Fish For 40 Gallon Community Compatible With Honey Gourami And Bolivian Ram?

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Akeath

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Nov 7, 2018
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I'm an experienced aquarist planning to get a new 40 gallon breeder for a community tank with live plants, a smooth sand substrate, and fairly low current. The tap water here is 8 dGH and around 7.4 pH, and while I'd prefer fish that can adjust to that, if I really like the fish I can change the pH/hardness. I haven't bought anything for this new tank yet, so I am open to changes or suggestions for how to set up the tank to make it ideal for the fish I end up getting.

I already have a male Honey Gourami (Trichogaster chuna) and a male Bolivian Ram (Mikrogeophagus altispinosus) I'll be moving to this tank once it is planted and cycled, so those definitely need to be compatible with the other fish I add. I want to stay away from fin nippers and super active fish because of the Honey Gourami as well as territorial fish that would tangle with the Bolivian Ram, but that should still leave me with some nice options, I hope. Any fish that would be good?
 
I always like rasboras, harlequins or espei are nice IME.

Do you want any bottom feeders? Corydoras are cute.

You could add both rasboras & corys but I'd stick to a larger school of 1 species of each genus. It's not that they don't get along, but make a better display & more fun behavior to watch in bigger groups of the same kind.

We'd love to see pics when you get it going!

Oh, & welcome to AC!
 
I will warn you against using sand. It is much better to get the smallest gravel (rough sand like, 2mm to 3mm) that is so much easier to vacuum and less prone to develop anaerobic spots eventually.
 
Malaysian trumpet snails will help prevent the anaerobic spots. Then again, I'm partial to them. ;)
 
No they don't. Have had sand for 30 years with MTS. Once I got the fine gravel I regretted not having done that in the first place. There is no contest as to the easyness in cleaning.
 
the loach said:
No they don't. Have had sand for 30 years with MTS. Once I got the fine gravel I regretted not having done that in the first place. There is no contest as to the easyness in cleaning.
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Do you have any links for the type of substrate youre talking about? Never seen any gravel that fine before.
 
It is very common though, and available about everywhere. Not talking about a specific type or brand, just a grain size. You might have overlooked it as just sand or gravel. On a picture it is difficult to see how big or small it really is. But here we go, just one example I looked up:
They call it sand but it's 1-2mm.

https://www.swelluk.com/swell-fiji-sand-fine/
xfiji-gravel-image.JPG,qv=1541615855.pagespeed.ic.Lg2p0po5aO.webp



Apart from special fine aquarium substrate there is also fine black basalt gravel. Not expensive and available at every gardening or landscaping store. Small fish can dig in it just fine. You have to rinse this really well though.

eng_pm_Aquarium-black-gravel-2-5mm-25kg-120_1.jpg


I know a lot of folks still propagate sand, I once did that too, but it only has downsides as an aquarium substrate.

Just read this site looking for fine gravel pics:
http://www.tropicalfishsite.com/substrate-for-the-aquarium-fish-tank/

spend a little more on something which isn’t play sand as this will save you time and money in the future should the play sand cause you problems.
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^Interesting, thanks. Id seen you post that before and was curious. I like the look of that fiji "sand".
 
I have that too and it was definitely not called "Fiji sand" just fine aquarium gravel or something like that. I believe it is just coarse quartz sand or fine quartz gravel.
They have that in different colors as well.
Don't use white though... fish aren't comfortable with that.
 
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