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Hello,
I have a P. cf. bintan in a 30 liter tank. Ruinemans has the bintans at this moment, so I would like to get a small group, but I feel the 30 litre tank would be overcrowded with 5 paros, so I want to use my 50 litre tank for them. The tank is blackwater, but has a honey gourami in it, would it be possible to combine the honey gourami with the Parosphromenus? The rest of the stocking is 5x Pangio semicincta and 2 Hyphessobrycon amandae, although I doubt those would give any problems.1. The 30 liter is not overcrowded by 5 Paros. Mind, that s small cave is heaven on earth for a pair of them. In nature, they live in small groups mostly in an space not much bigger than a small tank. Here, all enimies are missing. More space is possible but makes Paro-care more difficult. When the first pair starts breeding, than the three other fish will be forced to a corner, however. This could make the 50 liter a preference.
2. The honey gourami is a fish that will never occur in oligotrophic blackwater streams but in eutrophic ponds and rice fields. It’s a completely unecological combination. And H. amandae? Why that? Mind that Paros are highly endangered fish, and the Parosphromenus Project does not recommend to use them as ornamental inhabitants of nice community tanks. If this is your aim, take south American Nannostomus-species.
3. The Pangios, if they stand the highly demineralized milieu of the blackwater tank, will certainly have the effect that no young will grow up in your tank.
So, you should decide what you want. You did not speak about plants; I am afraid that is a further problem. You said “The tank is blackwater”, but you seem to be not conscious of what that means and what you really want.With Blackwater, I mean low ph, low kh & gh, and colored water. The plants are a couple of cryptocorynes and some vallisneria. The amandaes are the “leftovers” of a group that I used to have, and since they benefit from Blackwater environments, I decided to keep them. The honey gourami, although not native to Blackwater environments, does seem to benefit from it, as the coloration, appetite and activity instantly increased.
However, I understand the fact that the fry will be eaten by the tankmates, and that’s not what I want.
I will try to exchange my 30x30cm tank for a 40×25 cm, as the footprint is 11% bigger (thus more suitable for a group), but the volume is nearly the same. Of course, my intention is breeding them, but sadly, my female died a couple months ago, and I haven’t been able to find them until now.And, just in case you think I’m not keeping the Parosphromenus the right way:
My tank is 80-90% RO water, using black peat as a ph stabilizer, and rooibos tea to colour the water. The bottom is completely covered in oak leaves. There is one fairly big piece of driftwood where the paros can hide behind, and some loose pieces of spiderwood. The vegetation consists of floating plants (Pistia stratiotes, I believe) and java moss that took over a part of the tank, when I only put 2-3 “strings” in the tank.
This is (part of) the tank:Dear Maestro,
Your tank does indeed look very good! It is parially surprising that your plants grow so well… many (including myself) experience little growth and sometimes algae overtaking most of a tank. But you seem to be lucky! Also your male looks beautifully colored.The tank you have is definitely large enough even for larger groups producing offspring. My tweediei are currently in a 25 liter tank and a 20 l. In the larger one, at least 4 males and 4 females are adult and from time to time, some of the offspring grow up. I guess at the time there are about 8 adults and 5+ subadults in it without problems.
I would only maybe consider not interbreeding your new bintan with the old cf. bintan male in case that they are not the same form/species. In that case you could easily keep the male with the other fish in your larger tank.
The main problem with keeping paros with other species is that often, freshly hatched offspring will be eaten by the other fish. H. amandae wont hesitate going after yout bintan fry i guess. Therefore, species tanks are favorable unless you know that there are always enough offspring to keep your stock alive.
Greetings Rafael
Thanks for the very informative response. I thank the plant growth to the 18w light I’m using. It’s dimmed to about 60%, which is perfect for plant growth and fish coloration, yet not so bright that the fish hides all the time.
I’ve had some algae that came with the java moss, but they died without me having to do anything.
I’ve tried several strains of Pistia stratiotes, and all died, but I found this giant plant at the garden center, that was supposed to be used in ponds. It grew so well that I have some in my 50 litre as well.
The thing I love about this tank, is that it’s sustaining itself. I hardly feed the fish, as the vegetation promotes the growth of microorganisms.
The bintan I can get are from the same dealer, and the same catch location as the bintan I have, but I’ll follow your advice.
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