Stocking For My 40g

[Alex1110]

Im about to get my 40 gallon tank, its 36" x 18" x 18". Im going to have driftwood and live plants.

I would like to keep a red tailed black shark and some gold barbs (6?). Id like some other type of smaller schooling fish, and maybe two or three gouramis (golden, blue, opaline, pearl). Can i please get some suggestions as to how many of what fish do you think i could have/fit?

Thanks

 

[Torrean]

rtbs tend to be a bit aggressive as he matures keep an eye on him. Also only keep one in a tank

I believe gold and blue gourami do best with one in the tank...you can add more but you have to pay attention to the male to female ratio...I believe it is 1 male to 2 females. look into this further please.

A small schooler would definitly be danios...there are lots of options here that's just the first thing that came to mind. You could also do more barbs...although they may be a bit too nippy to be kept with gourami...Tetra's could work well WCMM (white cloud mountain minnows) should work too. You might like blind cave fish.

 

[Alex1110]

yeh it is 1 male to 2 females for gouramis

I cant find much info on the danios, except the zebra danio, which are okay. I like the WCMM's and ive also seen the black skirt (black widow) tetra which i think would be good. What do you think of them?

Do you think this would work?

3 opaline gouramis (1 male, 2 female)
8 golden barbs
8 black skirt tetras
6 cories
1 RTBS

Id be having live plants and driftwood, get a cave of some sort for the RTBS. Would i need a lot of plants? i was thinking of having a heap of plants on on side of the tank, with less on the other.

 

[Torrean]

gourami appreciate floating plants.

the barbs really kinda bother me. I'm not sure how they get along with other fish. It could be just fine I'm not sure.

you should definitly watch out for the rtbs picking on the cories. I haven't heard of them doing that before or anything it just seems like something that they'd do

That tank looks like it should be ok. I personally would trade the barbs out and double the size of the tetra school. Then I would consider adding three more gourami.

The general rule for beginners is 1" of adult fish per gallon. Figure that out to see if you have reached your stocking limits.


Do you know what dechlorinator, and cycling is?

 

[Alex1110]

I just like the colour and the activness of the golden barbs. Ive been told the cories will do fine with the RTBS. If i do what you say, add three more gouramis, could i add golden gouramis with the opaline? that would give me yellow i spose.

Floating plants? ill have to look into that.

Yeh i understand the cycling process, im looking at going with fishless cycling. Im assume dechlorinator is something you add to your water before it goes into your tank. I thought it would be a conditioner to get rid of the metal in the water etc. Right?

 

[dwarfgourami]

3 opaline gouramis (1 male, 2 female)
8 golden barbs
8 black skirt tetras
6 cories
1 RTBS

Looks a bit heavy of a heavy bioload for a 40 gallons. Let's do a very basic inch/gallon calculation (and folks, i am aware of the limitations, but it's an easy way of illustrating something you might feel instinctively):

3 opaline gouramis 3x4 inches= 12
8 golden barbs 8x 2.75= 22
8 black skirt tetras 8x2= 16
6 cories 6x2 (though bronzes and peppereds can grow to 3)= 12
1 RTBS= 6
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68 inches

seems quite a lot actually and the barbs are not small waste producers. I have a feeling something is going to have to give. Also, quite simply visualising this tank, I have a feeling that there is too much going on in it.

At the bottom, I would choose either cories or RTBS. I'd also be worried about the cories being intimidated. They don't understand about territories and RTBS most definitely do. Maybe you'd be better off with a small loricariid, something like a bristlenose.

I think the golden barbs would probably be ok. Eight is almost certainly better than 6. But it would be hard to cram in both those and the tetras and the gourami. My feeling would be to just have the one school of barbs - they are very active and will fill that tank with activity. Or you could have a school of tetras.

Or a school of danios- have you checked out the pearls? They don't look that brilliant in the lfs, but once they are established in a home tank they develop a lovely irridescent sheen. And zebras are always good.

I think an opaline or golden gourami should be tough enough to hold its own against the barbs or tetras, but this would be a good question to put in the anabantoids forum.

I would not have more than one trio- males tend to be very territorial with each other and the opaline/golden ones are some of the worst. You could always keep just one gourami; they are not schooling fish and would not feel lonely.