danios & gouramis

[goheels1]

i just recently setup a new 55 gallon tank. the fish store told me to stock w/ a few danios to cycle the tank. well i have fell in love w/ them and added more. i have 3 zebras & the other 4 i believe are leopards danios. i also have 3 Boesemani rainbow fish and one iridescent shark. i want to add a gold or opaline gourami. i keep getting conflicting information as to whether the gouramis will go w/ the danios or not. can anyone who REALLY knows tell me? i would like to have 2 gouramis but will only take one if they are truly compatiable w/ the other fish that i have (mainly the danios). thanks for any response.

 

[misterking]

Welcome to the tank !

What exactly are the fish store telling you? I've never had any problems with gouramis and danios, just be aware that danios are skittish and gouramis slow - danios may nip the fins of any slower fish but in your group of 7 I think you should be fine.

Btw, get rid of the iridescent shark. They're actually very active catfish that grow up to 4 FOOT in length, that get progressively more aggressive with other fish and owner as it grows, and prefer to be kept in groups of 5 or more. People are drawn in to buy them because of their pretty striping but then don't realise that they grow into huge, dull grey fish that aren't at all suitable for a home aquarium.

Your other stocking sounds nice though and looks like an interesting set-up. For the future, I'd suggest reading up on cycling an aquarium without fish - it's a generally faster process which prevents fish being subjected to harmfully high ammonia levels.

 

[goheels1]

Hi there, thanks for the info. as far as what the fish stores are telling me..the store i purchased the danios from told me the gouramis are able to go w/ the danios. the other major fish store here is telling me nothing can go w/ danios except tetras. they said gouramis are tempermental and will go after the danios b/c they are small. i thought maybe having one gourami will be ok even though i prefer two. i've read gouramis actually go after each other. so now i'm confused from what i see online as well as what the two local stores are saying. maybe i should try it out and see what happens. hate to put the fish through that stress though.

funny you say get rid of the iridescent shark. the store i purchased my danios from said the same thing. they said they get really large and not good tank pets. didnt know they get aggressive with their owners and other fish. i have seen online how they look as they get larger; not a pretty fish.

if i have to cycle another tank, i will definitely look into doing it w/out fish. i thought it was cruel when he told me to cylce the tank w/ the danios. he said b/c they are so cheap...it wont be a loss if they die. hmmm.

 

[unwritten law]

the gourami will be okay with the danios. My gourami is pretty swift and isnt bothered by nipping of tiger barbs. He does chase other fish sometimes but only cause he defends his heavily planted corner. But only get one cause they will go after each other similar to male bettas.

Get rid of the shark though...

 

[jo3olous]

Hi there, thanks for the info. as far as what the fish stores are telling me..the store i purchased the danios from told me the gouramis are able to go w/ the danios. the other major fish store here is telling me nothing can go w/ danios except tetras. they said gouramis are tempermental and will go after the danios b/c they are small. i thought maybe having one gourami will be ok even though i prefer two. i've read gouramis actually go after each other. so now i'm confused from what i see online as well as what the two local stores are saying. maybe i should try it out and see what happens. hate to put the fish through that stress though.

funny you say get rid of the iridescent shark. the store i purchased my danios from said the same thing. they said they get really large and not good tank pets. didnt know they get aggressive with their owners and other fish. i have seen online how they look as they get larger; not a pretty fish.

if i have to cycle another tank, i will definitely look into doing it w/out fish. i thought it was cruel when he told me to cylce the tank w/ the danios. he said b/c they are so cheap...it wont be a loss if they die. hmmm.

I think you found all you need to know about the ID shark and it's place in your tank. Note that if you choose to keep it; along with it outgrowing your tank it will eat all the other fish in there if it chooses to. ID sharks can typically only co-exist with other fish its size; common plecos, redtail catfish, and other fish that grow btw 1.5-3 feet in length will work

 

[FroggyFox]

I'd say that the danios will be ok with a gourami (I would not put two gouramis in a tank as they do best by themselves), especially since yours is a large enough tank for them to stay away from each other if they want to. I agree with the sentiments to get rid of the shark.

Generally its not a good idea to take 100% of a pet store's advice on fish until you've asked them a lot of questions and have gotten feedback from other sources (like mft, or other places online and other aquarists) to compare their answers and know that their advice is solid. Most places have virtually no idea what they're talking about when it comes to fish, which is very sad since they are where many people get their information!

Oh, and danios are pretty cheap, but they are a good choice for fish-in cycling because they are also pretty hardy little buggers They are one of my favorite fish! Once your first tank cycles, every tank after that that you cycle will be much easier and faster because you can seed the new tank with bacteria from the established tank.

