[latchdan]

Looking for some advice on stocking additional fish in my 40b. Currently I have one male pearl gourami, I had two but both turned out to be male. The smaller male became too aggressive so I returned it.

I just added 11 harliquin rasboras so the school is up to 15.

I really like how both the rasboras and pearl have orange. My thoughts are get more rasboras try and find female pearls or, add rummynose tetras which I've always wanted to try.

The male gourami seems to hide a lot.

Tank specs, high light co2. Ph 7.4-7.6 gh4 kh3. Tds ~180ppm. 75 degrees f.

 

[Nordic]

Maybe he is just looking for a girlfriend in the dark corners

 

[pipelayer]

Could be hiding due to the high light. Some bent over stem plants or val could provide a little cover. People always recommend water lettuce or frog bit or something but im not a huge fan.

Dont see any reason why you couldnt add some rummy nose unless they are small enough and your gourami is big enough to have a snack.

Honestly, I typically like the aesthetics of having only one large school of smaller fish, so thats up to you.

 

[latchdan]

I do have lots of floaters dwl,frogit,riccia,rrf. Its just hard to find females i thought for sure i had one. It had all the characteristics of female but juvis all look female i guess.

 

[jr125]

Get a female Pearl. Pairs have always done well for me.

 

[fishyfishy101]

I would add a female pearl and a small school of bottom dwellers like cories or loaches.

 

[Nordic]

Remember to quarantine first.
It is horrible when your whole village gets crabs.

 

[latchdan]

Yup got a 10gallon for q.

 

[WaterLife]

Definitely get a female pearl if that will cheer up the male, but be ready in case they don't get along.

It's more personal preference for the rest. If you like the look of a larger school, get more rasboras. Having a top schooler (rasboras) and bottom schooler (rummy nose tetras) is kind of cool to have activity on all levels of the tank. Though I personally think rummy noses blend in too much because of their body color. Sure I see the red nose and zebra tail, but still. If you don't have bottom dwellers, I too might suggest a decent sized group of Corydoras or something. Sounds like you got plenty of room to stock with.

 

[latchdan]

Will corys dig? I dont want my carpets messed up I have,blyxa japonica and glosso. Substrate is sts.
Never had corys before.

 

[Nordic]

Right up to the eyeballs, mine seem to leave the glosso alone though, once its rooted (almost 1 inch roots on the little buggers) nothing much moves them.

 

[WaterLife]

I haven't used STS yet. Looks a nice size chunks, but I hear it's pretty light for it's size. Though I haven't heard any problems of corys uprooting well rooted plants on STS.
For what it's worth, I have a ton of corys on really fine grain silica sand and my Blyxa doesn't get uprooted. Only things they get uprooted sometimes are newly planted plants (with already little root mass). And I don't even plant with tweezers or pinsettes (I need to get some though for tiny tiny plants).

With STS, I don't think corys will plow their faces in the substrate like they do on sand, unless they are starving and they are desperately searching for food.
Dwarf corys are less likely to uproot anything.

You don't have to get corys if you don't want to though. If you have snails and/or shrimp, those are enough to eat any fallen food. Then you could just add to your original plan of upper water column swimming fish instead of bottom dwellers.

 

[Nordic]

My corydoras paleatus might... but they are known for the size of the things they can move, despite their small size.
They are the only corydoras I keep at the moment. Only have the one longfin though. She is a beat and the horrible pic doesn't show he scale of her fins.

 

[latchdan]

Okay so went to 3 fish stores. Only one had pearl gouramis. 2 were definetly males and 2 could be female, i grabed both female in hopes at least one is actually female. Both are sitting in my q tank.

 

[latchdan]

These gouramis have to be the most skiddish fish I've ever had. The rasboras come right up to the glass. The pearls hide if anyone gets closer than 8 feet from the tank. If someone gets right up to the glass they try to damn near jump out or continuously swims into the glass.

Anyone else have similar experiences?

 

[Nordic]

Just keep the tank darkish for a day or 3...Your plants will recover.