Stocking 55 gallon tank advice

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ramlover224

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Feb 6, 2022
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So, I have a 55 gallon Tank that was cycled for five months and it came with a big blue gourami when I got the tank. I went to the pet store and was thinking of getting just two acara cichlids for my tank since I had always really wanted to keep cichlids. I heard acaras were the most docile and id be able to add other fish inside that were relatively compatible with enough plants and hides. So I picked up what I thought was two acaras that were in the mixed cichlid tank. I then added another smaller blue gourami and saw it was going well and the cichlids just swam at the bottom and minded their own business for the most part. I had put a lot of floating plants and planted plants in the tank at this point to create coverage. Knowing that it was going well after a month i picked up two flame gouramis which also acclimated well to the tank and stayed out of the cichlids way. After another month and seeing that they were fine I have now added a gold gourami and a pearl gourami. It’s been a couple of days and they seem to be fine but the thing is when I was reasearching all types of cichlids I realized that they were acaras but demonsi. So now I have a pair of demonsis in my tank and i’m worried that when they finish growing they’ll get aggressive with the gouramis I already have even if they’ve been fine up to now. With that being said should I try to move or rehome the cichlids or do you guys think it’ll work if they’ve been fine? Thank you in advance for all the help!
 

FreshyFresh

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Jan 11, 2013
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West Falls NY
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Joel
6 gourami all together in a 55? and then cichlids too? Wowzas.. I'm surprised things didn't go south from the get-go. It is hit/miss with them on how things go though. Most wont tolerate any fish similarly sized or shaped. The only one I've kept that didn't have this behavior was a female pearl gourami. I have a large male blue gourami that I've had for a few years that will absolutely not tolerate anything resembling a gourami. He's in an unheated 55 with some gold barbs, a dojo loach and a BN pleco.

The only cichlid aside from angle fish that I've kept in a 55g was a blue ram at one time and then a keyhole cichlid. I think a few keyholes and some smaller fish would be a nice mix for a 55.
 
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