GouramiGirl1221

I'm currently in the process of researching, as I am going to be establishing a 29 gallon tank. Currently my fish are sharing an aquarium with my roommates fish in a 10 gallon. I will be using a gravel substrate, artificial plants, and both under gravel (with carbon attachment) and power filters in my new tank. I will also cycle my tank before moving my current fish or adding any new ones.

The fish that will definitely be moving to the new tank are a male powder blue gourami and a female red wag swordtail. My main question is about possible tank mates for them. I've been doing some research, but I'd love to have some suggestions from personal experience. Some of the possibilities I'm considering are a mixed school of silver and marble hatchets, one or two male guppies, a female flame dwarf gourami, platys, and diamond, red eye, and/or bleeding heart tetras. I realize I can't put ALL those fish in a 29 gallon, but I was trying to leave myself options if I found out that some of those breeds won't be compatible with my current fish.

I'm definitely open to suggestions other than tank mates as well! Everything helps.

DrGueedo

Well im not sure but by memorie dont kissing Gourami become pretty big? About a foot if i remember correctly. So your 29g seems a little small for those fish and you would need to get pretty big tank mate for them not to become lunch. Plus they get really territorial which means its might be hard to find tank mate for it...But for your other im not sure how big they get or anything about so it might be hard on the one you have has it grows up.

Lucy

According to their profile, DrGueedo is right, the Kissing Gourami can grow up to a foot.
http://www.fishlore.com/Profiles-KissingGourami.htm

sjlchgo

I would forgo the guppies for sure, the tetra's might be ok and of course the platy's also. They may become an issue with the Gouramis later on. You could also consider some bottom feeders like cory's to help keep things tidy.

GouramiGirl1221

Yea, the kisser was a situation of my trusting the pet store without previously doing research as these are my first fish. When I did find out how big she was going to get and called the store, they said if I brought her back they'd just flush her, and I didn't want to do that.

If I find something to do with her, will the other two be compatible with the other fish I mentioned? My powder blue is a max of 2", and my swordtail is a max of 4", from what I've read (please correct me if I'm mistaken). Would my swordtail try to eat the guppies, or would the only concern for fish snacks be the kisser? I'm mostly concerned about the hatchets...from what I've read they would be the hardest to take care of from the list that I'm considering.

Blub

If the kisser finds a new home with someone who can accomodate him at full size, then you can have a pretty cool tank!

I think a large school of hatchets (8), and 2 more female swordtails would stock it. Or, swords come out and are replaced with a school of 6 2" tetras.

clinton1621

Swordtails will not bother adult guppies... I'm not sure about the Gourami though, they are strange about what they like and dont like. I've been debating on whether or not to try guppies in my tank with my male flame gourami...

GouramiGirl1221

Will the different kinds of tetras school together as the different kinds of hatchets do, or would I have to buy the same kind of tetras?

EDIT: clinton, since you have some experience with a flame gourami, do you think a female would do alright with my male powder blue? I've read that multiple male gourami's in a single tank can get pretty territorial, but I haven't been able to find much about how the males and females get along. What I have found is pretty vague. My gourami is by far my favorite fish, so I'd love to have another one if it's not gonna cause issues.

Blub

Tetras don't school with other tetra species - with the exception of neons and cardinals. Serpae and Red phantom tetras would probably school together.

Remember the 1" per gal guideline. You can have 1" of adult fish per gallon. You can easily go 5" over without consequences - but it is best to understock. Remember, it is a general rule and only works on small fish. It involves a lot of common sense as well - like, no 18" pleco in a 18gal tank.

clinton1621

It all depends the male... having more than one female is actually better, this will keep the male from constantly going after one female and stressing her out.

GouramiGirl1221

Okay, with your all's input, I think this is what I've decided on. Please tell me if you see any major issues:

Male Powder Blue Gourami
Female Red Wag Swordtail
Female Pearl Gourami
Female Flame Gourami
1 or 2 Male Guppies (so I don't get babies )
2 or 3 Platys of some assorted colors
6 Hatchets

I'm going to try the female gouramis with my powder blue because the pet store that I get my fish from is great about letting you bring the fish back if they don't get along with the fish that are already in your tank. Is there a way to tell the difference between male and female guppies? I want to make sure I don't end up with babies...I understand that even if I only get one a female could be pregnant when I get it from the pet store. If I get different varieties of platys, they won't breed, right? Thanks for your help!

sjlchgo

Those Red Serpae can be some little devils. They will most certainly eat the guppies up. I had some and they ate up my Platy's.

GouramiGirl1221

Red Serpae? Which fish is that a nickname for?

Lucy

Red Serpae's are a species of tetras.

Serpaes ate your Platys? Platys are bigger than they are. Weird.
I've read the long finned Serpaes can be terrible fin nippers. I have 4 short finned, they've never nipped and are quite charming.

clinton1621

You might be pushing your stocking limits... not with size, but with room. The gouramis and platys are rather good sized fish, you dont want to have a tank where the fish are constantly literally running into each other. Also the pearl gouramis get larger than the pygmy gouramis do, so I would stick one male pygmy and two female pygmys. I would cut out the platys, and the swordtail... and replace those with a bottom feeding fish like a group of cory cats, which will also have an added benefit of keeping your gravel clean of any left over food. That way all the fish are not mid-level types that are constantly competing for space, this is also the recommended way to keep a community tank.

For an example

6 hatchets... these fish are top level swimmers

3 gouramis and 3 guppys... these fish are mid level swimmers

4 cory cats... these fish are bottom level swimmers

(you could also throw in a school , say 6 or 8, of some small neons or rasboras that are not large fish)

Now, see how you have a uniform mix of fish in different areas of your tank? This will cut down on the stress of your fish, as well as give you an overall more active tank at all water depths =)

Jo3olous

You are the 2nd person to say on this forum today that your LFS will flush your fish if bring it back to them. I honestly don't believe this if you talk to management, because 1 they could sell it for money, 2 you usually can get store credit out of it 3 it is illegal to release captive fish into the wild (well i thought it was in all states) <-- thats because captive fish can introduce new diseases and make the wildlife go AWOL. <--- Okay this one is unlikely because the fish will usually die one the way down, but it creates situation 4 that animal cruelty is bad and your fish store should be punished!!! legally!

Other than that, I don't know much about gouramis except that they get rather large, so they wouldn't live for too long in the 29G in groups, when they are smaller they might i don't know how fast they can grow either, i never kept one.
I agree with clinton about your stocking options, too many middwellers, better to have top/mid/bottom mix so no fish is forced into an area they don't like, which could lead to stress = unhappy = poor growth = lack of eating = death.
GL with you're new tank though, it sounds like you;re doing good research and have a decent handle on fish care/life.

Blub

That is an excellent post and I must say I was about to type a very very similar thing.

GouramiGirl1221

Ok, I definitely see what you mean. I'll take your advice for sure, I hadn't really considered the tank level, only the 1" per gallon rule and the common sense of no 29" fish for my 29 gallon tank . The list you gave me actually kept all the fish that I was dead set on (I wasn't too attached to having the platys) so this is gonna work great. I can't wait to get the tank set up!

Thank you guys so much for all your help! I'm so glad I found this site...you all have saved me lots of money and dead fish for sure!

Oh, and Jo3olous, my kisser is going back to the store where I normally get my fish even though that's not where I got her from. I definitely won't be back to the fish store that's closer to college, I'll be getting all my fish at home from now on.