Need Answers!

[Loko17]

Ok, i have a fire red Dwarf gourami in my 10 gallon with 8 other fish, I'm looking to get a live plant because i hear the gouramis enjoy nibbling at the leaves and such. I'm wondering if the plant will cause any problems or whether i should reconsider and just get a plastic plant. Also i was looking to get another Male Dwarf G. of the Neon blue type. with all the fish i have and the one gourami i already have i was wondering if there would be any problems there. Can anyone help me? Thanks in advance.


Also my Dwarf Gourami's right feeler is shorter than the other one, whats up with that?

 

[soggysandwich]

the plants shouldnt cause any problems just make sure you have the right lighing and suck. also what fish do you have in your tank cause it sounds to me like it might be a little over stocked

 

[Loko17]

the plants shouldnt cause any problems just make sure you have the right lighing and suck. also what fish do you have in your tank cause it sounds to me like it might be a little over stocked

Well I'm not really sure what they are because I got the tank from my sister and she just went to the pet store and got all the fish that look "pretty" so she didnt do any research but yeah I think my tank is overstocked but one fish is getting really old and has developed a parasite that i just cant get rid of so i think i may have to get rid of him and that will open up a new spot in my tank for that D. Gourami that I am so desperately wanting. I really just want to know if i have to worry about them fighting.

 

[diademhill]

Two male dwarf gouramis will almost certainly fight in a 10g.

How old are the fish? - few fish commonly available are old at under three/four years of age and many tetras live to six or seven years+,
.
If you suspect a parasite you shouldn't be adding any more fish without ensuring the parasite has been eradicated.

You really need to research what fish you have already.

 

[sylvia]

I agree - another dwarf is out of the question.

The shorter ventral fin is nothing to worry about, provided there's no white or stringy ggrowth at the tip, as it's probably just the result of an old injury. You see, gouramies can easily be nipped orlose part of their ventral fins and, though they do grow them back eventualy, they sometimes never reach full length again.

Also, even if one of your fish were to die, that doesn't mean you have 'an open spot' for another - it simply means something's not right and you have to find out what's wrong (probably the overstocking is linked to it) and fix it.

You have to find out what the other fish you have are - can you post pictures? They should be relatively easy to identify if you could post a few photos (you can upload pics to photobucket.com and then link to them here). Alternatively, try describing them to us and someone may be able to point you in the right direction.

Just to help get you started, take a look at some of these:

guppies (colors vary and these are all males - note the long fins. These are livebearers and do best when kept at a ratio of 2 or more females per male. Alternatively, they do fine in single-sex groups.)
platies (again, the colors vary but there are both males and females in this picture. These do best when kept at a ratio of 2 or more females per male and are livebearers - ie. they give birth to live babies (fry))
neon tetras (cardinal tetras look similar but are all red underneath - instead of half white - and slightly larger. Both cardinal and neon tetras need to be in schools of 6 minnimum.)
clown loaches (these grow very large so hopefuly you don't have any)
swordtails (Colors vary. As you can see in the pic, some of these fish have sword-like extensions on the tail - those are the males. These fish are livebearers like the platies above but males can be somewhat mroe aggressive towards each other and swords grow larger than either platies or guppies. They do better in larger tanks where they ahve plenty of room to swim.)
mollies (These are also lviebearers, similar to guppies. They vary in color and size and aren't realy the best choice for a 10 gallon. I'm not a big fan of these due to their tendency to nip and harass gouramies.)
tiger barbs (though striking and popular, these are a nippy schooling fish that does best in a large tank in a large group and far away from long-finned or slow moving fish)
red tail black shark (these are aggressive and territorial and should be kept singly. They grow to 6" and should be in a 30 gallon minnimum.)
angelfish (much too big for a 10 gallon - that's all you realy need to know about them )
blue ram (A small cichlid, territorial when breeding. Should be kept in pairs and, idealy, without other territorial fish if it's in such a small tank - ie: no gouramies)

Those are just some of the most popular species and they are what I thought someone might call 'pretty' fish Of course, also take a look at corydoras catfish, plecostomus catfish and some of the other schooling tetras, rasboras and barbs. They are all very readily available groups and may have caught your sister's eye.

 

[Loko17]

I agree - another dwarf is out of the question.

The shorter ventral fin is nothing to worry about, provided there's no white or stringy ggrowth at the tip, as it's probably just the result of an old injury. You see, gouramies can easily be nipped orlose part of their ventral fins and, though they do grow them back eventualy, they sometimes never reach full length again.

