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Ok, I've been toying with ideas, but I really don't have an afermative answer for my 15 gallon tank (fake plants, dark blue gravel, cave & driftwood for shelters). I plan on trying the fishless cycling, and I'm not in a big hurry anyways to buy fish.

So, what are my options, fishwise? I prefer community/schooling/peaceful fish, but if there are some common, neat fish that would be happy in a 15 gallon, I would be interested in hearing those options also.

Thanks for your advice!!!

-Silver

dwarf gouramis, small tetras, ram cichlids, flagfish, cory cats, swordtails, mollies, a betta, guppies, platy's.
if your willing to search a lot, you can't beat killies for bright colorful fish for small tanks, they're just impossible to find.

proud father of a bunch of baby haps. http://picasaweb.google.com/Sktchy/BABIES

Part of me wants to try something new, but I do have a soft spot for gouramis...I dunno really. If I got a gourami(s), what kind would be happy in a 15 gallon, and what other tankmates could it/they have?

depends on what you like, honey gourami's, sparkling gourami's , or if you really want a challenge, chocolate gourami's.
there's also a particular one that I have only seen for sale as "dwarf gourami's" the species is Colisa lalia.

as for tankmates, most gourami's aren't very aggresive, and I've never seen one of the smaller species beat up another fish. that said you might want to avoid excessively small fish like mosquito livebearers, and don't expect any livebearers fry to survive. cory cats work well.

if you really want to try something odd, try some bumblebee gobies, they never breach a couple of inches, and they have alot of personality.

proud father of a bunch of baby haps. http://picasaweb.google.com/Sktchy/BABIES

I have a pair of Dwarf "Sunset" Gouramis in my 20 gallon and they are quite the neat little fish. I have never seen those other gouramis at my LFS (Petco) and I don't know where else to look. I found my dwarfs to be easy keepers, but I had tried the Powder Blue Dwarf and he didn't fair too well at all.

Could I put a pair of dwarfs or one of the kinds you mentioned in a 15 gallon, along with a school of say, 6 tetras?

probably not, you'd be risking over stocking it.
except in the case of sparkling gouramis since they only get to about the size of a neon, or a little bit bigger.

proud father of a bunch of baby haps. http://picasaweb.google.com/Sktchy/BABIES

Hm...ok. Would a duo of gouramis be fine then?

as long as they are dwarfs it should be fine, you don't want to try anything like a pearl or three spot in a 15, but the dwarfs should do great, also, non-schooling smaller fish tend to make good tankmates, so in example, a trio of platies or flagfish should work well if you want tankmates for the gouramis.

also, khuli loaches make good cleanup crew along with otocinclus in a small tank, about three of each should do the trick.

proud father of a bunch of baby haps. http://picasaweb.google.com/Sktchy/BABIES

I would definately stick with smaller species with this tank, Tetras and the like.

17 years experience with freshwater.

Right, I was thinking dwarf gouramis...nothing big.

Lol, I don't know! I've been chasing ideas from livebearers to rainbowfish and I just don't know what to pick! I tried barbs, and I liked them, but I think I would like to stay away from them this time.

Does anyone here have any good experiences with some smaller fish that they're willing to tell, or have a preference? I would love to here what other members here have had and what they enjoyed most about that specific fish.

I'm a barb fan but it seems you've already ruled them out .

I'd have suggested my classic favorit for smaller tanks of planted (real or fake) with school of gold barbs and some WCMM. If planted and with good filtration you should be fine with some bottom dwellers too. Ottos if acclimated right (they like lower temps just like gold barbs and WCMM) or even a few small corys although they're SA and the others are asian.

^_^

You should be fine with a pair of smaller Gourami (Chocolate, Honey, Dwarf), just make sure you don't get two males as they will probably fight. If you're getting Dwarf Gourami's you'll probably want one male and one female, purely because the males are more colourful (personally I'd want one of each sex regardless).

If you want smaller fish, I highly recommend the Galaxy Rasboras if you can find them. They only grow to about 1.5cm but they are absolutely stunning, but they are quite pricey at the moment.

My advice for this sort of question is to have a look at the profiles section on this site, have a look round a few stores in your area and see what takes your fancy. Then let us know what has caught your attention and you'll find plenty of people here who can advise you with what is compatible with what etc etc.