with an oscar in it, and has agreed that if Tucker grows any more than 8-10 inches he can go into the 55 gallon until I can find him a buyer, but I really do think his growth was stunted as a youth/fry... he's lucky to be alive, since my friend didn't know the first thing about fish and kept him with a bunch of mollies in the 10 gallon, and the mollie's kept dying on her.

So, do you think I shouldn't have a Keyhole and just stick with the 3 dwarfs, that way if they do grow to 3 inches would I still be okay? And what about compatability wise, would the tank be okay?

CATXX I thought asides from the Pleco most of those -were- fish that stay on the small side? or is it that the fish are on the small side, but not slim bodied?

 

[Fighterfish]

Hey,
I'd advise you not to get just one keyhole cichlid get a pair. From my experinece i got one male and he was very shy and hid in the plants. Now, however he comes out all the time as i have given him a buddy feaml keyhole cichlid.
Thanks.