Checking compatibility....

[Totara]

Hi guys,

I just set up my 71 litre yesterday, and its in the process of cycling with Nutrafin Cycle. My little cousin arrives on Wednesday so after the week is up I will take him to get the first fish

My final stocking plan is going to be

5 x Tiger Barb

5 x Black Widow Tetra

2 x Pearl Gourami

1 x Albino Bristlenose

Is this a good plan? Is there anything wrong with the fish I have chosen?

Cheers,

Will

[kinnadian]

Bristlenose grow to 5-6 inch, which imo is too big for a 71L (though some may say it is fine, we are after all keeping an animal captive against its will, my theory is that they should be given as suitable conditions as possible). Be prepared to rehome him in a year or two.

Barbs will no doubt attack the pearl gouramis sooner or later, and will definitely eat all their feelers off. This combination might do OK in a larger tank, but in a small tank every fishes aggressive personality will come out. Also tiger barbs are some of the most aggressive barbs out there.

Typically I would almost never mix barbs with "community" fish such as gouramis or tetras. The black widows might fare a bit better than the gouramis, since they are a bit quicker, but I think it would only be a matter of time until you had dead tetras.

In my opinion as well, pearl gouramis will outgrow your tank, I wouldn't put them in any less than a 120L. Same comment as above, give them the most suitable conditions possible. Try one of the dwarf gouramis instead.

[Adrienne]

I would tend to not go any gourami with the barbs and if you are having barbs you will probably need to get more as when they have nipped all your other fish they will then pick on each other. The Pearl Gourami can get to 14cm.

I can see you have considered a group of fish that will fill all areas of the tank which is good thinking and would give a good display of colours. Perhaps you might want to look at Harlequin Tetra to replace the barbs, then you could go a smaller type of gourami for the upper tank level. The jury is out as far as I am concerned with black widows; some people find them nippy, others have no problems. Have a look and see if you can find rosy tetra or ornate tetra.

[alexyay]

I tend to not recommend having BNs in anything under 70L but even in a 70L it's a bit cramped. I think maybe a 70L long might be sufficient for one BN - however I eventually moved my BN into a 140L. Otos are a really good idea, as they're very small and you can keep many of them (they prefer schools). They're quite sensitive to acclimation and nitrates however so be careful with that.

I know little about barbs other than they're often fin-nippers.

The pearl gourami will outgrow a 70L - it needs at least 140L imo. No way could we fit our 3-spot (similar size) in my gourami tank - he's in a 450L, mine is 120L. Other options are dwarf gourami (often sensitive and prone to disease), thicklipped gourami, honey gourami or indian banded gourami (not quite so common). My favourite are the thicklipped - they're great for beginner gourami keepers and are generally quite peaceful. My female (lost my male, am looking for the wild-type at the moment so she is on her own for now) is quite territorial (especially the male when nesting) - but does no more damage than chasing other fish (no biting, fin nipping etc). I have mine with honeys without issue. I haven't tried to attempt keeping it with dwarfs, as I've never been a fan of dwarfs and would want some female dwarfs anyway so that can be difficult to find. My favourite gourami setup is 2 females to 1 male, as it reduces the stress on the females.

Tetras are fine I think - my only suggestion is to up the school to 7+ to help keep them feel safe and comfortable They're fin nippers, but I've never had fish nip at the gourami's ventrals and its other fins are short anyway. However I wouldn't recommend boisterous fish with honey gouramis as they can be quite shy.

[Totara]

Ok thanks for all your help guys, here is my updated list

1 x Albino Bristlenose (Will move out when he is too big)

10 x Black Widow Tetra

2 x Guppy (I have my little cousins coming on wednesday, so I thought they would enjoy choosing a guppy each as the first fish in the tank)

10 x Some other Tetra (Either Ember or Cardinals. I am open to suggestions)

The reason I want the bristlenose badly is it is great to keep algae down, if you have an alternative I am open to it.

Cheers,

Will

[alexyay]

Sounds fine to me! I honestly haven't found my BNs help much with algae. I get GSA, brown diatomic algae, BBA and occasionally hair algae (I also grow string algae on purpose for the American Flagfish). Although I've noticed I don't have much brown diatomic algae in the tank with the BNs, I guess. But yeah I think the best way to get rid of algae is prevention of it - I also don't mind a small amount of algae in the tank anyway. Some BNs are different and some are fussy while others chow down on most algaes. I've found I prefer Otos for their smaller bioload but be prepared to spend a bit of money as they are sensitive at times.

Nothing wrong with the BN - just be aware it'll get a bit big

I think the new list works just fine - even if the widow tetras are nippy, the guppies are much too fast for them. No idea on tetra suggestions - I have black neons and looove them, I've also got albino pristella tetras which Dad loves but I'm not too keen on them. Other options are glowlights, neons, cochu's blue (can be fin nippers), penguin (I think?) and emperors. There are just SO many options out there!