zigmeister

I bought a small golden gourami to add to my big tank about 2 weeks ago. My large blue gourami would not let her be. He picked at her and chased her. (Genders are guesses here, but I suspect since they are not getting along, they might both be male). Anyway, I decided that I had to remove her from the tank before he killed her. So I bought a 12 gallon Eclipse tank with the intention of putting her and 1 or 2 other small tank mates in it. So the 12 gal. is set up and the golden gourami in swimming around in there happy as can be. Being the softy that I am, I think she needs tank mates to keep her company. I get some advice from the fish manager at the store and take home 3 cherry barbs. I put them in the tank and the golden gourami won't leave them alone. She chased them constantly. I finally moved the 3 cherry barbs to the big tank where they seem to be adjusting nicely. None of the other fish in that tank are bothering them. Do you think the gourami needs a tank mate? Does a single fish do okay in a small tank? Can a fish become possessed? (just joking..lol) Should I take the golden gourami back and trade her in for somefish that is more friendly/docile/less homicidal??

Chief_waterchanger

You could put 2-3 corydoras aenaeus in the tank, that'd be cool and would pickup food dropped by the gourami.

bert2001

I have the same Golden Gourami in a 10 Gallon in my sons room. His tankmates are 3 Glolight Tetras. They have been in perfect harmony for 4 months now. Any kind of tetra should be a good tankmate for you Gourami. Hope this helps.

COBettaCouple

corys or otos would be cool, but i'd agree the corys are a better choice.

Neville

Hey ziggy how r u? Gold Gouramis r very hardy and grow up to 6", males have long, sharp dorsal fin and females have short, rounder dorsal fin, so now u can tell whether your gourami is a male or a female. Males r territorial and aggressive (as usual).......best tankmates for them will be mollies.......

zigmeister

thanks for the advice, guys!!! Neville?? I will have to look for some pics of gouramis and look more closely at those dorsal fins. I'll let you know what gender it is when I figure it out!!! lol <---ziggy... aka fishdumbie..lol

zigmeister

okay... here is a pic of my blue gourami that is in my 58g tank. The fins are the same shape as the golden gourami (who would not cooperate when I tried to take her pic). Anyone want to guess the gender??

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Neville

it looks like a male blue gourami, that's why it's aggressive! how big is your main tank and what other fish do u have in it? just curious!

zigmeister

Neville, my main tank is 58 gallons. Besides the blue gourami, I also have 5 red glass barbs, 3 clown loaches, an irridesent shark, a pictus catfish, a pleco, and now 2 cherry barbs in it. I've had this tank for a little over a year and I am really enjoying being a fish lady!! I never realized how much personality fish have. My clown loaches are probably my favorites. One of the clown loaches, Tiger, was from the first batch of fish I put in my tank. The day I put him in the tank, I thought he had jumped out and one of my cats had eaten him because I couldn't find him for days. Turns out he was hiding in the top of the castle!!! He is quite social now.

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COBettaCouple

He was king of the castle!

Butterfly

Beautiful tank! You do know Clown Loaches get quite large and will need a larger tank shortly
Carol

zigmeister

Carol, I knew they got larger, didn't know it would be that quick!!! *starts looking around for where to put a bigger tank* How big of a tank do you think they will need??

COBettaCouple

Clown Loaches get to about 12" and need a 55g tank.

Neville

That castle is so Cooooooooool!!!!!!!!

susitna-flower

Hi zigmeister!

With the forum being reorganized lately, I don't know where the links all are, but the total fish inches you have going on at this point have your 58 gal tank REALLY overstocked....When you start counting the fish inches, you have to research what their adult size will be and then figure 1 " of fish per gallon! That means the loaches alone would need at least 48 gallon tank! The iridescent shark will get really big also, as can the pleco if it is a common. Then, once the fish do get big, the 1"/gal kind of goes out the window, because you have to figure in their girth as well.....it is all a lot to worry about, but in the end it all boils down to how many water changes you want to do a week to keep your tank healthy.
Do you test your water? If your nitrates are up over 20 you need to be doing enough water changes to keep them down around 10 for the health of your fish.
We all start out overcrowding, because we just love to fill up that aquarium, and fall in love with so many different fish in the LFS.....then it ends just about the same time as ALL open counter space in the whole house is taken up with tanks, and every wall, and then some of us kick out the dinning room table and chairs.......So you are in good company. OK, it never ends......
Glad you are enjoying, and hope to see you around the forum lots!

zigmeister

I have already realized I am overstocked. I didn't realize that 1"/gal was the adult size of the fish. I am planning on getting another larger tank. I have my daughter searching yard sales, etc. I do a 20% water change once a week and the nitrate levels have been okay so far. I am taking the golden gourami back to the LFS and the cherry barbs have been moved to the 12 gal tank. How often do you recommend changing the filter cartridges?

catersun

This would be the garage sale scavenger checking in... She really is hooked on fish.

COBettaCouple

on an overstocked tank, i'd do 20-25% 2x a week. As far as changing the filter cartridges go - what kind of filter do you have? we have HOB filters with filter sponges and filter floss in them. we just swish them around in a bowl of treated tap water (to get rid of any big gunk or debris stuck on them) when we do the weekly water change & tank cleaning, then put them back in the filter.

catersun

she has an empereor400 with 4 ritesize cart. (the ones with charcol)

jsalemi

DFS sells 'Bio 3' type filters for the Emperor line that have the sponge and the carbon separate; I use them, and they work fine. Makes it easy to take the carbon out without removing the bacteria in the sponge if you're medicating, or putting in different combinations of filter material (along with the refillable cartridges that come with the filter) to customize the filtration. Not to mention that they're cheaper than the Marineland cartridges.


You can find them here: http://www.drsfostersmith.com/produc...1&pcatid=13371

COBettaCouple

excellent recommendation!

zigmeister

okay... when I get a second tank, how about this division of fishies.... tank A (58gal) 1 pictus catfish, 5 red glass barbs, 1 gourami, and one pleco.... tank B (70+gal)..3 clown loaches, 1 gourami, and 1 iridescent shark. I know eveyone keeps telling me the shark can grow up to 4 ft. but I'm not sure this one will. First off, she is blind. Yep, blind... no eyes at all. I have had her for about 4-6 months and she hasn't grown at all. I really hate to put her in a different tank because she bangs into stuff until she gets acclimated to a new environment. Won't the size of the tank partially determine the size the fish gets to be??

COBettaCouple

the tank does have some influence in the size of the fish, but i think it's mainly by causing stunted growth that's really hard on the fish internally and she has an adult size of almost 4 feet & 300g+ for tank size listed. i'm not sure how she'll do in the tank that she's in.

zigmeister

*sigh* I adopted this fish from a coworker. Had NOOOOO idea she would get so big. I guess I can play it by ear for a while since she is so small now. As she grows I will look into seeing where I can send her that has adequate tank space.

catersun

Call ripleys

zigmeister

Maybe I should make them a deal.... I will give them the shark if they hire my daughter's friend... lol

catersun

lol yeah.. don't hold your breathe. lol