New Pearl Gourami's

[Shadow_Africa]

Iv just got a pair of Pearls. They are housed with a pair of kribs. The LFS guy said they would be fine together. The tank is a 55gallon tank. They seem perfectly fine together. The tank is planted and the kribs stay mostly on the bottom. So will having kribs and pearls work?

 

[tophat665]

Shouldn't be a problem unless they (either of them) breed. All bets are off then. Maybe they never even notice each other. More I think about it, so long as they dont both decide to breed at the same end of the tank, you should be all right. You can encourage that by making sure your best low level hiding places are at one end of the tank, and your bushy, tall and floating plants are at the other.

 

[Shadow_Africa]

Okay good. Im actually hoping to breed Kribs, the Gourami's would be nice to breed to though. Ill just make sure to have a extra tank on hand XD

What would be some good dither fish with Kribs and Gourami's in a 55gallon planted tank. Top/mid Dwellers

 

[sylvia]

Note that keeping a pair of pearls may prove problematic later on. The male willt end to chase the female around. It helps to have at least 2-3 girls per male to devide his attention. Gouramies are not like cichlids - they don't 'pair up'. This, BTW, won't mean they get in teh kribs' way more - only male pearls are territorial in the strict sense of the word - the females won't be competing with the kribs for 'their' space except in terms of swimming room - which is the case with any tankmates anyway.

Good dither fish for a tank like this need to be non-nippy and not top-dwelling so they don't bother the gouramies. I'd go for some schooling rasboras or tetras. Maybe something like emperors, pristellas or non-nippy barbs like checkers. You could also try neon blue or possibly threadfin rainbows, or another simialrly-sized rainbowfish.
American-flag fish, swordtails and cherry barbs, though non-schooling, would also work. Avoid anything slow or particualrly long-finned (eg guppies) which could easily get picked on by breeding kribs. Keep in mind that danios, dispite their suitability as dithers, are not ideal tankmates for top-dwelling gouramies like pearls.

 

[tophat665]

I've got my pearls in with Cherry barbs and Harlequins. The Cherry barbs like to hang out in the wisteria and crypts I have growing, and the harlequins mostly hang out in open midwater. Either of them would be good. Pentazona barbs would work, or maybe black rubys.

 

[Shadow_Africa]

I would have gotten another Pearl female or two but im lucky I got one. But im still looking XD. The shipment was actually supose to be all males but the LFS guy noticed there was a female when he pointed them out to me as a good tankmate for a krib. The belly is alot bigger and she's a LOT more duller. So hopefully one day Ill find two more.

How about a few Platy's and then a school or two of some type of fish?

Stocking list so far [in the tank]:
2 Kribs
2 Pearl Gourami
5 oto cats
6 kuhli loaches
1 Dojo loach
12 Pork chop [rasbora epes]

could I add the following? Or would it be overstocked?
2 female Pearls
4-5 platy's
15 schooling fish
would the platy's pose a threat to any eggs?

I plan to get a Rena Canister Filter XP3 or 4.

 

[sylvia]

That would just about work out though I'd reduce the number of schooling fish you're proposing to 10 and make sure you are considering the size of these fish - not all shoaling fish stay small!

BTW, what kind of dojo do you have? Some grow quite large and aren't tropical.

The platies would pose as much a threat to eggs as any of the rasboras you already own. If you are worried about them eating your kribs' spawn, I'm sure you'll find the kribs are very good at preventng this Do make sure the platies are in the right sex ratio (ie at least 2 females per male) or else go for a single-sex group.

 

[Shadow_Africa]

Or could I do two smaller school's of 5. I was thinking Checker Barbs [though I hate barbs they seem nice XD] and then one other type of fish. That's if the LFS has the checker's.

Its a Dojo weather loach. Yes they get big and yes they like colder water. But my water temp is 76 and Iv read/talked to a few people who kept there's in a warmer tank and it lived a long life. He seem's very happy, he's the king of the tank and the leader of the kuhli gang.
The reason I have him in the first place is because my 55 use to be a goldfish tank. But then the all got very sick and died [fish were from PetCo] and so did the other dojo loaches other then the one from my LFS. I got 4 Normal ones from petco and then one yellow dojo from my local store.

I do not buy fish from PetCo anymore.

 

[sylvia]

My concern over the dojo wasn't so much for it - they are incredibly hardy and can withstand all sorts of conditions - it was more because some species (and, BTW, they are all called dojo or weather loaches ) grow larger than others and this limmits how many fish you can fit in your tank (obviously).

Checker barbs sound great and a school of 5 would be fine. You need to make sure whatever else you get, though, only stays small as, with the dojo being a large-growing species (and, BTW, coldwater fish will produce more waste in warm water as their metabolism speeds up), you don't have that much room. I would probably suggest just getting the checkers and getting a group of 6 but nothing else.

 

[Shadow_Africa]

Okay so I now got 2 more female pearls and 6 Platys [4f, 2m] added.

So the stocking so far is
2 Kribs
4 Pearl Gourami [3f, 1m]
5 oto cats
6 kuhli loaches
1 Dojo loach
12 Pork chop [rasbora epes]
6 Platy's [4f, 2m]

I was thinking of maybe adding 10 Lemon Tetras then that would be all, besides more plants.

As for a new filter would a Rena Canister Filter XP3 [up to 175g] be good enough for a 55gallon tank with the fish above. Would it take care of the dojo's waste and other fish?? Or should I get the XP4 [up to 265G]

Obviously the more filteration the better but I found a nice XP3 on e-bay cheap. And its new

 

[sylvia]

I think 10 lemon tetras is pushing it. 6 or so would be better.

BTW, the lambchop rasboras are Rasbora espei - not epes

I think either of those filters would be fine realy. Water changes are going to be more the issue though one 25% change a week, as standard, should be enough if you don't over-feed.