Tank stocking question

[monk3y]

I currently have a 20 gallon long planted tank with 6 platys and 5 corys. Everyone gets along and the tank has been established for a month and a half now. I did have a dwarf gourami when I started the tank which died very quickly of unknown causes.

In any case one of my friends has a female gold gourami, would this be okay to add to my tank?

 

[maxwellag]

Dwarf gouramis have been known to die randomly, and lots of people say that it might just be their genetics. They have been bred a lot in captivity, so that may be the cause of the genetic problem.
As for the gold gourami- they can get pretty big (5 or 6 inches). I wouldn't put one in a 20 long, but it may work if you are wanting to try it. I don't think it would have issues with your current fish if you got one. The only concern would be space. Do you have any larger tanks? You may want to move it to a larger tank if it gets big.

 

[monk3y]

I might try it out. I am definitely planning on getting a larger tank in the coming year so this might work out. Worst case scenario I an always return her to my friend's tank.

 

[maxwellag]

Yeah, if you have a back up plan in case it doesn't work, then I say go for it.

 

[monk3y]

Well, it didn't go well. The Goldy got along with everyone until it was feeding time to an hour after (constant attacking of both corys and platys). Well I gave it an honest effort. My friend will have to keep her.

 

[TXaggie]

You might try a honey gourami if you're interested in a smaller gourami for your tank. They're a lot more peaceful than the larger gouramis, and they only get to about 1.5" - 2". Check out the info on liveaquaria.com - Tropical Fish for Freshwater Aquariums: Honey Dwarf Gourami This species is considered more hardy than the standard dwarf gourami.

I have a golden honey gourami that's a bit on the smaller side and he doesn't really bother anyone else in the tank. There's a couple of other color morphs too, more red varieties like sunset.

Just keep an eye out if you get one that your platies don't bully him, I had to return a male platy that was beating up on my gourami, but I didn't have a school of platies like you do. I know there's a lot of individual variance in platy personality as well.

 

[NYgiantsRP]

You could also try a Bolivian Ram or any kind of ram.

 

[monk3y]

Once I returned to fish to my friend I starting itching for a replacement so I headed to different fish stores around town. Surprisingly I found the tanks in Petco to be the most clean and filled with happy fish. I hope I don't regret this but I got another dwarf gourami .

If he doesn't make it for some odd reason, I will look further into bolivian rams.

 

[NYgiantsRP]

Don't feel to bad! We all have our weak moments! Haha. Hopefully this one works out better.