 

[goheels1]

I tell you...I'm really confused now. I have grown to like this ID shark in the week 1/2 i've had it and everyone is telling me to take it back; my friends and even an employee at one of the local fish stores I deal with. they told me they get big as him (which he is over 5 ft) and he does not sell them for many reasons; with some i have read on this forum. the store i purchased it from said I can return it within 14 days, which will be this coming monday, 3aug. i got it because i want some type of community fish that will get some size to it. guess this is not a community fish. think i will take everyone's advice and send him back. any suggestions on nice community fish that will get some size to it?

as far as the gouramis...i did purchase an opaline gourami and so far its doing fine with the danios. actually, i went to a pet store yesterday and they gave me a kissing gourami for free. they have something they call an adoption program where if someone brings a fish to the store because they no longer want it, they will take it and sell it for cheap. however, it was close to closing..the manager did not feel like signing the approval papers to sell it for cheap, so he told me to take it for free as long as i take care of it. that thing is at least 4 inches. i was so happy about that. they did advise they had the kissing gourami for at least 2 weeks or so...so i didnt mind taking it because i felt if it was sick, it would of shown some signs by now.

and froggyfox...you are right. many of these employee' are not that knowledgable about fish. i was going to do things by trial and error until i found this forum. i wanna thank everyone so far for their responses.

 

[goheels1]

another question. after having it for about 5 days, my opaline gourami died. b4 i purchased it, i went to one of the LFS to have water tested. they said the water was great so i bought it. i dont think it ever adapted to the tank. in the past 2 days, 4 danios and the gourami has died. when the first danio died, went to have the water tested. he said my ammonia was over 1.0 and said i was feeding them too much. he was correct. reason why, the danios. those things are GREEDY!!! i;ve been putting a lot of flakes in the tank b/c they eat it so fast that my other fish are not able to get food. other than taking them back, what else can i do? i did my first water change as he advised.

the next 3 danios died yesterday. went to another LFS since the other one was closed. they tested the water and also said the ammonia was high and there was a lil nitrate. woke up this am, the gourami was dead. went to the store i purchased the gourami and had them test the water just for the heck of it. she said the water was perfect. ok? how can the water be perfect when i was told by another store yesterday the numbers were off the chart. i did use Prime to help w/ the ammonia but is that stuff that good that it can get rid of ammonia & nitrate in a day? i did use some stress coat when i did the water change 2 days ago.

any comments or suggestions? especially with the feeding. thanks

 

[FroggyFox]

First, I'm sorry for your losses! I totally understand the frustration you must be feeling...so lets just take a step back for a second.

...to lower ammonia, nitrites or nitrates in the tank immediately...you do water changes. Its as simple as that.

What you are running into is "the cycle". Have you read up on our cycling threads? During a tank's initial "set up" period (we refer to it as the cycle or cycling) your ammonia levels will go up, then they will start to fall and your nitrite levels will go up and then fall as your nitrate rises. Nitrate is the end product of the nitrogen cycle, which is what all of our tanks are going through every day, and we remove the excess nitrates from our tanks through regular water changes. When you're cycling a tank, its necessary to monitor the levels of ammonia and then nitrites to be sure they don't get too high because they will stress your fish out. Many don't like fish-in cycles, so a "new" way of cycling is to do it artificially by adding ammonia to the tank manually instead of putting fish in there as your original store suggested the danios for.

Instead of bringing water samples to your stores and asking them to do the tests, I'd suggest getting an ammonia, a nitrite and a nitrate test kit. That way you can do the tests at home and know that you did them right. The aquarium pharmaceuticals test kits that have test tubes and droppers are good and available in most stores.

Also, its definitely not recommended to add any fish while cycling because you'll put the tank on overload. Your filter doesn't have the necessary biological materials (bacteria) to handle converting ammonia to nitrites and then nitrites to nitrates.

How many fish do you have left?

ETA: Oh and on the danios, they are voracious eaters always will be. You just need to do your best to make sure everyone gets some, but in the end, if all of the food you're putting in is getting eaten I think that the fish store person was incorrect that you are overfeeding. Accumulation of uneaten food CAN cause water quality issues, but I think in your case it is probably just the tank cycling.

 

[MrNiteOwl]

FroogyFox has said it best.... You're still in the cycling stage...

As for the feeding.... try feeding in one end of the tank and while the Danios are eating.... try to feed your other fish at the other end.... I've heard this works most of the time....

 

[goheels1]

froggyfox...such GOOD info. thanks so much. i was actually wondering how could the over eating be causing the problems when everything gets eaten almost instantly. i've had the tank for exactly one month... & as i was doing research, i started wondering if it was still in the "cycle" stage.

you asked how many i have left? i have 1 ID shark, 1 kissing gourami, 4 danios, 3 bosemani rainbow fish & the fish store replaced the dead gourami; so i now have a gold gourami...ttl of 10 in the 55g tank. is that too many? the store told me no but now i am wondering if they are saying that just to sell fish?

mrniteowl...thanks for the suggestion but i had tried that. those things eat so quick & fast that before u know it, they're at the other end eating that also. today, i decided to put an extra amt of food on the side they were eating....then put some on the side where the kissing gourami was. that kissing gourami seems lost. it can tell there is food there but acts like it can't see it. by time it finally sees it, here come the danios. he may get one flake to their 30. i also drop a small piece of algae wafer in the tank for the ID shark. he may get some of it but they will be eating the other end of the wafer that's hanging out the shark's mouth. hmmm.

thanks again for the info. i'm on the way to the store to invest in a kit to test my own water levels. (oh, and im still contemplating whether to return the ID shark or not).