Gourami

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digitalrayne

Aquarium Advice Newbie
Joined
Aug 20, 2007
Messages
3
I am going to be perfectly honest and tell you that I am a complete novice at this and probably am in way over my head. I have a 29 gallon bowfront aquarium with a topfin 30 filter. In the aquarium I have planted ludwigia and moneywart (they seemed very hardy and the fish seem to enjoy munching on the ludwigia). There is also a cave with 3 openings that my gold gourami tend to hide in before darting out to chase the opaline.

I test the water once a week and everything tests within the "normal" range. The water remains uncloudy, as I change the filter monthly. I also vacuum the gravel weekly, as well as change 25% of the water. I notice there is a lot of debris beneath the gravel if I do not vacuum weekly. My concern is, have I overpopulated my medium sized tank with fish that should be in a much larger aquarium? They seem content, though the larger two chase one another around a bit there is relatively little nipping. I have had the following for only about 3 months and none were full-grown.

Opaline Gourami
Gold Gourami
Kissing Gourami
2 Dwarf Gourami
Chinese Algae Eater
Bushy Nose Pleco
 
it sounds like you have everything running well in my opinion. Its normal to see crud in the gravel. Maybe you are feeding a little too much, and it might be leftover food.

As long as you have no ammonia or nitrite readings when you test you are pretty much good.

You are a tiny bit overstocked, the kissing gourami will get rather large, but can live perfectly fine in there for quite some time.

The chinese algea eater might give you some problems... they have been known to latch onto fish and kill them. Just a warning for the future.

And i almost forgot! Welcome to AquariumAdvice! :n00b:
 
Thanks for the welcome as well as the advice. I failed research much on the kissing gourami (judged by the picture). In the 3 months that I have had the fish, the 2 dwarfs and the kissing gourami are about the same in size, hardly over 2 inches. Might it be a dwarf itself or is it a slow growing fish? The gold and opaline gouramis are the monsters, 1 at 5 inches, the other about 5.5. I guess it's a good thing they are all male and there will be no breeding o_O

I have seen the chinese algea eater leap at a fish once, attaching itself only briefly. It is still a very young fish itself(it's grown from about an inch in length to 3 in the short months I've had him), and as I'm reading they grow more aggressive as they mature...I'll definately keep watching in case I need to find another home for him.
 
Can you comment on "changing the filter monthy". It sounds like you are replacing all of the filter media (probably a charcoal filter insert), which is not a very good thing to do to keep an established tank running. TopFin filters are not the greatest to begin with but you do not want to be replacing the filter on a monthly basis.

What you can do regardless of the filter type is to take the filter inserts out and gently rinse off the crud in a bucket of USED TANK WATER. Not tap! This will allow the filter to flow close to new again, and all the beneficial bacteria you have built up will still be able to keep your ammonia and nitrIte levels safe. And it doesn't cost you a thing!

HTH
 
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