Stocking 40B with Pearl Gourami

Hi all,

I am a newbie and my tank, a 40B, has almost completed its cycle so soon I will be stocking my fish :clap: Here are the basics:

• Community tank, want to have pearl gouramis as the "feature fish"
• Heavily planted, sandy substrate
• Fluval C3 filter plus hopefully the plants and sand bed will also help out with filtration at least some. Am committed to regular water changes but my goal is to NOT overstock to the point that I need to do 50% water changes twice a week, iykwim.
• Also do not want to overstock to the point that the fish are stressed, aggressive, etc - some of which I know is dependant on the individual fish but still, I want a good number of fish that are happy!

Question 1: Should I go for 3 pearls (1M, 2F) or 4 (1M, 3F)? I don't think with that size it would be wise to get any more than 4 and 4 might be pushing it? But I have read they like to be in groups, plus I don't want any one female getting harrassed too much if possible. Would it be a good plan or just plain stupid to try 3 and see how they do, and add a 4th if its not going well?

Question 2: Planned community includes glowlight danios, kuhli loaches, and Bolivian Rams. Does anyone see any major likely issues with this mix? I have researched as best as I can but there is sometimes a bit of conflicting info on different species, plus the profiles don't always give the level of detail you'd need to know if there was a non-obvious issue with the community plan. I am a little worried about the rams and gouramis getting aggressive with one another, but I have been assured this is unlikely as both are "pretty" peaceful and stay on different tank zones. What do you all think? I also don't want the gouramis too scared, or riled up...again I realize some of this must come down to individual fish but ANY insight appreciated. Oh and we also have amano and glass shrimp, however I don't mind the glass fry being eaten and all the adult shrimp are already 1+ inches so I'm hoping they should be safe.

Question 3: Assuming the community plan I have set forth is at least somehwat reasonable (may be assuming a lot), what would be the best order to introduce the pearls in? Before the rams, or after?

Thanks very much in advance, I just love these fish and can't wait to get to know mine and try to make them very happy in their new home.

Just wanted to say I got an answer from a very helpful member, and won't be stocking pearls with rams! If there are any gourami geeks out there who might weigh in on the 3 vs. 4 issue, I'd be very grateful. Otherwise I may just go with the plan to try 3 first and then add a 4th if the females are getting harassed. Recall I have a 40B, so not a ton of room but not a bad footprint either. Thanks!

stormywendyann said:

I would start out with 1 male and three females. My reasoning is this: Once you introduce the first three they will establish territories and negotiate a pecking order of the fish. If you add a fourth one into the mix after this is already done it becomes a power struggle all over again and the new fish might get picked on worse than if you had just introduced it in the beginning. Anyway, that is just my personal experience with stocking semi-aggressive and aggressive fish.

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Yes, this is what I kept going around about! I want them in a large enough group to be happy and I had totally considered that adding another later might not go well for the new gal. But I was worried about it being too much fish for the 40 gal. Sounds like it might be ok if I go easy on the rest of the stocking?

I have been reading old forum threads on pearls and am now thinking I will have to watch the danios with them carefully. I have read some people saying never mix danios with pearls because it is too much movement, but in all cases these people seemed to be talking about zebras which are larger than my glowlights (by which I mean D. choprae, not the GMO danios). I have to admit I was not exactly expecting the amount of... shall we say ... personality the danios have! I absolutely love them and they are so pretty but I can now see why some people call danios semi-aggressive. They are generally peaceful but then at other times they will chase each other.

Anyway, just another reason for me to set up another tank, of course, in case I have to move them I have been so happy and enjoying this so much already that I've made up my mind to get one for the dining room. So this way hopefully I can have the fish I want AND they can all be with appropriate tank mates. AND I have a tank to watch even after my daughter goes to bed at night. Win-win-win.

Gouramiluver said:

I have two male gourami and let me just say I would definitly do three if I had a 40B. Do you mean 40Gal? The females are very peacful and they will get along just fine If you have a bold male he might still nip at the other fishes fins but he won't do any harm. The like to be planted so you want plants. I recommend the rubin sword and the anubis or anubia (i forgot what they're called). Good luck! Gourami are very entertaining!

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Thank you! Yes it is a 40 gallon, I don't know if there are multiple types of 40G but this one is called a 40 Breeder and is pretty long, wide, and short. I have planted heavily but obviously it does need to grow in. I will check out rubin sword, and I do have a couple types of anubias.

NismoStyle said:

In my heavily plant 75g, I have 2 pearl gouramis, 2 bolivians rams and 2 German blue rams and have never had any aggression issues. The gouramis chase my black skirt tetras around more than anything.

So it probably just depends on the temperment of the gouramis

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Oh boy I hear that! I am a bit nervous about problems if I have one of the more aggressive ones. And in the words of that turtle in Finding Nemo (give me a break, my brain has been destroyed by a 2 yo lol), "you never know until you know, you know?" Your experience appears to be pretty common, which was why I thought it was a good idea. But then I have read several other anecdotes now that go the other way too, I agree it really just depends on a lot that is hard to predict with fish like this. And your 75 is so much bigger than my 40 so that may play a better role in buffering the rams from the gouramis as well, I just don't know. Your tank sounds absolutely beautiful, by the way!

Oh, the danios are wonderful. Have you seen males display to one another? There is some yellow on the fins I don't normally see but they showed it to one another in a very specific "dance". LOVE IT. But then felt bad for the male who lost, I mean he's back in the school after only a day but he hid for a good 24 hours after the showdown. Although, after they worked it out there is still some chasing, but no one is hiding any more. And there are females that will chase too, so it's not just one of them harassing all the others.