Sora Posted April 25, 2023 Share Posted April 25, 2023 (edited) I recently picked up a 9 gallon tank off of Facebook marketplace. it was nasty and smelly and I don't even think it had a filter. It had 6 (miraculously alive fish in them which I will be giving to my lfs. I'm planning on tearing it down and rescaping it. I'm thinking of stocking it with 3-4 sparkling gouramis and 10 cherry shrimp. I have heard mixed opinions about sparkling gourami tank sizes so I wanted to make sure that would be good stocking for a nine gallon. thanks 🙂 Edited April 25, 2023 by Sora 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CJs Aquatics Posted April 25, 2023 Share Posted April 25, 2023 Planning to use live plants at all? What type of tank set up? What will you use for filtration. My initial thought is it sounds like not a problem at all if it’s adequately filtered with perhaps added plant filtration for some line of sight breaks. I would let the shrimp establish a bit first before adding the fish as a general rule of thumb. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sora Posted April 25, 2023 Author Share Posted April 25, 2023 I'm gonna be using a cycled sponge filter thats rated fr 20-30 gallons. im planning on using as many live plants as I can get my hands on but I currently have a few huge anubias to put in there. also what do you mean by tank set up? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lennie Posted April 25, 2023 Share Posted April 25, 2023 (edited) On 4/25/2023 at 8:14 PM, Sora said: I recently picked up a 9 gallon tank off of Facebook marketplace. it was nasty and smelly and I don't even think it had a filter. It had 6 (miraculously alive fish in them which I will be giving to my lfs. I'm planning on tearing it down and rescaping it. I'm thinking of stocking it with 3-4 sparkling gouramis and 10 cherry shrimp. I have heard mixed opinions about sparkling gourami tank sizes so I wanted to make sure that would be good stocking for a nine gallon. thanks 🙂 I have 3 sparkling gouramis in my planted 33g tank, and every morning, they fight for territory. So many circling around each other and croaks. I think I have 2 males and 1 female. If you have a chance to choose 1m:2f, maybe it may work, but they are hard to sex. Otherwise, I think you may potentially face issues because they like having their own kind to socialise but also their own territory in my experience. 9g is considerably small for a group of territorial fish. Besides their small size, due to their behavior, I think they should be kept in bigger tanks. Also they are always on hunting mood, very curious. So they will surely eat baby shrimp. Edited April 25, 2023 by Lennie Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sora Posted April 25, 2023 Author Share Posted April 25, 2023 On 4/25/2023 at 1:31 PM, Lennie said: I have 3 sparkling gouramis in my planted 33g tank, and every morning, they fight for territory. So many circling around each other and croaks. I think I have 2 males and 1 female. If you have a chance to choose 1m:2f, maybe it may work, but they are hard to sex. Otherwise, I think you may potentially face issues because they like having their own kind to socialise but also their own territory in my experience. 9g is considerably small for a group of territorial fish. Besides their small size, due to their behavior, I think they should be kept in bigger tanks. Also they are always on hunting mood, very curious. So they will surely eat baby shrimp. good to know, ill deferentially keep that in mind. 👍 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lennie Posted April 25, 2023 Share Posted April 25, 2023 They also LOOVE playing around plants, and really like the long amazon frogbit/water lettuce roots! So def consider heavily planted tank with lot of dense floating plants with long roots! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sora Posted April 26, 2023 Author Share Posted April 26, 2023 On 4/25/2023 at 2:56 PM, Lennie said: They also LOOVE playing around plants, and really like the long amazon frogbit/water lettuce roots! So def consider heavily planted tank with lot of dense floating plants with long roots! Thats great! I have some overgrown frogbit in my main tank that would be perfect. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CrashBandit05 Posted April 26, 2023 Share Posted April 26, 2023 Just my .02 with my own experiences with a 9gallon. You can certainly keep nano fish and they will live.. but it's a very small habitat. Add tons of plants, driftwood, rocks, etc and then space becomes very limited. I'd definitely start with a shrimp colony then maybe get one centerpiece fish to keep shrimp population in check. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sora Posted April 26, 2023 Author Share Posted April 26, 2023 (edited) my other thoughts were 3 pea puffers, or maybe 2 shell dwellers m to f 1:1 ratio. But im not sure about the shell dwellers because ive heard they need a 20 gallon tank. Edited April 26, 2023 by Sora Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sora Posted April 28, 2023 Author Share Posted April 28, 2023 I think I have decided on 6-7 neon tetras and one sparkling gourami. can I keep just one sparkling gourami by itself? Will it be ok? just checking before I buy anything Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lennie Posted April 28, 2023 Share Posted April 28, 2023 On 4/28/2023 at 7:08 PM, Sora said: I think I have decided on 6-7 neon tetras and one sparkling gourami. can I keep just one sparkling gourami by itself? Will it be ok? just checking before I buy anything I wanna say no sadly. Coming from a person who keep his honey gourami as a single centerpiece fish. I believe sparkling gouramis need a group because they constantly socialize in my experience as I mentioned above. I feel like dwarf gouramis are the ones that are the most suitable to be kept alone between gouramis. Not sure if 9g would be sufficient for one, I have never kept gouramis anything smaller than a 29g myself. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sora Posted April 28, 2023 Author Share Posted April 28, 2023 ok cool thanks! are there any other centerpiece fish that would be suitable? or just make a bigger neon tetra school. also ya, im pretty sure that dwarf gouramis would get to big. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JettsPapa Posted April 28, 2023 Share Posted April 28, 2023 On 4/28/2023 at 12:51 PM, Sora said: ok cool thanks! are there any other centerpiece fish that would be suitable? or just make a bigger neon tetra school. also ya, im pretty sure that dwarf gouramis would get to big. I would stick with just 10-12 neons (and of course the shrimp, there's always room for shrimp). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lennie Posted April 28, 2023 Share Posted April 28, 2023 I know you already have one, but if you ask me, I would just keep another betta. Idk, I am in love with these guys' puppy behavior already. Hand feeding mine twice a day, he gets super excited to see me. I'm looking forward to get another one really. My schooling fish literally couldn't care less to see me everyday lol. The only schooling fish really seems to bother caring looks like silver tip tetras. Or maybe I haven't seen anything else with such behavior. Bettas are so unique and fun. I would love to have many more 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sora Posted April 28, 2023 Author Share Posted April 28, 2023 On 4/28/2023 at 2:15 PM, Lennie said: I know you already have one, but if you ask me, I would just keep another betta. Idk, I am in love with these guys' puppy behavior already. Hand feeding mine twice a day, he gets super excited to see me. I'm looking forward to get another one really. My schooling fish literally couldn't care less to see me everyday lol. The only schooling fish really seems to bother caring looks like silver tip tetras. Or maybe I haven't seen anything else with such behavior. Bettas are so unique and fun. I would love to have many more I was actually thinking that too! I might just move my betta from my 20g to the 9g. I already know shes not very aggressive so it would work out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
.thumb.jpeg.52e1af4ed2a0e3c76dd096691185f98b.jpeg)
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now