So Many Questions!

[KRamgren89]

Recently my husband and i have gotten into fishkeeping. We have 2 tanks, our's is a 29gallon and my daughters is a little 5 gallon. Our 29gallon isnt anything fancy, decided to go with fake plants instead of real ones for now, were still so new and wanted to keep things simple, but the plants in our tank are all natural looking nothing flashy, we also ahve some decor that provides room for climbing and hiding, and aquarium gravel on the bottom. This tank is stocked with 2 Blue Gourami about 3-4 inches a peice
2 Kissing Gourami about 2-3 inches a peice
2 Tiger Barbs i think fully grown
2 Bala sharks about 3 inches a peice
2 cory cats
and about 3 bamboo shrimp
wanting to know if we are over stocked or could add more fish, we are currently looking to add more tiger barbs as after we got them we read they like bigger groups, have heard alot of mixed things about bala sharks, someone told me that i should get rid of them as my tank even at their size right now is insufficent, we dont want to add anymore gourami's our's are good, but thinking definately more barbs and wanting suggestions on other kinds to add..

My daugher's littel 5 gallon tank is stocked with colorful plants and natural looking aquarium graven she has 3 mollies, 3 platys, and 2 mickey mouse platys. she really likes their colors, we think 1 of them mollies are pregnant as she is REALLY HUGE, only question i have for this tank is: is 8 little fish to much or can we potentionally add more?

 

[Fishy friend2]

First of all, the stocking on the big tank needs to be sorted out
2 kissing gouramis- I a big no no as they, get to big for you tank
2 tiger barbs- you Need to get 6 more of these to ease aggresion
2 bala Sharks- they will get to big for you tank
Cory cats- you need 4 more because they are schooling fish

And I would move the fish from the 5 gallon to the big tank, and get a Betta for the 5 gallon

 

[Man of fish]

Yes also mollies actually need 30 gallon tanks minimum.

 

[thereverendturtle]

Your daughters tank is over stocked. The mollies should be in a tank of 30 gallons +.

As for your tank, you're ok now but not for the long term. Here are the problems,
1. Kissing gouramis get to be over 8" I've even seen them closer to one foot. Plus they are aggressive, that's what the kissing is.
2. Bala sharks should be in as large an aquarium as possible. They get large, a foot +, and are active schoolers.
3. Tiger barbs, you are already aware they need to be in a group. It should be a group of 7 to 9.
4. The cories also need to be in a school of 5 or more.
5. The blue gouramis if a pair will be fine, otherwise you should probably only have one.

So my suggestions, return the kissing gouramis and bala's. Up the number of barbs and cories and keep an eye on your blue gouramis.

 

[Fishy friend2]

Yes also mollies actually need 30 gallon tanks minimum.

Really? I always thought that they just needed a 16 inch tank minimum

 

[thereverendturtle]

Yes also mollies actually need 30 gallon tanks minimum.

Really? I always thought that they just needed a 16 inch tank minimum

Mollies really shine in a larger tank. They tend to be hyperactive, so I wouldn't want to keep them in anything smaller than a three foot tank. Just my opinion tho.

 

[CysticCrab]

cur down on the different types and consider getting more of the same fish, those tiger barbs will make the rest of those fish finless GL

 

[Fishy friend2]

Yes also mollies actually need 30 gallon tanks minimum.

Really? I always thought that they just needed a 16 inch tank minimum

Mollies really shine in a larger tank. They tend to be hyperactive, so I wouldn't want to keep them in anything smaller than a three foot tank. Just my opinion tho.

Oh, okay, I've never kept them, but I wasnt planning to since my tank is only 15 gallons. I thought that this was too small for them, and I was going to wait until I got a 20+ gallon tank

 

[KRamgren89]

totally would have responded earlier but it took me this long to figure out how to look up my posts XD...
everyone is still pretty little right now, and actulaly my ''kissing fish'' dont ever kiss... is that weird??
the bala's are going to be going to a new home within a few weeks as they are definately growing rapidly for our tank.
we are at this time looking for more tiger barbs, ours have been behaving so far but we know they need a larger group, wish we woulda known when we got them, becasue right now all we can find for tiger barbs in our area are these little dinky things that WILL GET EATEN in my tank.
and will look out for more cory's too.. for the Cory's do they need to be the same kind or can i mix it up?? ours are spotted with orange fins but ive seen some other kinds at our LFS. and we do have a pair of blue's.


so if im understanding correctly over all what i should do: rehome the bala's and kissing gourami. Keep the blue's as they are a pair but monitor growth rate. add more barbs and corys. then thats good right? i wouldnt be over stocked or anything??

and as for the mollies and platys : yea we definately need a bigger tank, we didnt plan on buying as many as we did we only wanted a few but got a little carried away because we found so many beautiful ones we couldnt decide, and now i realize upon looking closer my black mollie is very close to giving birth and i think a few platys are preggo too. so i will keep my eyes open for a bigger tank, there is only 6 (we lost 2 ) fish in that tank, how big do i need to go??

or could I add my mollies and platys into our 29 gallon after we rehome the bala's and kissing gourami??