I guess it's a sign, so help me out??

[GouramiMami]

I have had my fish for 2 years now, and I just lost my 1st fish this week :( , and about 2 weeks ago I had an Opeline gourami who all of a sudden got really mean and was picking on all of my other fish, so.. we found him a new home with my boyfriends mom.. now I have all this space in a 55 gal tank.. and only 6 pretty small active fish (and a snail and one loach we never see) so Ive been wanting to get new fishies to add to my oh so bear tank..
I found 20 bucks in an empty parking lot yesterday and the 1st thing that came to my mind was OH FISH!

when I first got the fish I have now I will admit that they were an impulse buy.. i know i know thats horrible. BUT an old roomie had the fish all in that tank and couldnt take care of it so I bought them all from her for 30 bucks, and figured I could take care of them a lil better than her.. not knowing anything of fish... I had them in the lil tank for about 6 months and kept it nice and clean and all but noticed they seemed.. sleepy-ish and mean.. I thought.. I would feel cramped if I were them.. I went to my local goodwill and with luck they had a 55 gal for 20 bucks! I got it, cycled it fishless (something I had read) and put them in it and theyve lived happily sence.. now the point of all this was to say I dont know if these fish are good compatible fish or not.. they get along fine, but I dont know how to add to them.

any "perfect livestock living arangement" suggestions??

[AngelMom]

It would help to know if the two large gouramis are male or female ... the dwarf is most certainly a male as females don't get sold in shops. It would also be helpful to know how well filtered the tank is as that will affect the stock level.

[GouramiMami]

well, the gourami.. to tell you the truth i have no idea.. I feel.. like the pink kissing is a female.. and the opeline is a female.. i named them as such but they were pre bought when i bought them so i didnt get to ask anyone who knew.. is there a way to tell?
as for the filter, its filterd well, the filter we have is a double one, and it's made for a 55-75gal tank, and it keeps the surface of the water moving nicely.. we do regular water changes, and vacumes.. all the fish seem active.. if the sex of the gouramis keeps me from getting more gouramis, i think i'd be okay with it, if thats the problem..

[AngelMom]

Your filtration is actually a tad light ... the filter(s) used should be equivalent to somewhere between 1.5 and 2 times the tank volume for a normal stocking level.

Gouramis are actually one of the easier fish to sex ... the male has a fairly long dorsal fin while the female has a short one. Females tend to get along better, but even they can be aggressive with other fish and mixing gourami types usually doesn't end well as you've already found.

What sort of fish are you thinking of keeping with the gouramis?

[GouramiMami]

Im not sure of what i want to add.. thats what i was asking.. for your oppinion! what you think would be a good mix?

[AngelMom]

Some acceptable tank mates would be Mollies, Swordtails, Guppies, Platies, Tetras, Danios, Rasboras, and Rainbowfish.

[GouramiMami]

life has been crazy lately! 2 days ago a friend called and said "my "friends" voted me out of the apartment, i'm going to my moms and i cant take my fish, do you want them?, if not their staying here with them and i know they wont take care of them!" SO> i saved some fish. so even tho i dont get to pick out any anymore, heres wat she game me and i think its prefect actually!


2 black skirt tetras (to go with my 3)
1 kulhi loach (to go with my 1)
5 gold danios (cute lil things!)
1 dalmation molly
2 sword tales
2 lil female bettas (whom i didnt know liked a big tank- they are the most active fish in there besides the danios!)
1 tiny lil suckerfish (im scared he may be too small.. and she said he wouldnt get any bigger..)
and I already had the 3 gouramis, and snail


the tank looks so nice now!! its so active, and i've been watching very close to make sure they look happy, and they do, no one is chasing anyone, no nipping no wierd fishy behavior!, the tank is good on ph and all that stuff and to top it all off:: angelmom::
she gave me a new filter and its a 75-100 or so, i cant remember what she said and she just gave me the filter (rite out of her tank) and i hooked it up and its filtering so much more stuff! so if thats what you ment by my filtering being lite, i hope this fixes it! it seems to have..

anyways just reporting a happy healthy tank! :D

[oscarbartoni]

If you can't take the tank with you then I would put it on Craig's list and see if someone out there wants it that can take care of it or even on Free Cycle f you do not want an;y money for it, at least the fish would have a better chance of living a good life. Let us know what you decide to do. And good luck with you in the future.