A question about my idea for a 20 gallon tank - Aquarium Advice

Laser · 05-13-2006, 06:35 PM

Hi everyone, I found your forum while searching online and I found your advice to be very good. This isn't my first aquarium and it probably won't be my last either. I was wondering what you guys think of a the fish I wanted to include in my tank. I want to have 3 pearl gouramis, 3 dwarf gouramis, and 2 cory catfish. All advise is welcome and no I'm not putting a Pleco in there.

sith j · 05-13-2006, 07:12 PM

i was thinking you needed to watch putting more than one male in tank of that size. if you had one male and two female it would be best. i also herd that once they mate the male will be aggressive towards the female. you may wait on more advise as i have not had any yet just read about it.

sir_dudeguy · 05-13-2006, 07:22 PM

do you mean that you wanted to have the 3 pearls AND the 3 dwarfs? I'm not sure how big the pearls get, but i know that the dwarfs will be fine. Maybe just switch the pearls to dwarfs? i really dont know about them so i'm not sure. How big do they get? the cory's will be fine too. And i'd make sure that you only have 1 male all together with the gouramis, as 2 would fight.

Laser · 05-13-2006, 07:35 PM

I had heard that the pearls can be agressive and it was recomended that I add 2 females and 1 male. I've never had any dwarf gouramis be aggressive though. I was thinking about switching the 3 pearls to 3 different kind of dwarf gouramis just because they are smaller. The pearls can get up to 4 inches I believe.

Tiffi · 05-13-2006, 07:56 PM

Dwarf gouramis can be very agressive. I had one in Germany before that killed my female and one here in the US in my 70 gal that constantly bit me when I was pruning my plants. He even spit water at me one time and was the only fish that fought with my Kribensis male. That's when I had to bring him back to the LFS. Also, he always bothered my Otocinclus and bumped into them, when they've been searching for algae on the glass.

If you really want one so bad, I would get 1 male and two female. Besides, females might be hard to come by sometimes. And as the other species you could consider honey gouramis (Colisa chuna) for example. They have bright colors too, but are more shy and timid and in my tanks they've never been aggressive before.

As for the corys, they love to be in groups of at least 5. They need the social contact, since they are schooling fishes in the wild. So the more, the merrier. Panda cories look pretty cool and they only get 1-1.5" in size. That means you can keep a lot of them lol.

sir_dudeguy · 05-13-2006, 08:06 PM

ya so if you're going to get 6 gouramis total, i'd still only get one male. ive had some bad luck with males fighting each other.

Ky'smommy · 05-13-2006, 11:37 PM

I have four of them and they are all male and dont fight ata all. they get along fine.

Laser · 05-14-2006, 03:23 AM

I didn't expect so many responses so quickly, thank you to everyone who has responded. Since I already had the three dwarf gouramis prior to this post I've decided to keep my eye on them and see what happens for a week. If things start to get ugly I'm going to trade them in for something a little more community friendly and scrap my whole gourami idea.

RoK · 05-14-2006, 03:51 AM

Yes, just keep an eye on the gouramis. I would not put any more than 3 in there because of size and territory issues. Do they all have there own spots to go to?
I would go with at least 3 cories.
Do you like schooling fish, like tetras? A nice school of 5-7 of some kind would work out pretty nice.

Laser · 05-14-2006, 02:58 PM

Yeah, all the gouramis seem to go their own way so far. I think a school of 4 or 5 schooling fish would be nice. Any suggestions on something that would go well in here?

05-13-2006, 06:35 PM	#1
Laser Aquarium Advice Apprentice Join Date: May 2006 Posts: 48	A question about my idea for a 20 gallon tank Hi everyone, I found your forum while searching online and I found your advice to be very good. This isn't my first aquarium and it probably won't be my last either. I was wondering what you guys think of a the fish I wanted to include in my tank. I want to have 3 pearl gouramis, 3 dwarf gouramis, and 2 cory catfish. All advise is welcome and no I'm not putting a Pleco in there.

