# survival rate in densely planted 55



## kicksilver (Aug 9, 2012)

I'm setting up a 55 gallon tank with a dwarf gourami, a samurai gourami, and some other undecided gourami of small demeanor. I will be keeping 7 or so platies, and a similar number of corydoras, as well as a bamboo shrimp.

The tank will be very densely planted (mainly with rotala rotundafolia), and have lots of hiding spots. I'm also going to be covering about half of the surface with water lettuce that would offer plenty of roots to hide in. Is it possible to tell ahead of time what the survival ratio for platy fry would be like in a setup like this?


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## jamnigh (Apr 24, 2013)

The more places to hide, the higher chance you have. You just need to make sure that they get fed as well, so feeding bbs or something like that will increase the chances of them getting food and not starving. I think you could have quite a few survive. Depending on the size of the gouramis, once the fry get to about half an inch they should be fine.


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## coralbandit (Jul 29, 2012)

The gouramis may well get them ,if their not to into beating each other!The more plants the better for the fry,as for gouramis.....Good luck?


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## henningc (Apr 17, 2013)

Wow, I have never had too many issues with gouramis being too aggressive other than an alpha male chasing the other males. I'd go with the Sparkling Gouramis, and a female dwarf.

As for platy fry surviving, feeding bbs and or micro worms will feed the fry and the rest of the fish. There is nothing on your list too large to eat these live foods. Also, the other fish will be stuffed and less likely to eat fry. For my livebearers those two live foods are their staple diet. I feed decapsulated bbs and flake food for filler. You may wish to add java moss to your plant list. Put a rock next to a lift tube and java on the front and back sides. This will give the fry somewhere other than the top to hang out.


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## jrman83 (Jul 9, 2010)

Gouramis are not aggressive toward other fish, just each other. I have learned my lesson a few times that multiple male dwarfs do not mix. The only way I would do again is with a 125g, 6ft tank. They don't bang on each and they will not show marks. They die from the stress caused by the other fish. They will just be dead one day and not have a single mark on them. I lost four to one male before I figured out what was going on in a 29g tank. 55g is too small and planted will help, but my 29g is heavily planted. They didn't seem to care about that part.

Watch the floating plants and their affect on other plants getting light. Having a higher light plant below will just mean it won't do well. Just a fyi.


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## majerah1 (Oct 29, 2010)

Gourami will fight if they dont have enough space. Then again they still may fight even if they do. You will surely have to watch them. I personally would pick one and only have it, and then other fish species.


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## kicksilver (Aug 9, 2012)

I decided to get a pearl instead of a samurai. I'm hearing that pearls are the least aggressive of gourami species, and wouldn't be bullied too much because they would be the largest of the bunch. For my third I'll be going with either a sparkling or a honey (whichever I can find first).

I've already got a dwarf, and he's always been my favorite fish, he's outlived every other fish I've kept, and he's even been through a cycle crash that killed off everything else in the tank. He knows when it's breakfast time, because he starts rapid-firing water out of his mouth until I feed him.


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