Your probably sick of this...

G

goldenchld24

AC Members
Mar 7, 2006
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Henderson, CO
I know your sick of stocking questions but you guys are the experts and those people at petsmart don't seem to be correct. I'm finishing cycling a 20g hex and have 2 male dwarf gouramis and 2 female bettas now. One of the gouramis is a bully :( so I should get some females right? Could I also add like 4 dwarf rainbows? Oh my water is pretty hard so thats a factor. Thanks :)
 
one of your gourami's is a bully?
i thought they were peaceful community fish....
(experts will chime in any second now with your info..:)
 
You have got all anabantids there. That means they all draw air from the surface to breath. This also means that they can occupy the same space in the tank. There is a chance they might all get along, but a more real chance they will scrap. A 20 Hex is nice to look at, but not very good for fish stocking since you do not have as much surface area. 4 Rainbow fish might be OK but one gourami would probably be best and two female bettas would max you out. The female bettas may or may not get along as well, you will have to keep an eye on them. You may think about a small school of small tetra, or some platies (there are many great colours out there). The platies are livebearers, and will breed though, so if you do not want this get all males or females. My experience is that females get along better, but that is just my experience. Anyway, my two cents, anyone else??
 
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Ah, well I dont wanna get rid of one of my male gouramis so thats why I was wondering if I should get them some girlies :p: The red flame dwarf gourami chases everybody :devil: the bigger female betta chases the smaller one, and she in turn chases the whimp dwarf. What about some sailfin or potbellied mollies or something? I have issues.
 
A 20g hex is not big enough for rainbowfish, even neons. They need to be in schools of six or more and they need horizontal space to swim. What are the dimensions of this tank?

You've already got hefty top layer load in a tank that does not have a lot of surface area. Do not add any more surface dwellers. If you have aggression issues, return one of the gouramis or return the bettas and get female gouramis instead. Don't just add more.

FWIR mollies like to feed and/or hang around the surface of the tank a lot. They skim the surface and eat the film that forms on top. That's going to overload your top layer even more.

Consider some fish -- not rainbowfish -- that school in the middle to bottom layers. Mid-sized tetras, like cardinals and not neons, may work in your tank. Just make sure you buy at least six of a specie and do not mix. They need to be with their own kind.

I'm sure someone else can recommend some mid-bottom type schoolers for your tank that won't get too big.

Roan
 
what about a school of panda cories for the bottom? or a dwarf cichlid? Not both.
the gouramis will fight, and they will either sign a piece treaty or one of them will kill the other, just depends on the fish, but i think a 20 hex will be too small to hope for piece. Also, i don't think adding females will help, that will just give them one more thing to fight over, they will be fighting over spawning rights as well as tearitory.
 
Mollies look enough like an anabantid to be a target for the agressive gouramis. We see sailfin, betta, think there's a difference; they see long colorful fins and have at it. Bad mix.

I'd go with some cories for the bottom.
 
ok, and cories do well in hard water? I know some cichlid species do.
 
goldenchld24 said:
ok, and cories do well in hard water? I know some cichlid species do.
Click to expand...
Depends on what you mean by "hard water". Are you referring to alkalinity or general hardness? A high pH does not mean the water is "hard". It means different things to fishes than it does to people.

If you can post your readings of pH, KH, and GH that would help.

Roan
 
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