Deciding on new fish

[Seven]

I had one single oranda goldfish in my 10 gallon tank, but when I got up yesterday it had died suddenly. I didn't even realize it until I looked over and saw the snail having a snack. 8O

Not to sound cold hearted of course, but as sad as it is, there is some good news. Now that I no longer have a goldfish I am free to get tropical fish. I still have a medium sized snail and a nice little oto. I am not sure what kind of fish I want to get now. After seeing dwarf gourami at the LFS I wanted one, but then I started reading more and starting to wonder about the decision. Is it true that they like to pull up plants? I have a few live plants in the tank and I would prefer that they stay rooted. Another question I have is will a male dwarf gourami and a female betta co-exist peacefully?

Finally, I need to decide on 'secondary' fish. Taking my LFS's choices and fish sizes into consideration, it is pretty much narrowed down to: guppies, platies, swordtails, and zebra danios. To be honest, I like all of them. They are all very good looking fish, so I need some help in singling one of them out to put in my tank (10 Gallon, lightly planted with anacharis and aponogeton). Any help is appreciated.

 

[madasafish]

Well, the standard conception of stocking a 10 gallon is, indeed, exactly what you suggest--a feature fish or 2, some background fish and an algae eater or 2.

If you're new to the hobby, this may be satisfying to you, but I'd advise you to think outside the box (or tank...). Perhaps consider getting some slightly less-well-known fish and making the tank a species-only deal. If you're fairly new to the hobby, I wouldn't suggest anything too drastic. Possibly consider a few blue rams (Microgeophagus ramirezi, I believe), or dwarf puffers (Tetraodon travancorius).

Why do I suggest this? Principally 1) because dwarf gouramis can get troublesome--both aggressive to similarly sized fish (esp. conspecifics--the same species)--and strange in other behavior 2) some of the fish you mention really like to swim in open spaces (e.g. dwarf gouramis, danios) 3) because DGs may well pull, chew and otherwise molest plants for many reasons and 4) because you'll probably get a lot more pleasure out of a tank of really neat, slightly rarer fish.

That's my opinion. Before you take *any* more steps, though, I'd make sure you know why your oranda died--sickness, water quality, stress,etc. Try using us as a sounding board to figure this out. Why??? Esp. if you have a nasty bacteria/fungus in the tank, you'll want to treat it before adding any other fish. If your water quality is low (do you test for ammonia etc?), you're going to want to improve it for other fish.

HTH.

 

[Menagerie]

It sounds like there are MANY tanks in your future! A 10 gal will only hold so many fish

 

[Christmasfish]

The real question should be if two different labyrinth fish of ANY sexes get along in the space provided by a 10 gallon? The answer is NO. There are some exceptions. of course..but usually a labyrinth gentle enough to make a good tankmate..needs to be with gentle companions, and usually same species.

Female betta can be a nice little community fish, but they are jus as prone to attacking and shredding a bright colored tankmate as a male. Worse is that they are not held down by unnaturally large fins and are lightening fast.
And dwarf gourami are the most aggressive of the gouramis.
You have to have a single fish or a male female ratio of 3 to one before another male can be added. I love my labyrinths but most are not really community species, and those that are are pretty big.

I agree..try some "different" fish.... 3 killies or croaking gourami.
Or the little rams and apistos
Most of my 10 gallons are "specie" tanks with 3 shocase fish and some bottom cleaners. I have one split in half with plastic canvas to keep my onery fishkiller wild dwarf away from the wild and powder blue dwarf females.

I also concur that you MUST find the cause of death...the fact that your more water sensitive oto out lived the gold is odd. Golds are pretty hardy fish as long as the water is cool and the conditions uncrowded. Do you have gravel small enough for your gold to swallow? You know how if it fits, they eat it... that may be a physical cause..

 

[Seven]

I figured questions about the goldfish' death might arise. Well, I guess I should give some background. I first had 4 goldfish, which I got back in September 2003. I know that was a mistake, but that was my first time getting fish. About a week after I got them, one of them died. I don't know why. A couple months later, after having acted strangely practically the whole time I had it (if it wasn't swimming around and brushing against rocks and such, it was floating at the top, or sitting at the bottom) another one died. Then back in January, another one started doing the sitting at the bottom thing and died shortly after. The same thing happened with the last goldfish. For the past week it would sit on the bottom most of the time.

So to summarize, I think that the last 3 all died because they had swim bladder disease. Which seems to be quite common among goldfish. I know that some think that it is attributed to feeding of floating flake foods, but I have a hard time believing that now since I practically hand fed the last fish, making sure the food was completely wet.

I suppose a dwarf gourami is out of the question, now. I had a feeling all along I wouldn't be able to go that route. The reason for wanting to do a multi species tank is not because it is considered standard, more because I just want some variety. I am starting to lean towards platies though. Perhaps I'll take your advice and just go for a single species - like platies.

 

[Menagerie]

In a ten gal, you could do shell dwelling cichlids. They excavate and are tiny little fish. I don't have pics in my gallery, but I know others on the board own them.

 

[heavenly]

iN MY OPNIOn YOU SHOULD START WITH SOMETHING EASY LIKE MOLLIES OR GUPPIES IF YOU HAVE NEVER HAD TROPICAL FISH BEFORE. aLL FISH WILL UN ROOT PLANTS IF THEY FEEL LIKE DOING SO AND GOURAMIS WILL ALSO STARVE THEM SELF TO DEATH IF THEY FEEL INTIMIDATED BY THE OTHER FISH. THEY WON'T FIGHT OVER FISH FOOD UNTIL THE FEEL COMFORTABLE IN THIER SURROUNDINGS.

sorry i didn't relize caps lock was on. please forgive me. Good luck with whatever you choose.

 

[heavenly]

iN MY OPNIOn YOU SHOULD START WITH SOMETHING EASY LIKE MOLLIES OR GUPPIES IF YOU HAVE NEVER HAD TROPICAL FISH BEFORE. aLL FISH WILL UN ROOT PLANTS IF THEY FEEL LIKE DOING SO AND GOURAMIS WILL ALSO STARVE THEM SELF TO DEATH IF THEY FEEL INTIMIDATED BY THE OTHER FISH. THEY WON'T FIGHT OVER FISH FOOD UNTIL THE FEEL COMFORTABLE IN THIER SURROUNDINGS.

sorry i didn't relize caps lock was on. please forgive me. Good luck with whatever you choose.