Stocking suggestions?

[Phlegethon]

Hi all -

Here's a riddle. Two tanks, not densely populated:

10 gallon - 6 Florida Flag Fish, mostly peaceful, but occasionally aggressive. 4 males, 1.5-1.75", 2 females, 1-1.5". 76F, ph6.8

5.5 gallon - 2 Zebra Danios, <1", 1 Opaline Gourami, 2". 75F, pH6.8

What, if anything, would you add to these tanks?
All suggestions are welcome.

 

[Menagerie]

I don't keep any of these fish, but going by the inch rule, you are maxing out. As for the flag fish, you may need to add more females to keep the males from picking on the two females already in there. You said they were occasionally aggressive--are the males aggressive towards each other or to the females?

 

[Christmasfish]

Umm..you actually are so densley populated you have rhenium fish!


no, seriously you are already stuffed to capacity, specially the 5 gallon.
And you have males outnumbering females to cause competition and cramped quarters to make the competition turn ugly. I hope you have it heavily planted or feed them a lot of greens as they are algae eaters.

And that temp is too cold for ANY of the labyrinths with exception of a couple species, like round tail paradise and giant gourami. Cold for Danios too.
My suggestion what to add?...heat. And what is the night temps if there are no heaters in any of the tanks?

Need your water parameters as well. The test results for ammonia(Nh) and nitrites(NO). Water quality can make make fish act odd adn aggressive sometimes.

BTW, not only is your opal too cold..but opals are a more social labyrinth. It NEEDS others of its kinda around.And it tops out in aquaria around 6 inches.

 

[Phlegethon]

Ah, well, more densely populated than I thought.

The Flag fish have never been aggressive to each other, I caught them nipping at the tetras in my 40 gallon so I moved them into the 10 gallon. Similarly, I had 4 gouramis in the 40 gallon, but the largest one harrassed two of them to death and was working on the third when I moved him into the 5.5 gallon...

Both tanks have heaters. I'll increase the temp in the 5.5 gallon. What temperature would you suggest? The 10 gallon is well planted. Water parameters are good, NH 0, NO <5ppm.

So if the gourami needs company, what do I need to do to ensure that they don't try to kill each other if I were to put him back into the 40 gallon?

Thanks for the advice.

 

[stoneydee]

Make sure you have lots of hiding places in the 40. A lot of people think gouramis are soley top dwellers, but that's not true - they swim at all levels, and will duck into a cave or a bunch of plants if they feel they need to hide.

 

[Christmasfish]

Gourami are best to keep at a 1 to 2 ratio male /female same species and in ODD numbers. They don't keep harems, but females are easier going and two or more split his aggressive attentions. Many nippers and semi aggresives are best kept in odd numbers. It splits the attention and if there are 3-5 it keeps a super omega from developing.

Many here have founds flags to be a pain in the pitootie when they kept them..

Gourami in general prefer a minimum of 78 to not fall ill. Since you just moved it from the group it should not pine for company too soon.
AS Stony mentioned, gourami are not always up top..if your big tank is a bit overstocked in a level, you'll see fish like gourami getting persnickety.
And at 4-5 inches each they take a big chunk of water bioload and tank real estate themselves (even if not full sized yet..they stake out areas that woulkd be suitable for their full sizes) . It is likely your larger tanks are a little overstocked too.

And the inch per gallon fish rule is loose rule of thumb. It doesn't apply to super messy fish like golds and oscars, or long lateral fish like bichers and Knives. It doesn't cover territorial adn aggressive fish. It really applies most to tetra-like fish and the once commonly kept guppies. Once fish start creeping over 3 inches in adult size they will need more than an inch per gallon.

But even with that in mind..google all your occupants adult sizes at fishbase esp. , and add the number to be surprised.
My 40 is waAaay overstocked and looks empty except a single betta patrolling the perimeter and the cories scootin around, but my kids move this summer to 170 gallons.
I only have 24 fish, mostly tetras. However, the 3 clown loaches alone equals an eventual 32 inches of fish. and they have gone from being a combined 7 inches to double that since Jan. They were all in an 18 to start (sans betta and cories)and I overchose tetras by a few extra thinking the knife would snack some when I wasn't looking. Slacker..he only eats from my hand.

Anyway, chances are high now that your fish that you have owned at least 4 months or more, are maturing you prolly have some fish you need to trade out (or get another large tank... MTS man, MTS)