newbie

[afro123]

Hi,

so I just got a 20 gallon tank a month and a half back
right now i have 15 zebra danios and a 3 spot gourami and a honey gourami.

the zebra`s are doing fine but the gouramis are chasing each other so what exactly i should do?

[Compass]

Welcome to the forum! I too have a twenty gallon and I'll be the first to tell you, it's a difficult tank to stock. It looks big but it's just small enough to eliminate a lot of fish from being housed in it. The problem I'm seeing here is that gouramis can get territorial especially when it comes to other gouramis. That three spot gourami, if it hasn't already, will get three times as big as the honey will. I have a three spot in my 20 but she is the only mid level swimmer in my tank. She doesn't share with anyone. You have a rather crowded tank in my opinion and it's starting to show in your gouramis. I would suggest rehoming the 3 spot if you can manage to do that.

[afro123]

is it more advisable that i should return the 3 spot or the honey
or can i keep another gourami like a dwarf gourami or pearl gourami if i return the 3 spot

[talldutchie]

Honey gourami are small and almost always quite easy going. Given the size of the tank that's the one to keep I think

[mommy1]

It is usually advised to keep only one gourami per tank when the tank is a smaller one. Those danio don't belong in that tank either. You can see how active they are, they deserve at minimum a 3ft tank.

[Stlouisfish]

Agree with everything above - yes, those danios don't stay small (mine grew to almost 2" which isn't tiny) and since they are so fast and active, they need a bigger "footprint" (length of tank) to keep them from being cramped - that is a lot of them for that sized tank.

[Cliff]

Welcome to the forum

You got some very good advice so far

[afro123]

so what if i instead just keep maybe 6 danios,the honey gourami and any other fish?

[mommy1]

Even just 6 danios will need more room to swim. It's not just the number of danios you have it's also the fact they are danios and need more room. If you got rid of the danios you could replace them with some of the smaller rasbora or tetra available.

[Stlouisfish]

+1 to above advice - danios are tiny when initially purchased so they seem to fit even into a smaller tank, but if they weren't so "all over a tank" and didn't grow so large, mommy wouldn't have said what she did.

If you really like the danios and want to keep them, it would be better to get a larger tank (I have a 46gal) - if that's not an option, you want to keep fish that are more sedate, or stay small (like the smaller tetras, etc.)

[afro123]

I would like to keep the honey gourami but are there any other fish that would be compatible?

[mommy1]

Cherry barbs would be compatible.

[steeler58]

Good suggestion on the Cherry barbs, also Harlequin rasboras would work well.

[afro123]

Any others tetras perhaps?

[mommy1]

Since they are fresh in my mind from a different thread, x-ray tetra would work, so would gold tetra.

[steeler58]

Black neon's and Head and tail lights for a couple of more choices.

[afro123]

So i went to the pet shop to see if any of the fish like you guys suggested are there
and there were not too many fishes either as i live in dubai its kinda hard to get fish like those so how is this for a stocking?
10 black neons, my honey gourami and a betta/5 guppies/3 rainbow fish ?
i also saw these really cool fishes but i dint get their name can you identify them?(its the fish surrounding the discus)
sorry for the bad quality

34155

[mommy1]

You can have either the betta or the gourami, if you put both in the tank they will fight. I would get the 10 back neon tetra and the 5 male guppies to go with your gourami and the tank will be fully stocked.
Those are balloon rams which are bolivian rams that have been bred to deformity because some people think it's cute.

[afro123]

Thanks mommy and can the rams be put instead of the guppies? And can i put rainbow fish instead of guppies?

[afro123]

ok so its been some time since i last posted and i saw your post on cycling.
then i realised i dint cycle my tank either!
so now im really scared as i dont really know what exactly i have to do so any tips would be really apreciated
and just if it matters the tank has been running for 2 months now and none of the fish have died either.