Red Honey's & Dwarf's....

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Padfoot

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We want to keep 4 Red Honey's and at least 2 Blue dwarf's in our community tank. What ratio of male to female is advisable?

Also, will they be ok with the other planned inhabitants which could be, Bristlenose Catfish, 5 White Cloud Minnows, Leopard Danios, 10 Cardinal Tetra's and a loach or two type unknown as yet (was looking at YoYo but have heard they will trouble the Gouramis)
 
What size tank are we talking here? That sounds like a lot of fish. I'd also like to know exactly how many of each fish you're planning on getting as you've only listed numbers for a few.

Also, it sounds like you don't have this tank set up yet - are you new to keeping fish? If so, are you aware of the fishless cycling process you need to go through before adding any fish? If not, read the relevant links in my signature.

As for the gouramies. it's generaly best to keep them in ratios of 2 or more females per male but it can be difficult to find females (which also tend to be far duller than the brightly-hued males). Also ntoe that honeys and dwarfs are not the same species. honeys stay slightly smaller and are far mroe hardy. Dwarfs grow larger and are extremely prone to disease. IMO, avoiding the dwarfs is a good diea - at least until the tank is quite mature.

Just so you know, honey gouramies are called colisa chuna/sota and grow to about 1.5" whilst dwarf gouramies (regardless of color morph) are called colisa lalia and grow to 2". These two species are very closely related and will behave towards each other pretty much as they would to their own kind. That means you'll get inter-species aggression between the males.

Concerning the other fish you are proposing - danios and gouramies both occupy the upper layers of the tank. It's best not to combine the two unless your tank is very large indeed (considering the number of gouramies you're planning on). Also, white clouds aren't true tropical fish and don't appreciate high temperatures. It might be best to re-think this species.

As far as loaches go, don't fall in the trap of buying a clown loach as these grow far too big for your average community setup. Yoyos are lovely loaches. It's true that they can harass slow-moving fish species but this is usualy more of a problem in smaller tanks. If you want my opinion on this, however, go for dwarf chain loaches. they do well in a small group (say 4) and are perfectly harmless towards dwarf and honey gouramies.

Out of curiosity, would you be willing to change the gourami plan? depending on tank size, you may actualy find a species such as colisa fasciata is better suited to your tank (also commonly known as the banded, striped, indian or giant gourami - don't confuse with the 'true' giant osphronemus gouramies which grow to 30"!). These lovely fish look remarkably like the dwarf gourami but are hardier, females are brighter and they grow to the slightly larger size of 4". I'd reccomend a trio fo these in place of the 6 honeys/dwarfs you were originaly planning on. They have the same basic requirements as the honeys or dwarfs but are less common and, IMO, more rewarding and longer-lived.
 
Thanks.

Would a trio of colisa fasciata be ok with a couple of female Red Honey's? The other half is very taken with the Red Honey's and she would really like some in the tank?

Its a 180L tank, so would the trio of colisa fasciata be ok with the Leopards?
 
180 litres is about 45 gallons so it should be ok to have the c. fasciata and danios. As for the female honeys, that would work in theory but females aren't usualy particularly bright red in color so you may be dissapointed. Having said that, you can get yourself a trio of honeys as well as the trio of indians. Then you'll have a colorful male, as well as the duller females. :)
 
Well..as of today i have a trio of Indian Gourami's......and have not got any dwarf's or honey's...but did get some leopard Danio's.

:)
 

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