Also, even if one of your fish were to die, that doesn't mean you have 'an open spot' for another - it simply means something's not right and you have to find out what's wrong (probably the overstocking is linked to it) and fix it.

You have to find out what the other fish you have are - can you post pictures? They should be relatively easy to identify if you could post a few photos (you can upload pics to photobucket.com and then link to them here). Alternatively, try describing them to us and someone may be able to point you in the right direction.

Just to help get you started, take a look at some of these:

guppies (colors vary and these are all males - note the long fins. These are livebearers and do best when kept at a ratio of 2 or more females per male. Alternatively, they do fine in single-sex groups.)
platies (again, the colors vary but there are both males and females in this picture. These do best when kept at a ratio of 2 or more females per male and are livebearers - ie. they give birth to live babies (fry))
neon tetras (cardinal tetras look similar but are all red underneath - instead of half white - and slightly larger. Both cardinal and neon tetras need to be in schools of 6 minnimum.)
clown loaches (these grow very large so hopefuly you don't have any)
swordtails (Colors vary. As you can see in the pic, some of these fish have sword-like extensions on the tail - those are the males. These fish are livebearers like the platies above but males can be somewhat mroe aggressive towards each other and swords grow larger than either platies or guppies. They do better in larger tanks where they ahve plenty of room to swim.)
mollies (These are also lviebearers, similar to guppies. They vary in color and size and aren't realy the best choice for a 10 gallon. I'm not a big fan of these due to their tendency to nip and harass gouramies.)
tiger barbs (though striking and popular, these are a nippy schooling fish that does best in a large tank in a large group and far away from long-finned or slow moving fish)
red tail black shark (these are aggressive and territorial and should be kept singly. They grow to 6" and should be in a 30 gallon minnimum.)
angelfish (much too big for a 10 gallon - that's all you realy need to know about them )
blue ram (A small cichlid, territorial when breeding. Should be kept in pairs and, idealy, without other territorial fish if it's in such a small tank - ie: no gouramies)

Those are just some of the most popular species and they are what I thought someone might call 'pretty' fish Of course, also take a look at corydoras catfish, plecostomus catfish and some of the other schooling tetras, rasboras and barbs. They are all very readily available groups and may have caught your sister's eye.

Thanks for the time you must have spent on that last post sylvia but oddly none of the fish you described and pictured were anything like the fish in my tank. I will describe them to you and see if you or anyone else can figure out what they are. I have 2 fish that are orange, long and have a red underbelly, they are skinny almost like neon tetras but bigger. I have 2 other fish that are the same species but one is bluish pink, and the other slightly larger one is all pink, they are both about 1 inch. I have 2 other fish that are silverish, with 1 long fin on the top of them and many fins underneath, both of them have scales that shine in the light. I have 1 fish that i believe is a glass fish, its small about .8 inch and is clear with a few pink blotches on the tops and sides and then of course i have the flame gourami, if any of my descriptions jumped out at you please try to tell me what these fish are, i cant find them on any site or book reference. Thanks for your help

 

[vancouver]

I don't know about IDing any of the fish, but don't add anything else.. You're at your stocking limit for sure.

 

[Loko17]

Hey everyone, today I found the fish that had the problem dead in the tank, I've determined the problem as a tumor and it was not allowing him to eat. I was getting a tank set up so i could try to treat the problem but when i came in to check on him, he was already gone. poor little guy. Just thought anyone whos read this might like to know because i was WAY overstocked and though it's sad that i lost one, he did help in relieving stress of my fish. I still havent Id'd the fish so anyone that can help. Please do. Thank you

 

[diademhill]

Thanks for the time you must have spent on that last post sylvia but oddly none of the fish you described and pictured were anything like the fish in my tank. I will describe them to you and see if you or anyone else can figure out what they are. I have 2 fish that are orange, long and have a red underbelly, they are skinny almost like neon tetras but bigger. I have 2 other fish that are the same species but one is bluish pink, and the other slightly larger one is all pink, they are both about 1 inch.I have 2 other fish that are silverish, with 1 long fin on the top of them and many fins underneath, both of them have scales that shine in the light. . I have 1 fish that i believe is a glass fish, its small about .8 inch and is clear with a few pink blotches on the tops and sides and then of course i have the flame gourami, if any of my descriptions jumped out at you please try to tell me what these fish are, i cant find them on any site or book reference. Thanks for your help

I have 2 fish that are orange, long and have a red underbelly, they are skinny almost like neon tetras but bigger

Can't quite picture these Can you describe them a bit more please?

