3 Tropical Fish For Your Aquarium - The Gourami, The Black Moor and The Butterfly Loach

There are many types of tropical fish that you can buy for your fish tank, but did you know that not every fish will thrive under the same conditions?

While many can exist together in the same tank, each type has its own preferences as to food and water quality as well as the other fish that it gets along with. If you want to have a happy tank with healthy fish, you should learn about the preferences of each type before you introduce them into your tank so that you can be sure the fish is a good fit for your aquarium environment and community.

Some of the different tropical fish you might consider for your tank include the Gourami, the Black Moor Goldfish and the Butterfly Loach. Here is a little bit about each one and the kind of conditions they thrive in.

The Gourami

The Gourami comes in many different varieties, but the Blue Gourami is perhaps the most popular as it is a pale blue in color with three spots on the body. If you want to keep Gouramis then you should have a large aquarium because they can grow rather large. You’d do best to have a 50 gallon aquarium if you want to include a bunch of other types of fish as well. The water temperature is ideal between 70 and 82°F. You can feed your Gourami floating flake food as a primary diet with some freeze dried bloodworms and frozen brine shrimp as a treat.

When keeping Gouramis in a community tank of other tropical fish you should try to keep more than one variety as if you stick to just one variety they may gang up on your other fish. Other types of Gouramis seen in aquariums include the Gold Gourami and Opaline Gourami. You should keep a minimum of four of them in your tank preferably from different varieties. The Gourami will get along with many other types of fish including Clown Loaches, Red Tail Sharks, Rainbow Sharks, Bala Sharks, Barbs, Danios and Rainbows.

The Black Moor Goldfish

This beautiful fancy goldfish is a deep velvety black color with eyes that slightly popout from its head. This type of goldfish is rather hearty but like any other goldfish you have to take care to make sure he does not overeat as goldfish can really be pigs and it's not good for them to eat too much.

The Black Moor has bulbous eyes which cause them to not be able to see as good as the other fish and gives them a little bit of a handicap when it comes to feeding time. Also, it's a good idea to keep your aquarium free from obstructions that the fish may be able to hurt himself on.

The Black Moor prefers a tank that is between 65 and 72°F with a PH of 7. You should probably figure on about 10 gallons of water for each Black Moor goldfish that you want to keep in a tank. You can feed them the floating flakes and they also enjoy some vegetables as well as brine shrimp.

The Black Moor gets along with most fish and if you keep them with other varieties of goldfish they will all school together but be aware, he does like to dig and you may find him uprooting your plants and decorations.

The Butterfly Loach

The butterfly Loach can adapt to many aquarium conditions and can actually help you clean the tank as you will often see him sucking algae from the side of the tank thus giving you a great view of his underbelly. Some of them like to hide in the gravel and you will want to make sure that you have plenty of gravel on the bottom of the tank, but the tank temperature is not important as they can pretty much adapt to any temperature.

You can feed your butterfly Loach floating flake food and some occasional frozen foods like brine shrimp or Black worms.

The Butterfly Loach gets along pretty good with many of the other types of tropical fish including Gouramis, Goldfish, Rainbows, Danios, Barbs and Sharks. If you treat your Butterfly Loach properly he can grow to be 3 inches long and live for several years.

Choosing tropical fish that get along with each other is key to having harmony in your fish tank. In addition to picking fish that are compatible you also want to be sure to buy fish that are healthy and keep your tank water quality in tip top shape so that you fish will look their best and be their healthiest.