Paradish Fish

[chainedfaith]

I'm a beginner at owning fish, and have a small 30gallon tank as my begginning tank. So far i have community fish in it, such as; neons, guppys, dwarf gourami, angels, bala shark, and clown loaches. Recently i have added a paradish fish to the lot, the pet store advised they would be alright and a good addition to my tank. However the paradish often chases some of the other smaller fish, such as the neons and the guppys. The do not fin nip, just chase off. I suspect that the paradish being of a darker color and with slightly longer fins then the other ones at the store is the male. So is it possible that the paradish is just territorial?

I'm sort of questioning the liability of the petstores advise. Usually i'd ask the fish lover of the family, who has tanks up to 600Gals. But he's out of town. And this is the only time i have sought advise from the petstore workers.

Is it worth it to keep the aggressive p.fish in a community tank?

 

[fishcollector7000]

if hes bothering the others best take him back rather than stress your other fishes any good store will let you return him! i have heardthey are territorial

 

[catxx]

i think it's best to look over your entire stocking, it sounds VERY crowded in there! you'd probably be angsty too! what numbers do you have in there? you got a couple of potential monsters...

 

[my fat fish]

give a full list of fish how many and sizes please cos ur angels will deff need a bigger tank

 

[unspoken930]

You mean a Paradise fish as there isnt such thing as a paradish fish..

I wouldnt keep a territorial aggressive fish in a community tank, thats like putting a guy with a knife in a room of nuns I guess (for lack of better example). Basically its not a good idea. For more agressive fish, you either have to put in fish that dont bother with their territory (ie, if its a top dweller, get bottom dwelling fish only if you know that the agressive one wont eat the bottom fish).

Also your tank sounds overstocked, or could be overstocked depending on your numbers. Is your tank a 30 gallon tall or a regular 30 gallon? This will determine wether or not you can have the angels in there and they need tall tanks due to their body shape and swimming patterns. Also, though they are slow growers, Clown loaches get FAR to big for a 30 gallon, and must be kept in groups. They not only get long, they get wide as well so even though theyre alright for now, they wil soon outgrow the tank and if you dont move them they will be stunted. The balasharks need to be in groups too (I think) and will also get far to large for the tank.

It is good though that you have a fish lover in the family. When he gets back maybe he will give you some good advise on the Paradise fish that youve gotten, that is if you want to leave it in there until he gets back.

If I were you, I'd stick with the smaller more community oriented fish like neons, guppys, dwarf gouramis and such, maybe with a few larger ones (3-4 inches or so) and then I'd plant it aswell. You want to have happy healthy fish, not just "living" fish.

As you will find, pet stores normally will tell you anything you want to hear so they get a good profit. Remember that, however you will find the good ones once and awhile and if you do, they normally offer great advise.
Hope this helped!