Need to know if okay

[ladystetson]

[font="Comic Sans MS"]Hello everyone. I have a 20 gal which has an 8" zig zag eel, pleco, and 2 female gouramis, one gold and one white. I can only have larger fish or the eel will eat them, as I have learned the hard way. I would like one more female gourami of a diff color. The eel was a gift so I can't just trade him in. (I do have a 10 gal hex also with small fish.)

Here are my questions. The newer gold chases the white but the white doesn't seem to be afraid and will just swim away then swim back close by. They are equal in size (about 2 1/2" ea). Is this chasing between females normal?

The white constantly eats my plants and the gold doesn't touch them. I use spirulina wafers especially for the pleco and the eel is hand fed blood worms, in addition to flake food, which everyone shares in the loose food. Does this plant eating indicate a vitamin deficiency?

Thanx so much for your advice.

[joy613]

Your zig zag eel can get up to 35 inches but usually stay around 20, depending on the type of pleco it can range from about 4 inches to over 20 inches. Gourami's are very territorial so I wouldn't get any more even if it is a female. For a 20 gallon tank you should figure on 20 inches of fish adult size. Most of my fish will pick algae off my plants but never seem to do any real damage to them.

[chefrossco]

if the " white" gourami is a kissing then they do tend to eat plants i have two and you need to get really tough fast growing plants to survive. the chasing is normal, mine do it every 1/2 hour or so and its nothing to worry about. just keep an eye on the eel!

[TabMorte]

You can put fresh veggies in the tank for your plant eaters... like cucumber, zuchinni and spinach, and they might eat that instead of the plants.

I'm afraid you're going to need a bigger tank for the eel and the plect... and heck the kissing gourami (I've seen them get pretty darn big too!).