Stocking 55. Around G. Gourami

[Stumpjumper]

I currently have a 55g and a 20g the 55g has a lone male G. Gourami and I have a juvenile G. Gourami F in my 20g so eventually she's going to have to move in to the 55.

I didn't really want to stck the 55 around gouramis. I bought it used and they had the gourami so I took him. He's not a friendly fish at all and has a personality similar to the piece of rock that is in there with him.

I moved the female in with him for about half a day. We thought they were in love at first. They would swim up to each other, and both lay on their side and swim in a circle. It was cute. However as soon as we left the room he would start furiously chasing her and trying to ram her so I moved her back to the 20 for now.

I wanted to get cichlids for the 55.. some of the pretty blue variety but I think they are all just too agressive to be in with the gouramis. So now I'm considering some angelfish, they are pretty but I really want something with a lot of color, not just black, orange and silver..

The other deciding factor is my water chemistry here is horrid. The hardness is maxed out, PH is 8.7 and alkalinity is very high.

I also just bought the 2 piece magic castle ornament that is like 24" long x 17" high so that is going to take up quite a bit of swiming room for a larger fish, but will provide some nice caves. I'm not sure what the room situation will be until I get it here and in the tank though.

So I'm open to ideas for some cool fish that should get along with the gouramis and my water specs.

 

[james_fish]

Angelfish are also a Cichlid. A new world Cichlid infact, found in South America. These can also be an aggresive fish, particularly when breeding. They can also have a tendency to eat smaller fish (so think logically for what your future potential stock will be, no small Tetra's etc)

As for the pH, yes that is high. It's okay for some Rift Valley Cichlids and some Livebearers but it's still high. I'd recommend adding some Peat Media to your filter, this stuff will lower the pH in your tank (i've done it, and funnily enough it was a 55g and I had a G.Gourami in there too) it may tint the water slightly but it makes the tank look more natural to be honest. You could also try some wood, which tannings will should drop the pH.

Like I mentioned, I've kept a G.Gourami in a 55g community tank which had dwarf Cichlids (Rams & Kribs) I also had a shoal of Tetra's and some Loaches in there without problems. My G.Gourami was calm, and although fully grown was never caught bothering any of the over fish. He was a great fish to keep.

If you are set on Cichlids then I recommend some sort of Rams, or Kribensis. Stay away from the bigger, aggresive NW Cichlids and stay away from Mbuna or Tangs.

Other fish which will go well with the Gourami are Pleco's, Tetra's, Loaches.
You may just have to offload the other G.Gourami if it is being harrased in the 55g, unless you wish to keep it in the 20g.

James.

 

[Stumpjumper]

Angelfish are also a Cichlid. A new world Cichlid infact, found in South America. These can also be an aggresive fish, particularly when breeding. They can also have a tendency to eat smaller fish (so think logically for what your future potential stock will be, no small Tetra's etc)

As for the pH, yes that is high. It's okay for some Rift Valley Cichlids and some Livebearers but it's still high. I'd recommend adding some Peat Media to your filter, this stuff will lower the pH in your tank (i've done it, and funnily enough it was a 55g and I had a G.Gourami in there too) it may tint the water slightly but it makes the tank look more natural to be honest. You could also try some wood, which tannings will should drop the pH.

Like I mentioned, I've kept a G.Gourami in a 55g community tank which had dwarf Cichlids (Rams & Kribs) I also had a shoal of Tetra's and some Loaches in there without problems. My G.Gourami was calm, and although fully grown was never caught bothering any of the over fish. He was a great fish to keep.

If you are set on Cichlids then I recommend some sort of Rams, or Kribensis. Stay away from the bigger, aggresive NW Cichlids and stay away from Mbuna or Tangs.

Other fish which will go well with the Gourami are Pleco's, Tetra's, Loaches.
You may just have to offload the other G.Gourami if it is being harrased in the 55g, unless you wish to keep it in the 20g.

James.

I added some driftwood yesterday. We'll see how that works. I'm out of PH tester but my new kit should be here tomorrow. My only concern with doing to much to lower the ph is if I get it low in the tank, any time I do a waterchange I'll have to add in high PH water again and could possible severely shock the fish.

 

[KittyKat]

G. gouramis as in giant gourami, aka Osphronemus goramy?

 

[Stumpjumper]

G. gouramis as in giant gourami, aka Osphronemus goramy?

Golden Gouramis. Sorry

 

[karin]

I am no gourami expert, but, I did have a pearl in a 36 gallon with a pair of bolivan ram cichlids and there was lots of aggression. So much so that I was going to return the pearl to the lfs. It was suggested to me in the gourami section of this forum to move him into my 60 gallon, whose stocking you can see below. He is a perfect gentleman now and isn't bothering anyone. There is no aggression from this guy at all. More fish, disperses the aggressive tendency and in my case that worked great. BTW, the pearl lives with spawning angels and there is no problem at all.

I suspect that when you start stocking the tank his aggression will level out (thin out?) and with more fish you may be able to reintroduce the female as there will be more distractions for him.

Good luck.

 

[james_fish]

Angelfish are also a Cichlid. A new world Cichlid infact, found in South America. These can also be an aggresive fish, particularly when breeding. They can also have a tendency to eat smaller fish (so think logically for what your future potential stock will be, no small Tetra's etc)

As for the pH, yes that is high. It's okay for some Rift Valley Cichlids and some Livebearers but it's still high. I'd recommend adding some Peat Media to your filter, this stuff will lower the pH in your tank (i've done it, and funnily enough it was a 55g and I had a G.Gourami in there too) it may tint the water slightly but it makes the tank look more natural to be honest. You could also try some wood, which tannings will should drop the pH.

Like I mentioned, I've kept a G.Gourami in a 55g community tank which had dwarf Cichlids (Rams & Kribs) I also had a shoal of Tetra's and some Loaches in there without problems. My G.Gourami was calm, and although fully grown was never caught bothering any of the over fish. He was a great fish to keep.

If you are set on Cichlids then I recommend some sort of Rams, or Kribensis. Stay away from the bigger, aggresive NW Cichlids and stay away from Mbuna or Tangs.

Other fish which will go well with the Gourami are Pleco's, Tetra's, Loaches.
You may just have to offload the other G.Gourami if it is being harrased in the 55g, unless you wish to keep it in the 20g.

James.

I added some driftwood yesterday. We'll see how that works. I'm out of PH tester but my new kit should be here tomorrow. My only concern with doing to much to lower the ph is if I get it low in the tank, any time I do a waterchange I'll have to add in high PH water again and could possible severely shock the fish.

Well if you add wood and peat, it's only going to go down as far as 6.0 at the most. I think mine was like 6.4 at the time. If you add water of 7.0 for example every week, it won't effect the pH as it will soon lower in the tank.

6.0 is fine for a lot of tropical fish. It's the swaying pH's that effect the fish.

James.