Fullofit343

Hi, so i'm new at this whole aquarium thing. I just set up my aquarium two days ago and got my first starter fish. I got two Hi Fin Black Skirt Tetras and 2 Gold Gouramis in my 10 gallon tank. They seemed to be fine for the first few hours but one of the tetras started nipping at one of my Gourami's fins. The gourami now sits in the corner of my tank behind a fake plant while the tetra waits for it to come out. I tried pushing the tetra away but even after it was gone the gourami stayed there. The Tetra now seems to be leaving the gourami alone but instead it is now being chased by the other gourami (they are about the same size) I did some research and it says that the gouramis can be territorial but i was told differently from the guy at the pet store. I'm thinking about returning one of the gouramis for another fish. Any ideas?

CHoffman

Hi and welcome to fishlore..
Black Skirt Tetra's are a schooling fish you'll need at least 5 to make a school and they require a 20 gallon tank..They can be nippers. Here is a link about them http://www.fishlore.com/profile-blackskirttetra.htm

Also Gold Gouramis need at least 35 gallons according to this site..http://animal-world.com/encyclo/fres...oldgourami.php

I would return all of the fish....Petstore employees will often misguide you in decision making because they are looking to sell fish and that's it..I would do allot of research before buying a fish..Learn all about it's requirments for tank size and diet and compatiablity with other fish...I think most of us have been in your shoes..Mislead by a Petstore..I was..I had way to many fish in way to small of a tank...

Also I think you'll find this link very useful too..
http://www.fishlore.com/NitrogenCycle.htm

Good luck with your tank and keep us updated!

GouramiGirl1221

I agree with CHoffman, the best thing to do would be to return your fish and start over. I'm sorry that the people at the fist store misguided you. You can do a combination of tetras and a gourami in a ten gallon tank if that's really what you want, just not those particular breeds. Dwarf gouramis are very colorful and only get 2 inches, so they work perfectly in ten gallons. With that, you could also do a school (6 fish) of tetra species that get two inches or under full grown. Some examples of these would be neons, cardinals, red eyes, rummynoses...there's a very long list. There are certainly other stocking options as well. Best of luck!

capekate

Welcome to fishlore
BST's are really little bullies in a tank and you will find that if you were to add more of them, the aggression would be centered on each other and not on other fish. But as was advised above, you really do not have the room for more.
I would return the fish to the fishstore and do a fishless cycle of your tank and research which fish would work best. I agree the dwarf Gouarmi being much smaller than the larger blue and golds would work much better in your tank.
Best of luck!

Fullofit343

Thank you for all your help guys. The thing i found weird is that the Tetras aren't aggressive towards eachother or toward one of the gouramis and that gourami isn't aggresive towards the tetras. They are only aggressive towards the one gourami who stays in the corner. I would really prefer not to return all the fish cause i am very happy with the selection i have. If i have to then i obviously will. I like the larger more elegant fish and obviously there aren't many hardy ones that you can start a tank with that fit into that category. Any suggestions on what fish i should replace these with?

Alessa

What i would do is take them all back and do a fishless cycle so that you dont lose any fish. http://www.fishlore.com/NitrogenCycle.htm

Then, you can 5 neons and a dwarf gourami, which would make a very pretty tank.

GouramiGirl1221

You will have to take your gold gouramis back...they will get 6 inches a piece, so even one would be too large for a ten gallon tank.

EDIT: Or, if you don't want to take them back, you could get a larger tank and move one of them to it, but you will need to do that very quickly because of the aggression issues. Unless you're planning on getting a 75gal tank that's VERY heavily planted, I wouldn't recommend keeping 2 gold gouramis in the same tank. As they age the aggression issues will only multiply.