New Tank Proposal

[lkunz]

Well, after the unfortunate deaths of all but 5 of our fish. We have decided to rethink our expansion plan. Here are a couple of thoughts. If you have any advice or suggestions, please offer them. The biggest question we have is if we go with Barbs and the either the Three Spot Gourami or the 2 Dwarf Gourami, will they get along. We've been reading mixed articles on this.

These are what we currently have:

3 Black Skirt Tetras
4 Red Eye Tetras
1 Black Skirt Tetra that lives with my Red Eye Tetras
3 Pomacea Bridgesii (small mystery snails)
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Here are my proposals:

Scenario 1:

29 GALLON
8 Tiger Barbs
1 Three Spot Gourami
1 Red Finned Shark
A Few Trumpet Snails

10 GALLON
4 Red Eye Tetras
1 Black Skirt Tetra (she's nice and schools with the Red Eyes)
1 Albino, 1 Jade, & 1 Golden Snail (all Pomacea Bridgesii)

5 GALLON
4 Black Skirt Tetras
1 Blue Snail (Pomacea Bridgesii)
A Few Trumpet Snails
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Scenario 2:

29 GALLON
7 Tiger Barbs
2 Dwarf Gourami
1 Red Finned Shark
A Few Trumpet Snails

10 GALLON
4 Red Eye Tetras
1 Black Skirt Tetra (she's nice and schools with the Red Eyes)
1 Albino, 1 Jade, & 1 Golden Snail (all Pomacea Bridgesii)

5 GALLON
4 Black Skirt Tetras
1 Blue Snail (Pomacea Bridgesii)
A Few Trumpet Snails
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Scenario 3:

29 GALLON
5 Red Eye Tetras
1 Black Skirt Tetra
8 Neon Tetras
4 Pomacea Bridgesii

10 GALLON
6 Tiger Barbs
A Few Trumpet Snails

5 GALLON
4 Black Tetras
A Few Trumpet Snails
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Please tell us what you think. Thanks.

[tricksterpup]

Lets start small first:
5 gallon - to small for skirt tetras. I wouldn't these guys in a tank this tiny. I would rather see the dwarf gouramies in there first.

For the 29 I do like the first tank idea, it would be nice to see an all asian tank like that but.. and I do mean but, you have some really nice schooling fish already that would benefit more from the larger tank. I would instead, build on what you already have and add a few more of those skirt and red eyes tetras.
10 gallons are nice small tanks, but are a little cramped for the skirt tetras. I had red eyes in a 55 gallon tank and these guys love to move around and a 10 doesn't do them justice either, cramped city.

I would just go with the tetras in the 29 with some interesting bottom feeder (red tails get pretty big (6 inches) and aggressive so be forwarned.) maybe some cories.

As for your 10, i would go with the pair of gouramies there and maybe some kuhli loaches. This would make a very nice tank for them.

If you do not have a 5, i would skip it. they cost as much as a 10 gallon or more and if you are not into really tiny fish, i would just hold off on it.


jim

[lkunz]

I guess I should have mentioned that too.

I currently have:

1 10 gal
1 5 gal
1 3 gal
1 1 gal

I have an African Dwarf frog in the 1 I want to put him in the 3. I may use the 1 for a hermit crab (If my wife agrees. ;))

The 3 just finished cycling with the 3 black skirts. I need to get them to a bigger tank (hence the reson I was going to move them to the 5).

The 5 is currently empty. I cannot add fish to it for a couple weeks. I had to add ammonia to it to keep the bacteria alive. Look to my post in General Freshwater (Emergency: Healthy Tank, Fish Died) for more details on that mystery.

I will be buying the 29 within the next couple of weeks and am going to run a fishless cycle. The biowheel for it is sitting in my 10 right now.

[Captain Hook]

Tiger barbs will get to be a pretty good size so I doubt they will do very well in a 10 gallon. I also wouldn't trust them to not nip the fins of the gouramies.