I got my first few tropicals today - for my brand new, fully cycled 30g.

I got 6 Cardinal Tetras, and 2 Kissing Gouramis.

2 Tetras dead within 3 hours of being put in the tank (I had to go out, so I didn't see how). I live 5 mins drive from LFS, so I am on the same water supply as them, and they even tested my parameters before I bought the fish - so I don't think it was any chemical problem...

I'm gonna keep an eye on those gouramis! :angry:

Good luck!

Sorry to hear about your experiance with tropicals but don't feel to bad as cardinal tetras and neon tetras especially are notorious for dying off with any stress/change. I've found that the best way to deal with this is to find out when the LFS is getting a new shippment in and then waiting for a week or two to let the ones that aren't strong enough die off at the LFS and then buying some tetras. When acclimating them to your tank it works well to slowly, over the course of a couple hours, add tank water in very small incements to the bag ( that you should have floating/ attached in the tank they are going to be put it) you brought them home in.

Yea, neons and cardinals can be bad that way. I wouldn't worry about it too much unless the gouramis start to look bad.

dont feel bad, my guppies did that a few years ago... within 2 hours all but 2 out of the 10 were dead, and one more died taht night, needless to say I had a little return trip to the store

Oh dear.... With tropical fish buying, I don't know how good your LFS is about giving advice or did you ask for any? Prior to buying fish, I would suggest you do a little bit more reading about the species you intend to buy before getting what you think is "cute" and colourful. Keeping tropical fish well is about learning the needs of each individual species and their compatibility with each other and not about mixing and matching whatever takes your fancy.

"Kissing gouramis" are one of the WORST candidates for a peaceful tropical tank!! They get HUGE (and I mean like 6inches) within a 2year period, have a long lifespan of up to 10 years (!!!) and are NASTY. They're not "Cute"... They are MEAN! They're not "kissing", they're sparring! Neons and cardinals don't stand a chance with these gouramis.

With a kissing gourami as an occupant in the tank, it pretty much rules out a whole list of small peaceful tropical fish. Rather hard to put together a 'community' tank for long term harmony with one of them B*STARDS in there.

Sorry 'bout the rant.... Kissing gouramis and Chinese Algae Eaters are just a few fish I really don't like how the Aquarium Fish Industry markets them as.

kev

Sorry to hear about your fish
i wish you good luck!

I have to agree with KevKoi that gourami's can fight if you get a pair of males, but I have a pair of females (the store has had them for a while, and both have had young) - so they are very peaceful. Although they "pucker" their mouths in a kiss shape, they don't actually kiss each other (which is when they fight)...

My LFS told me they could grow as much a 10" within 3 years, and have an average lifespan of 10 years - so I am as much informed as I think I need to be. The thing I didn't know, is that tetras - especially neon and cardinal varieties, need well matured water to live in. By putting them in really clean water (which would be great for goldfish), I was actually reducing their chances of survival!

I've learned from my mistakes, and I now have a thriving pair of mollies, 3 remaining tetras, my gorgeous gouramis and 19 baby mollies about to transfer to a 10g holding tank until they grow large enough to do something with.

I love gouramis, but I didn't wonna get the big ones, so I got myself 2 peacock and one blue one (all dwarf) in with my tropicals. The rest of the fish have quite a few hiding spots between all the plants, but here and there I see the gouramis bothering one or two of the tropicals.