Newbie To Fish Keeping

[kezzaa]

Hi i would just like to ask if anyone can offer me some advice as i am very new to fish keeping and keep getting conflicting advice.
I bought a second hand tank approx 45 gallon with an angel fish one neon tetra and a loach type fish and a silver fish with black tips on its tail not a shark though.so weve had the water tested by the pet store which i was told was fine so asked them what fish i could get they sold me two pink kissing gourami two blue gourami and two dwarf gourami also two golden gourami ad assurd us these would be best in pairs and would be fine in my tank.One of the blue gourami has constantly nipped at the angel fish which is not looking too happy now and one of the golden gouramin lies on the bottom in the plants alot i just wanted advice on if these fish are right in pairs and is it normal for the golden one to hide.thanks i just want to get it right as dont wabt the fish to suffer in anyway.

 

[mossonthemoon]

Are you able to provide a photo of the loach and the silver fish that isn't a shark? That would help a lot.

I don't know a lot about angels but I think the tank is a bit too small with them, and I am not sure that they will always get along with the gourami. It sounds like you have too many gourami as well, especially the kissing gourami. They get big - I think 12 inches, so definitely need a huge amount of space. I would take those back to the shop right away and tell them you were mislead and are unsuitable for your tank.

 

[kezzaa]

Are you able to provide a photo of the loach and the silver fish that isn't a shark? That would help a lot.

I don't know a lot about angels but I think the tank is a bit too small with them, and I am not sure that they will always get along with the gourami. It sounds like you have too many gourami as well, especially the kissing gourami. They get big - I think 12 inches, so definitely need a huge amount of space. I would take those back to the shop right away and tell them you were mislead and are unsuitable for your tank.

thanks for replying i cannot upload the pics as it says file too lare i have looked on google images for the fish and have discovred the silver one is a head and tail tetra and the loach one is a gyrinochilus aymonire hopes this helps thanks

 

[Questions?]

get rid of the gouramis, angelfish need a tall tank as they can grow to be a foot tall, but the 45 should be fine, you might want to get rid of the loach. Dwarf gouramis are very agressive towards eachtoerh and sometimes other fish. Kissing gouramis are also aressive and will probaly eat the tetra. The angel fish is nipping the fins because, the gouramis invaded his territory(the whole tank probaly), so you need to keep one or the other. he silver fish with blck tips, sound like it is a bala shark, they need a minimum of 55 gallon for one, but like to be kept in groups of 3 or more so they need about 75 gallons i think. If i were you i would rehome all the fish, except for the angelfish, and start over from there. And base the fish you get on the angelfish's compatibility and temp, etc.

The kissing gouramis often do kill other fish by sucking their 'fish slime' (mucus) off of their skin as food, which opens the victim fish up to infections

 

[mossonthemoon]

In order to put pictures here, you need to use photobucket, imgur, or something similar.

If you do have a head and tail tetra, they stay small but need to be in a group. I don't know much about loaches, but I looked up the one you said and the first care page I came up with said it can go to 28 cm! That is enormous. If it is accurate then you will not be able to keep it in your tank. Another site said they can get to that, but usually are more like 6 inches. In that case, then I am not sure about your tank, however it sounds like that means the growth is stunted due to being in a small tank, which isn't healthy. Again, I don't know a lot about loaches.

If the angels are okay in your tank, then maybe decide between them and the gourami, based on what you like the most? The dwarf gourami should be okay, but I am not sure about the others (apart from the kissing gourami which are definitely going to get too big).

 

[kezzaa]

Thanks for the advice I have a friend with a very large tank he is going to take some of the gourami and see if this improves the situation its mainly one of the blue gouramis doing all the nipping thanks