fish compatability?

[BeeBee]

I have a thirty gallon aquarium. I like to believe that I'm somewhat knowledgable when it comes to aquatics, but honestly IMO fish are the most complex pets to figure out/keep. I have had luck with this 30 gal. for the most part, but I don't have many fish living in it: 3 small loaches, two gourami, 1 dwarf gourami & a chinese algae eater. I'm aching to add more fish, but what would be suitable for this particular 'crowd'?

note: it's obviously a heated aquarium. it contains a small cave, which the loaches adore, as well as numerous live plants. Please help!!

[phoenix]

Any number of community fish would work in your tank. Tetras, for example. If you choose a schooling fish, you want to get 5 or 6 of the same type at least... there are so many choices it would be better for you to post a few that you like, and we could go from there.
There are a lot of websites out there that are helpful for this. I'd recommend badmanstropicalfish.com/community.html or http://www.thetropicaltank.co.uk/easyfish.htm or http://freshaquarium.about.com/cs/be...fishlevels.htm

[Sneaky]

Hi there,
first two issues. What kind of loaches are they?
What kind of gouramis?
Second, are you aware that chinese algae eaters grow to
11 inches and eat other fish at maturity? They no longer
eat much, if any, algae once they reach maturity.
I would sell the CAE back to the pet store, and go with something
else.
After I know what kinda loaches they are, I can make some
suggestions for you!
Thanks!

[BeeBee]

Originally Posted by sneakypete79

Hi there,
first two issues. What kind of loaches are they?
What kind of gouramis?
Second, are you aware that chinese algae eaters grow to
11 inches and eat other fish at maturity? They no longer
eat much, if any, algae once they reach maturity.
I would sell the CAE back to the pet store, and go with something
else.
After I know what kinda loaches they are, I can make some
suggestions for you!
Thanks!

No I was not aware that they grow to eleven inches. Is that the average matured size? Can you recommend any other algae eaters? It seems most get quite large. That or they're too small.

I have two loaches: a clown loach, and a yo-yo loach. I am aware of their size once they reach maturity, and they will be transferred into my much larger aquarium.

I have three gourami: a honey dwarf gourami, a blue gourami, and a golden blue gourami.

[Sneaky]

Hey Beebee,
only the clown will get big, the yoyo is fine for life in that tank.
CAE average out between 8 and 11 inches.
For smaller algae eaters there are a couple smaller ones:
Bristlenose Pleco - 4 inches
Otocinclus (Dwarf suckerfish) 1-2 inches
Farlowella Cat (Twig Catfish) - 5 inches (best algae eater for smaller tanks period and really cool looking).

Now, with all the fish you have in there already,
there are many compatible species of fish.
Smaller tetras - like neons or glowlights or lemons or embers or cardinals, or black neons. All these max out between 1-1.5 inches, and are peaceful.
You could add a school of 6-12 of these. Choose all 1 kind.
OR:
Rasboras - there are lots of small colorful rasbora species, harlequins, lambchops, emeralds.
You could add a school of 6-12 of these. Choose all 1 kind.
OR:
Dwarf Rainbowfish - there are many types of smaller rainbowfish,
often very colorful. Some excellent options would be:
Dwarf Neon (Praecox) , Threadfin, Celebes, Blue Eyes,
Maccullochi, Pygmaea. Rainbowfish are one of my favorite schooling fish.
None of these reaches more than 2.5 inches, and can be kept in groups of 3-6. Most rainbowfishes will school with each other, so could be a mixed group.
I think you have room for a group of 6 of any of these fish, possibly even 8.
OR:
Rams/Apistos - these are small south american cichlids,
many species available, all of which grow to about 4 inches max, some to look for:
Blue/German Rams
Bolivian Rams (also called Ruby Crown Cichlids)
Cockatoo Apistogramma
Apisto Borelli
Panda Apisto
etc.
Keep these in a m/f pair, or small group of mixed sex.
There are also slightly larger cichlids you could keep in a pair,
like Keyhole Cichlids, or you could keep a single male Firemouth Cichlid (dont mix with tiny fish like neons, go with larger ones like cardinals, or dwarf rainbows).

From looking at your stocking now,
If you took out the CAE,
you have approximately 23 inches of fish. (allowin 6 inches
for the clown loach as I assume you will move it out once it
reaches about that size anyway).
So with a little overlap considering your tank is well planted,
I think youd be safe to add approximately 12-15 more inches of fish,
give or take an inch of two.
So you could easily add a group of schooling fish, even a nice big school,
or two smaller schools.
Hope this gives you a few ideas!

[BeeBee]

Wow thank you so much! You don't even know how helpful you have been.