The Passage Of A King And A New Inhabitant

[Honeythorn]

My dwarf Gourami Vortigan passed away last month He was perfectly fine in the morning and dead by the evening . I got home and he was floating with a large dark patch on his side ( It looked like some sort of internal bacterial problem that definitely wasn't there in the morning ). I tested the water immediately with my liquid kit, Ammonia was 0 Nitrite was 0 Nitrate was 15. I have no idea why or how he died that way as I do 25-40% water changes every week without fail, but I understand dwarf gouramis are prone to being generally weak ? He was such a lovely little chap, so friendly as well


But it's been a month now, and I'm thinking of adding another centrepiece fish or small group

The tank is 12 gallons , running with a Fluval 3 ( since April and the filter was cycled for a month before that in the big tank ) and contains 10 pygmy cories ( which have been in there for about 3 months ) which are all still healthy and still in the tank, and also 1 apple snail . Since the Fluval is slightly overfiltering the tank , I wondered what I should have.


( The plants have been moved about but basically this is the tank )

I was pondering between these choices :

6 Male endlers OR
6 male guppies

Unless someone would like to suggest something else? ( not another dwarf gourami though please )

Even with the flow turned right down the current still pretty quick , which the cories seem to enjoy, but I suspect some surface dwellers like small hatchetfish may find that a bother and would probably be blasted about a bit.

I'm a bit unsure what to do really. I have looked at the stickied topic for 10 gallon tanks ( although I have an extra 2 gals to play with, not that it makes much difference ) and am still unsure.


Any reccomendations or advice?

 

[Jallen]

You could have 2 female bettas and one male, breed them and sell them back to the LFS. Not only would it look awesome, it could generate cash too.

Though the male needs removing when the fry hatch.

 

[Honeythorn]

Unfortunately I have absolutely no interest in breeding anything. Besides females need to be in groups of more than 2, and it is they who must be removed not the male as far as I know. I have no space for extra tanks or time for fry care. Thanks though.

 

[Dorkhedeos]

Well, breeding betta isnt just tossing the 2-1 ratio like egglayers and livebearers. You actually have to have a setup to have them spawn. If they are just veiltail, its not worth the effort breeding them because they are so cheap anyways and its hard to find people to take them off of you. The female must be removed after the eggs are all in the nest, and the male must be removed after the fry are free swimming.

I would go with 6 endlers. They are worth more, and they got some crazy colors and patterns on their body as well as their tail. Have you thought about shrimp and tetra? I think cardinals with endlers would look pretty nice. Keep in mind that you can slightly overstock because all your fish are small. They dont really create much bioload. You just need to make sure you dont miss water changes too often if you do this.

Ray

 

[kevinthecow]

buy one crayfish. That'd be epic.


*Just a suggestion

I think you should go with endlers. Thats my choice, cause I don't really like guppies much.

Endlers are colourful, too.

 

[Spishkey]

buy one crayfish. That'd be epic.


*Just a suggestion

I think you should go with endlers. Thats my choice, cause I don't really like guppies much.

Endlers are colourful, too.

im guessing honey is in the uk and the only legal crayfish i am aware of there is the cherax quadricarinatus. a 12 gallon i believe is 45 ish litres? this is way too small for one of those
also the betta idea would be no good, males and females should not be kept together, neither should 2 females. they would have to be in a group of at least 5.
you could put a divider in the tank and have two males but the filter would need changing to a slower flow and it may disturb the pigmys so that idea would possibly not work either

i like the idea of endlers. im trying so hard to find some over here but they are a bit like golddust at the moment!!

i do have however a beautiful little group of fish that are called lichtvis here. i believe they may be head/tail light tetras? they make a nice group and are fab to watch but are not so colourful as endlers.

what about a shrimp tank?

 

[NottsFishy]

Why not a small cichlid or even some small rainbowfish they would look pretty cool imo

 

[Honeythorn]

Thanks for all the suggestions I think I shall have some endlers. There's a garden/pet centre near me that actually has a decent fish department ( they actually ask if you have cycled your tank and how long it's been set up , I nearly passed out with shock!) and I have seen Endlers sold in there before but didn't have space at the time. I'm sure they could order some in for me if they don't have any in stock.

I did consider another betta ( just one, not a divided tank ) but I can't be bothered with waiting another month for a sponge filter to cycle in my 30 gal as it's been one month already .

The pygmy cories have been looking a little lost on the bottom as they do tend to blend into the gravel when not moving in a gaggle. The brightest thing in the tank at the moment is the Apple Snail! It'll be nice to have a bit of colour in there .