[One of my platies is constantly hiding]

On 3/24/2023 at 9:07 PM, nabokovfan87 said:

Part of what you're dealing with is normal behavior.  Do you see any wounds or issues with the female platy?  Essentially, 3 males and 1 female, you'd ultimately like to have 6+ females in that group.  My suggestion would be to either keep just the males and rehome the female, or try to add more females to the group.

I don’t see any wounds on her nor does she seem sick aside from hiding. I only have one male to 3 females in the tank including Speckles 

[One of my platies is constantly hiding]

My platy girl speckles is constantly staying out of sight and I’m worried somethings wrong with her. She’s one of three females I have with one male. The other three platies swim around the tank all day and eat well. Speckles will eat too but when food is not out she hides away from me. Is this just behavior that happens or is speckles having problems? 

[Honey Gourami eating Hornwort but not seen eating any other foods.]

He is very nice to the other fish no one bullies' him, and he just vibes around the tank minding his business, he has been in the tank for about a week or so. when I go to feed the fish because of the platies I spread the food s far as possible. he will see it but never go for it. I am just not sure what is up with him. 

[Honey Gourami eating Hornwort but not seen eating any other foods.]

I have a 20 gallon long tank thats got a big clump of horn wort floating along the top of the tank.  The Honey Gourami has been voraciously tearing into it recently and has not been seen eating anything else. It has been going to the bathroom consistently so its eating but I have not seen it eat anything other then hornwort. I have fed him fish flakes, vibra bites, and even betta pellets. What am I missing here? 

[How to tell if my hillstream loach is eating]

Update: 

saw my boi on the glass not sure what is his stomach so I’ll post a picture of him sorry if the qualities a bit poor 

[How to tell if my hillstream loach is eating]

Gotta new hillstream loach for my 20 gallon long with 6 Odessa Barbs the barbs have been in the tank for around a year or so and haven’t bothered the loach at all. When it’s feeding time they gather at the top and do their usual frenzy. I drop a pellet in elsewhere and while they sometimes peck it the barbs leave it alone. I have yet to see the hillstream loach actually munch on the wafer but it’s always gone later. If any of y’all have tips for me to be sure my new guys is happy and healthy that would be great. He moves around the tank throughout the day almost never moves when I’m there just vibes along the walls and my plants. 

[Odessa Barbas have gotten a taste for floating plants.]

I doubt anything is wrong I do not believe I’m under feeding the fish and have tried to compensate but my Odessa barbs seem to enjoy grazing on the root systems of my floating plants. I think the plants can manage but there be something I’m missing that I might need to address? I just want to make sure both my plants and animals are both healthy. 

[New aquarist with a betta and some Odessa barbs]

Living in seattle area enjoy those fiery fish personalities

[Went to pet store saw some long fin barbs]

Oh yeah sorry they were long fin tiger barbs obviously the name discouraged me from putting nice little babies with them. 

[Went to pet store saw some long fin barbs]

On 4/18/2022 at 8:05 PM, lefty o said:

SAE, and barbs in a 20.... id probably lean away from that combo. SAE's get 5"+, and with barbs tending to be nippy little bullies i think not enough room. in a larger tank the two together would be workable.

Understandable I figured as much but I dream. Would Cory’s perhaps be able to deal with them or if I do barbs would I have to do exclusively barbs? 

[Went to pet store saw some long fin barbs]

Am I crazy to think to Put them in a 20 gallon long tank? Also I do love Siamese algae eaters are they fast enough to deal with long fin barbs? My original plan for the tank was platies and honey gouramis. I am a beginner with a 10 gallon with a happy betta fish and a empty 20 gallon tank that’s just been growing happy plants for 3 weeks now. Been trying to figure out how and what to stock the tank with. Got too many good idea and no trigger pull. 

[Stocking a 20 gallon long with Honey Gourami and Black phantom tetras. Any advice]

@Patrick_G yeah at first I didn’t think much of them but their behavior is just so cool to watch especially with a school of them in the tank. Also looking into those chili rasboras they sound awesome and a big schooling fish I’ll definitely have them in the tank. 

[Stocking a 20 gallon long with Honey Gourami and Black phantom tetras. Any advice]

On 4/17/2022 at 8:39 AM, Patrick_G said:

There are a bunch of other  other Tetras and Rasboras with that type of body shape if that’s what you’re looking for.
Another option would be nano fish. For a tank that size they would work well. You would have room to keep a few different species of tetras plus the  gourami and some corydoras too. 
Green neon tetras, Ember tetras and Chili Rasboras are some of my favorites. 

Yeah that’s basically what I wanted out of the tank but there just so many choices of small fish that all look so cool it’s really hard to decide so I’m just trying to base it off of who would live well with some gouramis. I was thinking either false Julii or panda Cory fish to be my bottom feeders. But again I don’t wanna overstock the tank. Decisions decisions I haven’t heard of chili rasboras I will look into those. They sound very interesting. 

[Stocking a 20 gallon long with Honey Gourami and Black phantom tetras. Any advice]

On 4/16/2022 at 11:25 PM, Fish Folk said:

Your original plan might work out just fine. It’s kind of a coin toss. A female powder blue Gourami might fit the bill. 

