My fish list okay?

[noteworthy]

I'm wanting a peaceful 30 gal community tank. Well I went and looked on the aquaria website and my wife selected a few she might like to have in the tank. I guided my search on something with a neutral to higher Ph level, harder water, and current configuration of fish in the tank.

We currently have the 5 female platies and 4 zebra danios

Thinking about adding the following:
Dwarf Gourami
Pearl Gourami
Banded Leporinus

The leporinus is a leaping fish so I will have to make sure I keep the top on at all times during water changes :| As for the fish I'm thinking about adding I'm not exactly sure on the numbers I should follow. Would they be better alone?

I'm also thinking about adding 2 male platies to make some fry

What other suggestions do you have?

I'm not really drawn to having a pleco personally and I'm not sure about adding a cory cat. We wouldn't mind adding some snails either

[Menagerie]

For Qs on plants, post in the plant forum .
As for fish, what kind of tank are you going for? Peaceful community? If you don't plan on breeding your fish, many fish will adapt to the harder water.

[Madame_X]

Your water may be a bit hard for the neons to thrive, so don't feel bad if you haven't been successful with them. They can be fragile fish.

Perhaps try another kind of tetra that is a bit more adaptable to your water. A single dwarf gourami might make a nice addition to your tank and they're very colorful.

Don't forget bottom feeders. You will probably want an algae eater of some sort (I'm partial to small plecos, especially for unplanted tanks!) and a few cory cats are always fun to watch.

[noteworthy]

(Copy of 1st Post) I replaced the 1st post with this info. I'm thinking people are getting tired of the 'what should I get' posts so I decided to ask if what I selected is acceptable.

I'm wanting a peaceful 30 gal community tank. Well I went and looked on the aquaria website and my wife selected a few she might like to have in the tank. I guided my search on something with a neutral to higher Ph level, harder water, and current configuration of fish in the tank.

We currently have the 5 female platies and 4 zebra danios

Thinking about adding the following:
Dwarf Gourami
Pearl Gourami
Banded Leporinus

The leporinus is a leaping fish so I will have to make sure I keep the top on at all times during water changes :| As for the fish I'm thinking about adding I'm not exactly sure on the numbers I should follow. Would they be better alone?

I'm also thinking about adding 2 male platies to make some fry

What other suggestions do you have?

I'm not really drawn to having a pleco personally and I'm not sure about adding a cory cat. We wouldn't mind adding some snails either

[glasstapper]

banded leporinus? ,, hmmm personal experience not ever again ever ever they seem calm but like some monster that never stops they wear thier tankmates out sorriest **** fish i ever had in my opinion

[noteworthy]

thanks glasstapper. personal experiences help me with decisions... can you mix gourami's? A smaller algae eater would be acceptable.

Anyone out there have cory cats? what do you think of them? what is their typical behavior?

[Endgame319]

Cory cats are excellent community fish, they are very peacful, and IME they are very active when in groups of 3+. Mine are constantly scouring the substrate for bits of food, or just resting in one spot.

Maybe Christmasfish can chime in about that labrynth fish question.

[Christmasfish]

It is a bad idea to mix different species of labyrinth....
And they are a one or 3+ kinda species. Pearls (t.leeri) and kissing(h.temminckii) are very aimable as far as bubble nesters go. Dwarfs are lil pisspots a good portion of the time. The put the Grrr in semi-aggr-ressive. Two and three spots and their color variations are usuallly pretty good tankmates and are more semi than aggressive. But can be unpredictable depending on the source of breeder.^_^

However..zebra danios are notorious for nipping the whiskers off the slower moving gourami..and this is hyper critical to dwarves if there are any other things going on to tax their adaptablilty (like hard water or water swings). the little threads are the nose, taste, touch and pheremone receptor and manufacturer in dwarf gourami. In the larger gourami they do not make hormones, just read them.( ref: Tufts University study 10*234 Nov 1989). Though they do regenerate, if both get nipped off at once they are very likely to get ill and stop eating. So if you add a gourami, specially a dwarf..watch close to make sure your paticular pack of danios "play nicee" ^_^

[Fruitbat]

Per the request on info regarding your fish selection:

1) The Dwarf Gourami, as previously mentioned, can have a Jeckyll and Hyde personality. Colisa lalia is an exquisitely beautiful fish in its 'natural' colors and is also quite exquisite in some of its various selectively bred patterns. However, individuals of C. lalia, especially the males, can sometimes be pretty aggressive and intolerant of tank-mates, especially other gouramis.

2) The Pearl Gourami, Trichogaster leeri, is probably the best choice in your list if you want a 'peaceful' anabantoid. They have subtle beauty and are generally quite peaceful with most tank-mates. In fact, Pearl Gouramis are often quite shy and a well-planted tank suits them nicely. They seem a lot more confident when there are plants for them to retreat into when they percieve any sort of danger.

3) Forget the Banded Leporinus. Leporinus fasciatus will reach 12+ inches in length (usually no more than 10 in an aquarium) and will quickly outgrow a 30 gallon tank. Add to this that L. fasciatus can be quite aggressive (the ones I kept were ALL fin-nippers) and often like to feast on your favorite aquarium plants and you have a fish that is NOT a candidate for a 'peaceful' community tank.

Hope this helps along with what has already been posted.

[Talon242]

Originally Posted by Fruitbat

2) The Pearl Gourami, Trichogaster leeri, is probably the best choice in your list if you want a 'peaceful' anabantoid. They have subtle beauty and are generally quite peaceful with most tank-mates. In fact, Pearl Gouramis are often quite shy and a well-planted tank suits them nicely. They seem a lot more confident when there are plants for them to retreat into when they percieve any sort of danger.

I fully agree, when I first got mine they were really shy hiding behind a floating plant I had (only a few plastic plants and a few live). Then a day or so later they were swimming about the tank. Now with a whole bunch of live plants they are way more active, constanly weaving in and out, around the plants. Its just so fun to watch them.