Blue Columbian compatability issues

[joeradose]

Hi All

I have a fairly new setup - about 8 months since adding my first fish.

I did a fish in cycle, very slowly adding stock after cycle to keep everyone happy. I started with 3 Blue Columbian Tetras and 3 Von Rios (per LFS recommendation). The Von Rios didn't make it, but the Blues were A-OK.

After some research, I did not replace the Von Rios, and went with Silver Tips, and they seem to work out well with the Blues. I slowly added more until I was at 5 of each, then added 3 Julii Corys, and a Panda Garra. This whole process was very slow, multiple months.

So, I decided that I wanted a single (or two - a "Non Shoaling" basically) showpiece fish. Was thinking about an small Angle, but they had an issue and had to quarantine all of theirs that day (plus I wasn't sold on them bassed on research). They ended up selling me on a Pearl Gourami.

The first 4 days, he just hid. He ate fine, but stayed up in the top corner. Then he started interacting a bit more and more, and quickly became a very sociable lil guy. A little bit of agression was seen with the Blues (given and received), mostly around feeding time, but they seemed to give a short chase and not really persue each other too much, so I didn't think TOO much about it.

Then I cam home one day and it looked like he had a huge bruise covering the whole side of his face, and one of the blues had similar along one side of his body. Neither one recovered.

I did do my research on the gouramis, and saw that they should be peaceful with every one, "including tetras", but then crossing back to re-research my blues saw that many say "NO" to gouramis with Blue Columbians.

So, after that long diatribe my question is...

Are there any larger, non-schooling/shoaling "showpiece" fish that would work with my set up?

Thanks for any and all help!

 

[Rivercats]

Both the silver tips and blue Columbian's are know nippers so you might have to get creative in your thinking. You also don't have an overly large tank so perhaps something like a pair of German Blue rams might work. They will also tend to use the lower area of the tank (not always) and a pair could hold their own. Is your tank planted? That would help.

 

[joeradose]

Thanks Rivercats

My tank is not planted at this time. Being fairly new to the hobby, I felt this was one more variable that I didn't know how to account for until I got everything set up. I do want to get more information and start looking into live plants, but haven't researched them too much.

Would the Rams be TOO aggressive for the Blues and SilverTips? I've looked into them a little (with your suggestion), and they look like awesome meanies lol.

 

[Rivercats]

No they won't be too aggressive. They will stand their ground and not be an easy target for the fin nipping tetras. Plus they will stay in the lower levels of the tank.