Gourami

[kuhli loach]

After about a year of not having time for the lengthy setup and choosing process (NCEA) it's summer holidays and I finally have time to kickstart my 60x30x30 aquarium into a small community tank.

The sort of thing I'm aiming for is -

- a pair of gourami

- shoal of about 7 cardinal tetra

- 4 platy

- 5 kuhli loaches

- 1 bristlenose catfish

is this too many fish?

and my (not to be trusted unknowledgeable) petstore told me that a pair of kissing gourami would be fine in a tank my size. I am unsure and and more inclined to think that a pair of dwarf gouramis would be better suited.

Expert opinion please?

[Godly3vil]

Kissing gourami are definitely not suitable for a tank that size dude, dwarf gourami are really the only ones you should consider keeping in it.

You could keep all of those fish together quite happily in a tank that size as long as you have decent filtration and keep up with regular maintenance like water changes etc. Just remember that before long you will end up with a lot more platys if you have both sex's of them.

[kuhli loach]

Thanks. I thought so... :roll:

I think the other fish should eat any platy fry. hopefully. Or else I could alway give some back to the petstore.

Are hatchetfish suited to my size of tank? Perhaps I could replace the platys with them.

[kuhli loach]

Oh, this tank is going to be planted quite heavily, will this bunch of fish ravage through my aquasacping?

[#!CrunchBang]

I started with a tank that size and had two dwarf Gourami. They were a bit stunted in size but it was ok

[Adrienne]

Hatchet fish need a tight lid. Dwarf gourami will max out at 8cm depending on what sort you get. Go for the smaller ones.

[Godly3vil]

I personally like the dwarf honey gourami, the male looks stunning when he is ready to breed with his nice dark chin!

[Sophia]

welcome back kuhli loach

[kuhli loach]

Thanks Sophia! It's nice to hear from everyone again

are hatchet fish the right size for my tank? I just found out platys like harder water and all the other fish I am going for like soft acidic conditions. I have a very good wooden lid that no fish could ever dislodge, so that isn't a problem, it also goes quite a bit higher than the top of the tank so the hatchets won't injure themselves even if they jump.

Any ideas on which of the fish to put in first to cycle the tank after the nitrite and nitrate levels have dropped?

Am rallying my supplies and have decided to invest in an CO2 diffuser for plants, any help on how to set one of those up would be greatly appreciated.

[Godly3vil]

Will you be doing diy co2 or pressurized?

[kuhli loach]

pressurised sounds expensive but it looks a like a lot more successful and easy way of feeding plants, so I think I'll go with that.

[Godly3vil]

Expensive initially but cheaper than diy long term. It's pretty straight forward - you need;

co2 cylinder or soda stream cylinder - anywhere from $20 - $400

co2 regulator - $65 - $120 brand new

co2 grade tubing - around $10

bubble counter/check valve - $15 preferably glass

diffuser - $20ish

co2 drop checker - $18

if you do use a soda stream bottle also you will need an adapter for the regulator which I think costs around $35 - $40?

Valray from trademe sells everything there except the cylinders, these are more specialist items and my advice is to search around and see what you can get 2nd hand.

I use pressurized and diy co2 and both have their upsides, I would never use diy co2 on any tank smaller than yours now though as it just produces enough co2 for my 54ltr tank - you can supply more if you setup multiple bottles though.

[F15hguy]

+1 on honey gourami, the goldens are stunning.

kissing gourami eventually grow to 30cm so definite "HELL NO"

[randomsam1001]

:iag: dwarf honey or dwarf neon/flame gourami will do well.

[Ira]

:iag: dwarf honey or dwarf neon/flame gourami will do well.

Sam, I officially name you necroposter of the month. Nine so far today...

[Ira]

Sorry, 10. Another while I was posting this. :ske: :lar:

Edit: 11.

Edit: 13.

Edit: 17.

[kuhli loach]

Again with the CO2 questions:

I don't know anything about maintaining them and haven't found anything on CO2 that explains their setup or regulation, in any aquarium book I've read. What's the bubble counter for and how many bubbles are the normal amount?

[kuhli loach]

That is, the normal amount for what is going to be a heavily planted 300L tank.

[SamH]

The bubble counter is for counting bubbles, often expressed as BPS or bubbles per second. It's not a standard unit of measurement due to differences in the size of bubbles produced by different counters, it's only a guide for the tank it's applied on. You must also take into account the efficiency of diffusion. Really, it's all trial and error.

[Godly3vil]

Couldn't have said it any better myself Sam.

I just set up another tank with co2, it's only 130ltrs running 2 bps and that's more than enough co2 for it, will probably dial it down to 1 bps once I add stock. On my 450ltr tank the bps is so high I couldn't count it to save my life.

[kuhli loach]

I'll need a PH control moniter to see if the level is harmful won't I?

[Godly3vil]

Nope, a co2 drop checker is what you want.

[SamH]

Although drop checkers can be tricky too. Some tanks will crash if it goes far above green (safe) and others I push it way past yellow (dangerous) and the fish are still fine. Again, trial and error. Just wait until you get the CO2 rig, then you'll get a real feel for it.

[Godly3vil]

This chart is a really good way of getting an estimated reading of your co2 levels, it compares your ph and kh and gives you an estimate of what your co2 level is. Another way is if you know your constant ph level, when you add co2 you want it to drop a full point, example - before co2 comes on my main tank sits at around 7.2, once co2 has reached 30ppm (optimum level for plant growth vs health of fauna) it drops to around 6.2. Then over night it degasses and bounces back to 7.2.

[kuhli loach]

Awesome thanks!