treehugr

We've had our fish for almost 5 days now and the fish seem to be tolerating each other OK. Though, I think the Gourami needs a playmate - he seems lonely and a little anxious and or bored. The Corycat and Yoyo Loach seem fine being the only of their kind in the tank (the Yoyo seems to be the most content of the bunch). The Red Serpae Tetras (3) are a bit nervous at times but hopefully they'll feel better once we get 2-3 more of them to make a shoal.

I'm hoping if I get one less Tetra I can get a playmate for the Dwarf Gourami -- CAN ANYONE SUGGEST A GOOD SPECIES THAT MIGHT INTERACT A BIT WITH HIM? I don't want a female Gourami because I don't want them to breed. Maybe a female of another species that's similar in temperment and size?

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14g tank: 1 Dwarf Gourami, 1 Yoyo Loach, 1 Agassizi Cory and 3 Red Serpae Tetras. We intend on getting 2-3 more of the Tetra in a few weeks, once the tank fully cycles.

capekate

IMO your dwarf Gourami should be fine by himself. If you end up getting another male they will just fight. And if you get a female, the male will continue to chase it and stress it out. Separate species do not tend to 'interact' with others, so finding one that will become a buddy and interact with the Gourami, is not very likely. I had a dwarf G that did just fine by himself after I moved the others that it was fighting with all the time.
I believe that all your fish will acclimate to each other given time. More serpae's will hopefully diminish any ideas of fin nipping at the Gourami.

~ kate

BTW I just read your siggy underneath your post. You have a tank that is not cycled yet with all those fish in it? I hope you do ok with that.. and keep up the water changes and water testing til your tank cycles.


~ kate

JMatt1983

unfortunately, you will be overstocked if you add any more fish to your tank, you have to take into account the full adult size of your fish when planning your tank, the gourami=3" the loach=6" the cory =2.5" and the tetras=1.5". currently you have 15.5 inches of fish in your 14G tank, the rule of thumb if 1" of adult fish per gallon of water.

i beleive that a 14G tank is too small for a yoyo loach, but im not experience in them so maybe one of other members will be able to help you there

Drea

Gouramis are from the ciclid group, which by nature are very territorial and aggressive, like others have said. I have always had the best luck when gouramis have been solo in a tank. Also, I think you should give your fish more time to get used to the tank, they should settle down. If your little ones seem nervous, do you have places they can hide, or be sheltered? Just becareful because the more stuff in the tank, cut down the size for the fish. And you do have enough fish for that small of a tank, smaller tanks really need watched alot for water changes too.

COBettaCouple

Actually, Gourami are Anabantoids (air labyrinth fish like Bettas). I definitely wouldn't add any other fish to that tank.

Drea

oops I was thinking of angels. Or do I have that wrong too?

COBettaCouple

lol.. no, Angels are cichlids.

jsalemi

My dwarf gourami actually hangs around with the Serpae school sometimes, though most of the time he's just fine hanging by himself.

treehugr

We got the water right - kept testing and had the tank running for almost 2 weeks before we put any fish in it. When we went to buy our first fish, we were just planning on getting 3-4 Tetras to start with but the guy at the store said we'd be okay adding more. I guess we should have gone with our initial plan? I hope nothing bad happens to the fish because of this - I would feel terrible

treehugr

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Believe it or not, I had done research on the fish first -- we initially went to the fish store and wrote down all the fish we liked and then I took that list and Googled each one, making notes. Then I crossed off certain ones that were either too large or wouldn't work for some other reason and, with the remaining fish, made a chart in Exel so I could sort by PH, temp and water hardness to see which fish had similar preferences.

The thing that tripped me up was the Yoyo Loach - during my initial research the size that came up was 3-4 inches. It wasn't until after I brought home the Yoyo [and wanted to learn even more] that I came across conflicting sizes (6 inches). So, now of course, I wish I had a bigger tank. If all goes well with this one, I will get a larger tank and eventually move the Yoyo to that; but I don't want to get ahead of myself yet - have to see if I can handle this one first.
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14g tank: 1 Dwarf Gourami, 1 Yoyo Loach, 1 Agassizi Cory and 3 Red Serpae Tetras. We intend on getting 2-3 more of the Tetra in a few weeks, once the tank fully cycles.

treehugr

Yes, there are places to hide - we have [fake] plants in the back and also have a small piece of driftwood that has a sort of cavern underneath and a rock that has a couple of holes to swim through and a nice cavern area at the bottom.

It's obvious which of the three tetras is the alpha - he chases the other two around (one of the three always seems to be hiding) - can't tell if he's actually nipping or just trying to intimidate. I hope they settle down and become content since I am unsure now if we should add any others (or even keep the three we have). We had intended on getting 2-3 more so they could form a small school but now I'm reluctant due to recommendations here in the reply posts.

jsalemi

The tetras probably won't become content until they're in a school of at least 6, which would definitely overstock you. Maybe see if the store will take the yoyo back?

CPVFD325

Though it is technically "overstocked" and a fish that can get to be 6" is mostly likely a little big for a 14g tank. You are worried about this
(--------------) much fish. I think he'll be fine. Just keep up on your water parameters and your partial water changes. If it works, COOL! If not, take notes and you'll know for next time.

treehugr

It seems like you all recommend keeping the Dwarf Blue Gourami solo, so that's what I will do. I guess I am just projecting the HUMAN need for connection/interaction onto the fish

I must say, I am loving this Gourami - he's pretty and he moves so gracefully (unlike the tetras, which tend to be less graceful - or the Cory Cat, which didn't seem to do much or interact much). He is my favorite so far. Also loved the yoyo loach (so fun to watch) but he died last week Very sad about that. Would love to get another one but I won't now that I know how big they get. Maybe one day when/if we get a larger tank.

ER9

iv'e seen dwarfs in a tank with blue ram ciclids for a long time and they seemed to tolerate each other very well. i have the same problem and i am going to try one of the blue rams.

treehugr

I'll look into those. Thanks.

treehugr

Hi, I just did a little online research on the Rams - they seem to be rather delicate so I don't think those are the ones for us. This site has some good info if you're still interested ...

http://cichlid.infocrux.com/Ram-Cichlid.html

ER9

cool thanks for that info....i havn't gotten one yet and think i might not as my PH and water hardness are on the very high end of the scale. they may not survive or thrive in my tank. thanks for the link.