I have 2 other fish that are the same species but one is bluish pink, and the other slightly larger one is all pink, they are both about 1 inch.

Sound like dyed albino widows - fruit tetras.
http/badmanstropicalfish.com/gallery/cha...d_tetras_sm.jpg

I have 2 other fish that are silverish, with 1 long fin on the top of them and many fins underneath, both of them have scales that shine in the light.

Some type of rainbow fish?
http/www.tropicalfishfinder.co.uk/dbimag...0praecox_NA.jpg

I have 1 fish that i believe is a glass fish, its small about .8 inch and is clear with a few pink blotches on the tops and sides

http/badmanstropicalfish.com/articles/painted2.jpg ?

Have a look at these - they may not be exact matches but they can narrow down the search.
Sue

 

[sylvia]

Just so you aer aware, it's unlikely that your fish died from a 'tumour' so to speak - it's far mroe likely to have been some kind of bacterial ifnection. Don't worry about it now - just keep the water clean (ie: frequent partial water changes with de-chlorinated water) and don't add any more fish.

I'll take a stab at guessing at what fish you have (again ) but it would probably help if you were a little more specific about the size of the fish and, also, the number of fins they have above and below their body.

In particular, can you tell me whether any of the fish you have have a fin like this: http/web.uvic.ca/~reimlab/nikki/salmon.GIF That's called an 'adipose fin' and it's located behind the dorsal fin (the big one at the top), just in front of the tail. The reason this'll help is because all tetras have one while most other commonly available species do not.

Also, do any have barbels ('whiskers' around the mouth area) - like this: http/www.biosci.utexas.edu/IB/faculty/parichy/fishes/2.jpg (this is a danio BTW - note that it doesn't have an adipose fin) It can be difficult to see the barbels in small fish so look closely.

The shape of the tail can also help - is it 'scissor-shaped' like in these scissortail rasboras?
Or more 'fan-shaped' like in these american-flag fish?


Do these look anything like your fish?
cherry barbs
checker barb
rosy barb
indian glassfish
glass catfish (probably not)
diamond tetra
serpae tetra
white cloud mountain minnow
glass bloodfin tetra
sailfin molly
knight goby (probably not - but you never know )

There are just so many different species of fish lol... If any of them look even vaguely like yours, do say so as it'll help with the identification.

 

[Loko17]

Thank you for all the help, In the post by diademhill, the ones that were pink and bluish are the dyed fruit tetras and the one i thought was a glass fish is the ones that that link showed, the silvery ones I dont think are a type of rainbow, they look sort of like the diamond tetras on sylvias post only bigger with more fins and not exactly the color but it does resemble it. The orange ones are like the orangish color of the serpae tetra with a red underbelly and they are long, about 1.5 inches. Bottom feeders if that helps. I will check out each fins and post what they are. Thank you for taking time out of your day to help me identify these fish. So 3 identified and 3 to go.

 

[diademhill]

Forget the colours & look at the shapes of these fish. Any closer?



http/www.fishesnpets.net/gallery/angelfi...ngelfishes4.jpg

http/www.azgardens.com/images/Gold-Algae-Eater.gif

 

[furryrabbit]

[/quote]

I have 2 other fish that are silverish, with 1 long fin on the top of them and many fins underneath, both of them have scales that shine in the light.
[/quote]


sounds like bala sharks. are their fins black with some beige. they are small when sold but they quickly evolve into monsters . they need at least 125gals . i would look into rehoming them if they are balas

 

[Loko17]

No way, they arent bala sharks, shes had this fish for at least a year, and the fins are more flowy and there are more fins. almost the color though.

Forget the colours & look at the shapes of these fish. Any closer?



http/www.fishesnpets.net/gallery/angelfi...ngelfishes4.jpg

http/www.azgardens.com/images/Gold-Algae-Eater.gif

The second site, the orange fish are about that long with about the same back fin. But they arent cat fish and their orange. But you know that.

 

[sylvia]

Could they be any fo these?

black widow/ black skirt tetra
longfin black skirts
black phantom tetras (my favourite tetra )
The idea of them having 'more' fins has got me stumped
threadfin rainbowfish

With the 'orange' fish - is it anything like this?
flame tetra andanother
That picture is from here. If it's not like your fish, are there any on that page that look similar?

Are you certain they are not serpae tetras?
Or perhaps a columbian red fin tetra?

That's going to have to be my last guess for now Is there no way you could post some pictures? Even realy bad ones would help lol