New fish added to the 55 gallon

[papa_bear_21]

So, we've had the 55 up and cycled for 2 to 3 months or so, with the original crew from the 29G, plus a few new dojo's. Today we went out to the LFS and decided to add to our stock, and we picked a variety of colorful tropical fish. We added 2 swordtails (one male and one female), 1 male/female pair of dwarf gourami's, 2 red serpae tetra's, and 2 bleeding heart tetra's.

In regards to breeding, the swordtails are essentially platy's, correct? My main question is regarding the gourami's, and breeding them. What is involved in breeding them, what conditions are needed, is there a particular temperature? I will likely be posting in the breeding section as well.

our guppie fry are doing well, we have about 9 remaining, they are in the 3 gallon eclipse.

At the LFS, we saw some dwarf puffers, but were told they would not fit well in a tropical community tank, is this true? I understand they are semi-agressive, but how big do they get, and would they really be that much of a terror?

Thank you for the help,

Bear

 

[Umberle]

well, to start with you want a second female, my experience with dwarfs is that with only one female the male will pester her so much that she stresses out and dies.

As far as the actual breeding, they just breed for me and I don't know why I have such good luck with them. I have noticed that they tend to need at least frozen food (I used brine shrimp) for several days in a row to spawn. That's all I got.

Good luck!

 

[papa_bear_21]

I appreciate the post umberle, and the info.

Here is my dilemma, the LFS only sells dwarf's in male/female pairs, so to get a second female will be difficult. Thus far, the male seems to be behaving, in regards to not stressing her so much. I will keep an eye on them and watch for any signs from them, as far as stress goes.

Thank you again for the help

Bear

 

[lwhite281]

I had one puffer in my 10 gallon with some community fish and she pestered them all the time. I finally got her a tank of her own and took her out. Then I went and got another dwarf puffer to go with her. That one ended up being a male. They seem to get along just fine. They don't bother each other at all.

I have a lot of live plants in the tank so they have plenty of places to hide. At http://www.dwarfpuffers.com/ I read that they like to have hiding places. Which is why I put several plants in the tank. It's working like a charm.

The puffers are my favorite out of all of my fish. They come up to the front of the tank any time I go near it. Even if I'm not going to feed them or mess with the tank. They watch me with their big eyes. They are just really cool little fish.

I do recommend you keep them in a tank of their own. That's the only bad experience I came across when I had one puffer mixed with other fish. Other than that, they are pretty easy to take care of and just a lot of fun to watch.

Good luck