compatability

Question
QUESTION: Hi,
im setting up my 30 gallon tropical tank, aand i think i have fianlly figured out what fish i want to have.

i currently have:
6 glofish (zebra danio)
1 albino bristlenosed pleco
1 ottocinclus

i want to add:
1 pair or rams (blue or gold)
3 dwarf gouramis

my quastions are:
can i mix a gold and blue ram? coulourwise, what would be the best combo for male and female?

can all my gouramis be male? i never see females in the shops, and the males in there seem fine together.

i also wanted to add killifish. do you have any recommendations?

would a betta be ok in this aquarium? or  is he too territorial?

thanks,
Mike

ANSWER: Hi Mike,
 Gold and blue rams are just color varieties of the same fish so there is no problem in mixing them.  

 Yes, all your gouramis can be male.

 There are far too many killifish for me to recommend one over another; each is interesting in its own way.  

 A single betta will probably be okay, but be sure that you have lots of plants and other structure in the tank to break up the space and provide cover for any fish that needs a place to hide.  

-- Ron
  rcoleman@cichlidresearch.com
  Cichlid Research Home Page <http://cichlidresearch.com>


---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: Hi,

i ended up getting two blue rams yesterday, and they are great, but the male has a tiny bit of fin rot i think. will this go away on its own? i heard rams are sensitive to meds

my lfs had golden wonders, green tiko, and ijebu ode killifish. i herad they can be bullies. are any of these ones not good choices for me? what can you tell me about the ijebu ode? they were my favorite and i can not find anything about them online.

and i saw dwarf rainbow fish, but they do not look colourful. will they get colourful later?

thanks
mike

Answer
Hi Mike,
  I would keep an eye on the ram and hopefully that will go away. Most cases of "fin rot" on cichlids are not fin rot at all, but rather the result of one fish biting another.

  I couldn't tell you about those killis. There are hundreds of species. You will have more luck
finding out about them if you can find the scientific name -- common names are pretty useless for killis because lots of people just make up names.

 Many rainbow fish start out less colorful and get much more colorful as they get older and larger.

-- Ron
  rcoleman@cichlidresearch.com
  Cichlid Research Home Page <http://cichlidresearch.com>