Sparkling Gouramis And Croaking/dwarves

[penguinpimp1990]

for a 29 gallon community heavily planted tank, which would be better, croaking gouramis or sparkling gouramis? and how many of them (cant be 100% sure wheter male or female) would get along in a small shoal? and i cant have any sort of fin nipping as ill have some very expensive zebra oto's.

also what the hell is up with the fishes colorations? the images that i googled are either wicked colorful or wicked bland? anyone who has these fish pics would be highly appreciated

 

[Cooky_luvs]

for a 29 gallon community heavily planted tank, which would be better, croaking gouramis or sparkling gouramis? and how many of them (cant be 100% sure wheter male or female) would get along in a small shoal? and i cant have any sort of fin nipping as ill have some very expensive zebra oto's.

also what the hell is up with the fishes colorations? the images that i googled are either wicked colorful or wicked bland? anyone who has these fish pics would be highly appreciated

Are you only keeping them w/ ottos? If so there shouldn't be a problem, sparkling and croaking gouramis can be shy and should be provided w/ lots of hiding places and plants. Plants will make them happy which means better coloration. It's not usually recommended to keep croakings and sparklings together but I've never had a problem keeping the two together in my 10 gallon. Sparklings stay small but have better colors, croakings get larger but not as much color. It's up to personal preference really.

 

[sylvia]

Both are equaly hardy and peaceful towards other fish.

Sparklers are more colorful but croakers grow bigger and have blue eyes.

Both croak.

In both cases, a group of 5-7 or so - prefferably as few males as possible with lots of females - is ok. You may get some fights if you have several males but it shouldn't be too bad if there's lots of fish to devide that aggression between.

Neither species will pose a threat towards otos and either would do well in your tank if this is all you plan to keep besides them.

If you are going to keep anything larger than 3" or that might be aggressive, stick with croaking as the sparkling gouramies, being very tiny fish, can easily be bullied, eaten or killed.

edit: BTW, the pics on the net are usualy confusing/misleading because they lack lighting. In a well-lit tank but with lots of cover, the gouramies show their brightest coloring. Take them out of that environment or remove the lighting and they look rather bland.

 

[penguinpimp1990]

theyre are gonna be more than zebra otos. platies, corys, hatchets, and other small peaceful fish of the like..... could i keep just one sparkling and/or croaking in this 29 gallon or do they have to be in groups?

 

[Cooky_luvs]

theyre are gonna be more than zebra otos. platies, corys, hatchets, and other small peaceful fish of the like..... could i keep just one sparkling and/or croaking in this 29 gallon or do they have to be in groups?

They really do best in groups.