55 gallon inhabitants

[BobbyFishKins]

So Fish lovers, here's my idea, to put 2 angelfish 2 pearl gouramis 2 flame gouramis 5 cherry barbs a bala shark, 2 rainbowfish, and maybe a south american dwarf chiclid... good idea or over crowded?

 

[bettaowner]

I would eliminate the bala shark and the rainbow fish. Too active.

 

[Zimmanski]

So Fish lovers, here's my idea, to put 2 angelfish 2 pearl gouramis 2 flame gouramis 5 cherry barbs a bala shark, 2 rainbowfish, and maybe a south american dwarf chiclid... good idea or over crowded?

Bala sharks like groups and get too big and active for a 55, and rainbow fish are schooling so ideally you'd want 5+ of them, and you'd have to watch your barbs, I think I hear they're fairly nippy. Sorry for so many no's haha. I don't know much about mixing gouramis with angels, but I do have 4 angels in my 55 and an electric blue ram, they're great fish. Rams need an established tank though since they're sensitive to nitrate swings, how long has the tank been set up?

Edit: aww bettaowner is a ninja! Haha

 

[zhuber]

My angels do well with the gourami I have

 

[bettaowner]

In some cases gouramis can be aggressive to related species so I would watch the pairs.

 

[smallfry53]

In some cases gouramis can be aggressive to related species so I would watch the pairs.

Agreed. I found this out the hard way. I bought a dwarf gourami and a "honey" gourami and the dwarf was terrible to the other. I ended up re-homing the dwarf. Not sure about others, but I'd be prepared in case they do not get along.

That was in a tank half the size though, so you might be ok with more space for them, especially if there are many hiding places.

 

[BobbyFishKins]

I'm just setting up the tank, I know to cycle and what not, but for the future

 

[bettaowner]

My rule is one gourami per tank.

 

[Rivercats]

My rule is one gourami per tank.

This is actually a good rule to follow unless you have a huge tank. I keep a Sunset Honey gourami, a Red Flame Dwarf gourami, and a Powder Blue Dwarf gourami together but I have a 220g heavily planted tank. And I still keep an eye on them.

 

[Cafrye]

People frequently think my aquariums (5 of them) are overcrowded but several of my tanks have a UV filter, a Bio filter and a canister filter... excess filtration allows excess fish..

Add additional filtration to help keep the tank clean. You don't need the highest quality canister filter but go with the best bio filter and I always like have a UV filter because it helps keep germs at bay.. Green Killing Machine (available at Amazon)