milindsaraswala

I have setup my 8 gallon aquarium before 10 days with 9 tiger barbs and 1 honey garoumi and 1 blue garoumi. Now I want to plant some aquatic plants. I don't know about it anything. I like small plants like grass on the bottom surface of the tank. can somebody will help me starting with and what things I should need.

goalcreas

Way too many fish for that sized tank and for it being so new.
Plus the Tiger barbs alone will outgrow that tank.
I am not sure, but I think the garoumi will also outgrow that tank.
You need to slow down when adding fish, they will all die with the lack of a nitrifying bacteria.
It takes time to build that up.
If you can, take some fish back to the pet store, leaving in just one or two to cycle the tank.

milindsaraswala

I am doing water change every 12 hrs if needed I am changing water 3 hrs and also feeding them less and Using Prime water conditioner untill now all is okay. What do u say should give back to LFS

goalcreas

Well 8 gallon is very small tank and tiger barbs get pretty big and are very messy.
They will need at least a 20 gallon for 8 of them, but bigger then that would be better IMO.
I think the guorami's get quite big, bigger then Tiger barbs but I don't know for sure.
It is possible that changing your water that often will slow down the cycle of your tank and it may never completely cycle and you will need to keep up those water changes for the life of the tank.

I just suggest you take back the tiger barbs so that you don't have to change the water that often and you can properly cycle the tank, but I am not sure if the Guorami's can handle the cycle, I am not sure how hardy they are, I have never kept them.

milindsaraswala

Thing is that I have read some where in forum and Internet that if your water parameter of ammonia find high then you should change water thats y I am changing

goalcreas

That is right, but when you start a tank you only put in a fish or two so that you can slowly build up the bacteria that converts the ammonia to Nitrite to Nitrate. Right now you have so many fish that your ammonia is building up quickly, then you have to do water change, but you are removing the ammonia that the bacteria need to eat so they can start a colony.
I know it is hard to understand sometimes with all the information that is out there, but I think this might be a problem to a disaster for you the way it is now.

milindsaraswala

That means what I am doing in that way cycle will not complete and I have to compulsorily get rid of some fish to cycle.

I want to know if also cycle take long time i can keep fish please advice me

cs_gardener

I'm not familiar with the honey gourami, but the blue gourami can easily reach 5+ inches long and will be quite crowded in an 8 gallon tank. Will you be upgrading to a larger tank soon? If not you should return the fish you have and get something that will stay small enough to be suitable in your tank.

What type of light and substrate do you have? In order to grow a low, grass-type carpet you'll need fairly good light and a substrate with a small enough grain-size that the roots and runners can grow through it easily. There are many ways to approach growing plants from high tech to El Natural. The best thing to do is read through the forums, especially the stickies and see what level of care and maintenance your willing to do.

hoppycalif

Tiger barbs are beautiful, entertaining, and vicious monsters! In that size tank, and probably even in a big tank, they will harass the gouramis until they kill them. Then, my experience has been that the barbs will begin playing "king of the hill", harassing the weakest of the group until it dies, followed by the next weakest, etc. until only one is left. Then, the "winner" will get so lonely he will soon join his brothers in fish heaven.

You might assume I don't like Tiger barbs. I love them, but never again will I watch them play that game.