Dwarf gourami and stocking questions

[CharlieKlein]

First off, how's my stocking?
1 dwarf gourami
1 kribensis cichlid
1 German blue ram
5 penguine tetras
5 Julii Corey cats
5 green fire tetras
So how's that? I have not yet started stocking. But can I add either 1) another dwarf gourami, what's te chance one will die 2) add 1 swordtail, I have seen them fine solo 3) add 1 to each school.
Which one, if any can I do?

 

[Cichlid Kid]

Noone has answered because you've not offered tank dimensions or filtration.

 

[CharlieKlein]

Whoops totally forgot about that! 29 gal long 36x16x12

 

[Rivercats]

Up you tetras and corys to 6 of each. You list is fine then but I would not suggest adding another gourami and often times they can develop aggression issues. You could add a swordtail male and your stocking would be fine.

 

[ktomminello]

I wouldn't mix so many aggressive species and non aggressive species, since you are going with ph tolerant cichlids I would go with 3 rams, 3 kribs, 10 large corys of your choice, a pink kissing gourami- NOT dwarf, get him at about 4 inches, a grouping of fiddler crabs (1 male, 3 female)- make sure to give them an out of water place to chill, n a baby Chinese algae eater...

 

[Rivercats]

Three rams and three kribensis in a 29g would make it into a war zone. Kissing gouramis and Chinese Algae eaters get huge and aggressive and aren't suitable for a 29g. Keeping single rams and kribensis usually work because there are no others of thier kind around which makes for very little if any aggression. I keep 6 rams in a heavily planted 220g and have aggression issues. I used to keep kribs and know first hand what aggressive monsters they can be when keeping more than one in a community tank.

 

[ktomminello]

I have had luck using groups of 3s with semi aggressive cichlids, I kept a group of 3 African and 3 Texas with a 6 inch kissing gourami and there is a reason I said baby Chinese algae eater, I know how big they get, my mom has indoor koi, goldfish and catfish ponds and they are given to her all the time, lol. She has taken on my giant black upside down cat who is now 3 feet and he has a tendency of eating them. I agree whole heartedly, though, that tank size is way too small. Cichlids shouldn't be kept in anything less than 55g, right? I honestly am not sure. I screwed up with my oscars earlier this year and gave them up because I took on Walmart bought green spotted puffers, l still have one out of the 2 my husband bought on a whim, long story longer, lol, I caught saltwater fever, my freshwater tanks have become beta friendly schooling community tanks, I don't know that much about cichlids anymore, but someday want my Amazon river bed habitat at my parents and am trying to catch up before planning it, browsing forums, just trying to help

 

[Rivercats]

I'm not a fan of larger cichlids, African or S.Ameican. I do love the S.American Dwarf cichlids tho. Been keeping various ones since the 80's and like them because unless your wanting to specifically breed them you can usually add them to community tanks if the tanks are big enough. I love the look of Kribs too but when I had them I ended up having to give them their own tank. I'm not up on the size of tanks for regular sized cichlids but dwarfs depending on the species can be kept in a tank as small as a 10g.

 

[CharlieKlein]

I've redid my stock
1 dg
1 apisto
1 ram
1 angelfish
2 bumblebee gobies
5 bleeding heart tetras
1 swordtail
1 bn pleco
1 swordtail

 

[Josie]

I've redid my stock
1 dg
1 apisto
1 ram
1 angelfish
2 bumblebee gobies
5 bleeding heart tetras
1 swordtail
1 bn pleco
1 swordtail

... Where did your other Tetras and Corys go?

 

[CharlieKlein]

I completely redid my stock. I hadn't seen them on person before so when I did I changed it!

 

[Josie]

I completely redid my stock. I hadn't seen them on person before so when I did I changed it!

Soooo... they didn't exist? I'm confused.

 

[CharlieKlein]

Soooo... they didn't exist? I'm confused.
my bad, I wasn't clear! I am getting the tank for Christmas and have not yet purchased any fish

 

[Josie]

Aha! Thank you: I'm kind of dense. I was sort of thinking you'd flushed them or something. @_@ "I gotta' make room: don't look at me like that little Cory!"

 

[CharlieKlein]

Hahahaha. So how does the 2nd stocking sound?

 

[Josie]

Hahahaha. So how does the 2nd stocking sound?

Lol If you're asking me, don't. I just got into community tanks, and I started on the waaaaay small end of the scale.

Mmm... brownies...

I was saying?

 

[ktomminello]

You might have issues keeping the tetras in the softer parameters, but freshwater fish aren't as picky on what the ph is as long as it's stable, so it doesn't sound like a bad list to me, but, once again, this type of set up isn't my strong point. I'm completely biased in this one because a 29g tank is close to what my current 20g hospital tank is and I have day dreams of fully planting and bioscaping a grassy/mossy tank stocked with my 3 gouramis (red paradise, blue paradise and 3 spot) with 10 glow light tetras, 5 zebra danios, 5 pearl danios and 6 otos.... But I'm not you, I just finally have my tanks cycled and settled and trying to help out.

 

[CharlieKlein]

Up you tetras and corys to 6 of each. You list is fine then but I would not suggest adding another gourami and often times they can develop aggression issues. You could add a swordtail male and your stocking would be fine.

This is specifically for river cat. I just don't get how this works but taking out the 1 school for 1 swordtail doesn't? So going of this stock, would this work?
1 apisto( not krib, too aggressive)
1 German blue ram
1 pearl gourami?
6 black phantoms or cherry barbs( not decided yet!)
4 Julii Cory cats
1 swordtail or 6 harqualins
3 otos

How's that? Sorry for hijacking that thread! And I guess I just had about half saying yes gourami and half saying no

 

[Rivercats]

Okay what you don't seem to under stand is take a sword, they can get incredibly large, have a thick heavy body, and have a high bio-load, then take the rasboras, they are small, have thin bodies, and carry a pretty small bio-load. So a small school of 6 rasboras still wouldn't make up the body size and bio-load of one sword. I can't make this explaination and simplier! You could do a pearl gourami but personally I think a Honey Gourami is better suited to the tank. Black phantoms are also a better choice over cherry barbs again because cherry barbs get larger with a larger body and bio-load. Make sense now?

 

[CharlieKlein]

Yes. I realized swords had a bigger bioload, but not this big! Ignore my post in the other thread, so I'll decide on a honey probably, so is everything else ok? And as far as gbr or krib, would a krib work in this?