Stocking Question

mischievouscat

I had two sparkling gouramis and an otocinclus catfish in a 5.5, but my oto randomly died the other day. No idea WHY. He was healthy, swimming around and eating, the day before. I check him the next morning, and... not so much. Water parameters were fine. The gouramis were fine, and still are. I'm not gonna stress about the oto too much, as I've heard they sometimes do that?

My question is whether I could add anything in a 5.5 gallon with my two sparklers, and if so, what. Another sparkler, maybe?

And, say I updated my 5.5 to a ten gallon, which I'm thinking of doing, how would that change my stocking options?

iamntbatman

What kind of substrate do you have? You could probably get away with 6 or 8 pygmy cories. In a 10g, you could probably get regular-sized cories. The cories stay at the bottom and the gouramis mostly up top, so they should make a good combo. Sand would be ideal for cories, although smooth gravel also works.

Oldman47

At 10 gallons, you could probably add in 4 or 5 pygmy cories. In the 5.5 I think I would hold your stocking level on the light side like it is now.

mischievouscat

I have medium-sized gravel, unfortunately, which means cories are probably a no-go. Man, I wish changing substrate was easier. I'd switch to a dark-colored sand for the pygmy cories and to highlight the sparklers better. Oh well!

I think I may go with a Sparkling Gourami species tank, since my substrate is too rough for cories. Someone suggested this on another forum, and the idea is growing on me. I love these fish. Five sparklers should work nicely in a ten gallon.