another question, and thanks for your help

Question
QUESTION: Hi, Renee.  I wanted to thank you again for your honesty about my daughters tank (pushing the limits of a ten gallon).  I think we're not going to add anything else to that tank for now.  When we switched tanks, I kept her 5 gallon tank for myself and left it heating and running in case I wanted my own fish.  Well, I went to my lfs and met with the owner to find out what would be good for it and ended up going with a dwarf gourami thats just a great little guy.  I now know that the 5 gallon is the bare minimum for a dwarf gourami and most people think its too small, but he seems happy (i had gotten him before I got your advice on LFS owners).  Question is, I would love a "cleaner fish" for this tank and need some direction.  I don't trust my local experts as much anymore.  I know ottos are small, but they really need to be kept in groups which would put me over 1" per gallon.  I really love the panda cory and I think it only gets about 2" which would only put me at 4" for the tank.  Would one be a good choice to help clean (plus they look really cool), or can they even be kept alone?  Again, any help for this rookie will be greatly appreciated.  By the way, everything I read about dwarf gouramis being timid and easily frightened does not apply to this little guy.  If you dip your fingertip in the water, he comes up and rubs his back and sides against it.  Love this fish.

ANSWER: Hi Jason,

It sounds like your little guy has bonded with you because he doesn't have a school to bond with.  Although Gouramis aren't necessarily "school oriented", they do like the company of others.  It's neat he's friendly.

If you want a small fish to clean up, the cory would be fine. two would be fine.  This is a five gallon tank and that will push limits, but long as your filter is rated for 10 to 20 gallons, you should be okay.

Remember, filters are generally very under-rated.

If you haven't taken a look at kuli loaches, you might consider one of those instead.  Not only are they fantastic at cleaning up the bottom of tanks, but they are really neat to look at.  They come in albino (with stripes) and black and white striped and in brown as well.  I have 2 and they are very peaceful.  

Corys are fine, but they will exceed the tank, eventually.  Make sure filtration is ample to handle 2 more fish.

Good luck and I hope it helped.

Happy fish-keeping!

Renee

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


sarge the d.g.   QUESTION: If I decide not to get a "cleaner fish", what would you suggest that can get by without any more of its species in the tank to keep my gourami (Sarge) company?  It seems like everthing under 2" needs a school or shoal.  I attached the best picture I could get of him coming up to play.

Answer
Well, he certainly is cute!  Look at that!

Not afraid one bit.  :)

http://www.tropicalfishforum.net/photopost/data/500/Picture_069.jpg Kuli Loach.

You could put in a kuli loach, a corydora, a couple snails (snails can go in up to 2 for your tank without counting them as fish), and you can always get a Cherry Barb pair, or Zebra Danios, or Leopard Danios.

Have you considered adding a couple ghost shrimp?  You could add them for about fifty cents each and they don't count as fish either.

He would enjoy having another dwarf gourami, perhaps the same kind, or a different color, such as the powder blue or the sun colorations.  Just make sure to get him another male.  Putting a female in would be a haineous mistake, as the male will torture her to death.  Females are very plain in coloration.  Males are colorful.  They are easy to distinguish when next to each other.

I hope that helps...and thankyou very much for the photo.  He's quite adorable.

Happy fish-keeping!

Renee