Would you say rams require a good attention to detail care or are they pretty stable once you get the basic water parameters setup

[Stocking a 20 gallon long with Honey Gourami and Black phantom tetras. Any advice]

On 4/16/2022 at 10:35 PM, Fish Folk said:

I have always admired Black Phantom Tetras, but have never kept them before. Their reputation, as you say, varies depending on who you ask. They do get a bit larger than many of the torpedo-shaped tetras. If I’m being honest, I’m wondering out loud if they’re a better fit for a 55 gallon…

Gouramis are what I would describe as “intelligent fish.” Honey Gouramis, for the most part, are peaceful community fish. I like to keep smaller tetras with them. I’m on the fence with the Black Phantoms.

I wonder if Electric Blue Rams would work out better?

Or Orange-flash Apistogramma Cacatouides?

Dwarf Cichlids might set a nippy tetra in its place more authoritatively than a honey gourami.

On the other hand, if you’re in love with the Honey Gourami, maybe rethink your tetras / schooling fish.

What about a school of long-finned White Cloud Mountain Minnows?

They are beautiful and very peaceful.

I have heard little information on rams though I am a beginner I am worried they require some good care that I may be unable to provide easily. Though the minnows are interesting I would like a small shoaling fish as I like keeping fish with groups. 

[Stocking a 20 gallon long with Honey Gourami and Black phantom tetras. Any advice]

20 gallon Long tank is plant cycled growing good and processing ammonia well I was gonna stock it with the tetras first but I am not sure how many to add at a time. the tank is well planted with a couple more coming before the tetras. Also a black phantom tetras somewhat forgiving or are they gonna nasty pieces of work. I have hear from most sites they are nice but some people who claim to keep them say they give barbs a run for their money so I am super confused. 

 

[Plates as fish in cycling?]

On 4/13/2022 at 5:13 AM, Colu said:

I wouldn't do a fish in cycle I would add a small amount of fish food daily till you start to get ammonia and nitirte reading and they then fall to zero and nitrates rise to around 20-40ppm you can also use Dr Tim's ammonia and add that Daily to feed you beneficial bacteria to get your tank cycled 

Ok sounds good I was using the live plants to see how well my tank was progressing and the plats all had new growth so I think there isn’t much time left for it to be ready. I will definitely look into those False Julie Cory’s as the first fish to add 

[Plates as fish in cycling?]

On 4/12/2022 at 10:37 PM, nabokovfan87 said:

Any idea what types would interest you? Shrimp? Corydoras?

Definitely Cory’s just not sure which ones to go with I am not much of a fan of the panda or pigmy but again I’m not well versed on which varieties would work best in a 20 gallon long 

[Plates as fish in cycling?]

On 4/12/2022 at 10:22 PM, nabokovfan87 said:

Should be fine with either. The whole idea of fish in cycling is to have low numbers at first. You don't want to load up the tank right away and cause a huge ammonia spike, but slowly add load over time.

Ok that’s what I was hoping but I wanted to be sure. I do wanna put some bottom feeders in the tank so I’m not sure what fish to start with.

[Plates as fish in cycling?]

As I’m cycling in my 20 gallon long for the last week could platies do well through the cycling process. I have got plants in the tank and a sponge filter while adding easy green once a week for the last 2 weeks and ghost feeding already so I’m not sure if I should just wait on the signs of a seasoned tank or just throw in some hardy fish now and gradually let in more as the tank finishes cycling. If not platy’s fish would tetras work? Just love those small shoaling fish 

[Stocking a 20 gallon long]

After looking into fish to breed, I fell on wanting to do honey gouramis but my main fish were gonna be plaited to keep the tank clean. But since the plates breed like mad I’m worried my attempts to breed honey gouramis may be tempered by the platys fishes growth. I was thinking instead to get phantom tetras they seemed really eye catching and would not change their numbers . But I’m worried they may be fin nippers or particularly harassing. Anyone have experience of keeping them in a tank with honey gouramis or other larger docile fish? 

[Breeding platys or Honey gouramis]

For breeding the gouramis how many fry on average would you say the Honey gouramis have? Would my current number of tanks manage those numbers until I can give them to a LFS or friends or would it still be large numbers of fish? 

[Breeding platys or Honey gouramis]

Thank you very this was very informative from what ready I could find the gouramis sounded difficult but interesting but I will definitely keep your advice in mind if I consider breeding them. As for the platys I was not aware of how truly fast they breed my sister keeps guppies and they do breed but so far her 20 gallon has been enough. But I think I’ll stick with the platys for breeding and just keep the honey gouramis as roommates to help keep my platy population manageable. 

[Breeding platys or Honey gouramis]

Got a 20 gallon long tank with nothing in it yet and a 10 gallon long with a betta and an Amani shrimp in it. I wanted to do a community tank for the 20 gallon but after reading on honey gouramis behavior they sounded like a really cool idea. I also wanted to do Platy fish as well in the same tank. My idea was to use a breeding box for the gourami and another one for the platy fry. My question would be to avoid overstocking the 20gallon could I wait for the platy fry to get big enough and put them in the betta tank which is heavily planted with caves for the shrimp already. Also the betta fish is pretty non aggressive he has had many roommates and all have done well with him.  But if not that should I just breed one fish or the other?