05-13-2006, 07:56 PM	#5
Tiffi Aquarium Advice Addict Join Date: Aug 2005 Location: first ST-Germany, now TN-USA Posts: 1,052 Images: 19	Dwarf gouramis can be very agressive. I had one in Germany before that killed my female and one here in the US in my 70 gal that constantly bit me when I was pruning my plants. He even spit water at me one time and was the only fish that fought with my Kribensis male. That's when I had to bring him back to the LFS. Also, he always bothered my Otocinclus and bumped into them, when they've been searching for algae on the glass. If you really want one so bad, I would get 1 male and two female. Besides, females might be hard to come by sometimes. And as the other species you could consider honey gouramis (Colisa chuna) for example. They have bright colors too, but are more shy and timid and in my tanks they've never been aggressive before. As for the corys, they love to be in groups of at least 5. They need the social contact, since they are schooling fishes in the wild. So the more, the merrier. Panda cories look pretty cool and they only get 1-1.5" in size. That means you can keep a lot of them lol. __________________ Some time ago in Germany: 2x 15gal tank, 45gal heavily planted Now: 70gal FW, 130W CF, driftwood, black gravel/laterite/flourish tabs/pool filter sand, pressurised CO2, power reactor, 200W = 250W heater, Fluval 304, Eheim prefilter; pH 7, kH 5, gH 9, CO2 ~20mg/l Plants: Cryptocoryne beckettii, wendtii "red", Giant Vals, Nymphaea lotus "zenkeri", Anubias nana "petite", Echinodorus "ozelot", Dwarf Sag, Hygrophila polysperma, Rotala rotundifolia, Limnophila sessiliflora Fishes: 2 Mikrogeophagus ramirezi, Endlers, 4 Otocinclus vittatus, 1pair Pelvicachromis pulcher, 5 Corydoras panda

05-14-2006, 03:51 AM	#9
RoK Aquarium Advice Addict Join Date: Feb 2005 Location: Connecticut Posts: 2,224 Images: 11	Yes, just keep an eye on the gouramis. I would not put any more than 3 in there because of size and territory issues. Do they all have there own spots to go to? I would go with at least 3 cories. Do you like schooling fish, like tetras? A nice school of 5-7 of some kind would work out pretty nice. __________________ Current fish (includes all 8 running tanks): Gouramis, polypterids, SA cichlids, convicts, rainbows, plecos, loaches, ACFs, a platy, tetra, & a Ctenopoma

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05-13-2006, 07:12 PM	#2
sith j Aquarium Advice Activist Join Date: Mar 2006 Location: johnson city, tennessee Posts: 137 Images: 6	i was thinking you needed to watch putting more than one male in tank of that size. if you had one male and two female it would be best. i also herd that once they mate the male will be aggressive towards the female. you may wait on more advise as i have not had any yet just read about it.

05-13-2006, 07:22 PM	#3
sir_dudeguy Aquarium Advice FINatic Join Date: Aug 2004 Location: arizona Posts: 515 Images: 1	do you mean that you wanted to have the 3 pearls AND the 3 dwarfs? I'm not sure how big the pearls get, but i know that the dwarfs will be fine. Maybe just switch the pearls to dwarfs? i really dont know about them so i'm not sure. How big do they get? the cory's will be fine too. And i'd make sure that you only have 1 male all together with the gouramis, as 2 would fight.

05-13-2006, 07:35 PM	#4
Laser Aquarium Advice Apprentice Join Date: May 2006 Posts: 48	I had heard that the pearls can be agressive and it was recomended that I add 2 females and 1 male. I've never had any dwarf gouramis be aggressive though. I was thinking about switching the 3 pearls to 3 different kind of dwarf gouramis just because they are smaller. The pearls can get up to 4 inches I believe.

05-13-2006, 08:06 PM	#6
sir_dudeguy Aquarium Advice FINatic Join Date: Aug 2004 Location: arizona Posts: 515 Images: 1	ya so if you're going to get 6 gouramis total, i'd still only get one male. ive had some bad luck with males fighting each other.

05-13-2006, 11:37 PM	#7
Ky'smommy Aquarium Advice FINatic Join Date: Apr 2006 Location: red deer, alberta, canada Posts: 550 Images: 7	I have four of them and they are all male and dont fight ata all. they get along fine.

05-14-2006, 03:23 AM	#8
Laser Aquarium Advice Apprentice Join Date: May 2006 Posts: 48	I didn't expect so many responses so quickly, thank you to everyone who has responded. Since I already had the three dwarf gouramis prior to this post I've decided to keep my eye on them and see what happens for a week. If things start to get ugly I'm going to trade them in for something a little more community friendly and scrap my whole gourami idea.

05-14-2006, 02:58 PM	#10
Laser Aquarium Advice Apprentice Join Date: May 2006 Posts: 48	Yeah, all the gouramis seem to go their own way so far. I think a school of 4 or 5 schooling fish would be nice. Any suggestions on something that would go well in here?