Upper Stocking Limits

[Impudence12]

Yay a poll

15 gallon tall. Currently We have 9 ember tetras 2 small corys, they're something, but juli is a good proxy and a snail. Mr. and Mrs. fish went to a friend. I plan to get a pair of dwarf honey gourami to replace them. I feel like the tank is still alittle empty. Should I add another cory or 2 or should I increase the ember tetra school, or both.

Slight question about the honey gourami. The lfs has small yellow gourami labeled as dwarf honey gourami. They are typically just 2 there and sometimes 3. Once they had the brown belly shade, now the new trio is just small and yellow. Are these the same species, or atleast do they both stay 2 inches ish. Also it says keep in pairs, I assume it's by gender, how can you tell them apart?

 

[Ruben Tolon]

in a tank like that I would stick with the pair, try to breed them and all that.

 

[llamabob]

I would only add 1-2 more cories as they prefer to school.

 

[jm1212]

voted just a pair of gouramis, but it would probably be better to get 1 or 2 more corydoras

 

[msjinkzd]

the female honey gourami usually has a light brown stripe down the middle of its body, the male is much brighter yellow . here is a picture of mine...they do stay about 2"..the picture isn't the best but you can see the lateral brown line on the female. they are supposedly some of the most gentle of gourami although I had some issues with mine when they were in qt (16g) because the female was beating up the male. Now that they are in a larger tank that is planted they are doing fine. I really like them. If you keep a pair, make sure its a mixed gender pair or one male with two females, not two males as they will fight if mixed with like fish of the same gender. i would also recommend one or two more cory cats.

 

[silentskream]

i woudld only get more corys.. no gouramis.
but if you're heart is set, then i'd just get the pair of gouramis

 

[Impudence12]

About the female getting the line. Alot of fish at fish stores are paler or not showing off the best colors. We have nearly white ember tetras at my lfs. Is the line always around?

 

[msjinkzd]

here is a pic from the day i got them, her body was almost white but she had the definate line and her fins were yellow, they male's colors have not changed much except for when he is feeling "randy" his throat gets brown/black. She has developed a richer yellow body color since acclimating. oh crap, that is the wrong pic, let me try again , lol

 

[msjinkzd]

here it is...my screw up shows the contrast in colors nicely

 

[Impudence12]

Oh wow, she's practically white, yet the stripe is still there. That's alot of help, I was worried I'd have to just hope I got the right genders.