Sorry for all the random fish questions- I just want to get it right before I buy them!

My 2.5 ft tank is now set up, iv bought some live plants and a new filter and heater for it.

I love guppies so they will be my 1st choice. Then probably mollies, platys, neons and a plec.

What I was going to ask was about Gouramis. I want something colourful for my larger tank (wont be for a while yet). Can dwarf gouramis go with the above mentioned fish?

And for my larget tank (5ft) I ws thinking mayne a mixture of angel fish and something else. What can normal gouramis go with?

I am waiting on a tropical fish book, but they aren't very good at saying who can live with who!

And can someone rephrase this quote dumbed down a bit?! I cant get my head round it! Lol

''Length of tank * Width = Water surface area / 40 cm (standard) Now, divide the size, or the average, of the fish you want to add.

Example:
90(cm)* 35 (cm) = 3150(cm2) / 40 = 79 / 5(cm) = 15 fish''


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Thank you

Ok, so mollies or platys first. What about the plec? I don't like to leave it too long before putting the plec in, I do notice a difference with them eating away on the bottom of the tank Lol.

The tetras will be last as they are my wee boys birthday pressie in june. so i guess dwarf gouramis in middle then guppies. (i need to order in my colours anyway).

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Ok, thanks

The light with my tank doesn't work It's a built in one too. So until I can figure out how to get it fixed I've just bought an led strip fot the lid, and little led's to go in the bottom mind you, they won't be on much the tank gets enough natural light.
Can't wait to get it all organised and start adding fish

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I'd be careful, most plecs and characins do best in more acidic conditions whereas livebearers like platies prefer more neutral-alkaline conditions. Mollies also do best in water that contains a little salt.

As for the dwarf gouramis I would give these a miss, these fish aren't as hardy as they used to be and to be honest aren't worth the hassle. Try a pair of Honey gouramis instead.

As the calculation states the water surface of an aquarium is measured by multiplying the length of the tank by the width, this will give the surface area in cubic centimetres (cm3). Then simply divide this by 40 to give you the total combined length of the fish you can stock into the tank (excluding the caudal fin). If you are registered on Practical Fishkeeping magazine | tropical fish, marines, goldfish, ponds, piranhas then there is a stocking density calculator which has been very carefully put together by Matt Clarke.

Aahh, I get it now! Thanks.
Didn't know that about plecs, never had a problem keeping them with guppies, mollies and plattys before.

And as for the gouramis.. we went for a look in the garden centre today to see what they have.. it's quite limited in our area for fish and I refuse to buy anything alive from PaH, I was just lloking for fish who have lovely colours (does that sound silly?) I couldn't possibly have a tank and not have guppies so anythin else I get has to go with them. Lol

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