Dwarf Gourami

[Sum22]

I'm thinking about adding one to my 30g tank once I set it up. Anything special regarding water quality? pH? Plants? Or are they fine without any special accommodations?

When I was looking at them at Petsmart it said they needed aquarium salt. True or false?

In reading I've come across issue with aggression when they are kept in a small group, so is adding one fine?

Any information you can add would be greatly appreciated. I've done a lot of reading and everything says they have to have a heavily planted tank, which I'm not ready to tackle. Also, many sites recommend there should be more than one, but I don't want to deal with any aggression issues I keep reading about on this forum.

[Zagz]

They will be fine in stable water conditions. They are also fine in planted tanks or unplanted tanks. You do however need to have some hiding spots for them as do you for most fish. I would recommend only one, they are fine on their own. No aquarium salt is necessary for gourami's

[fearlessfisch]

So many of them die within a month or three, and the fish stores keep selling them despite knowledge of the widespread dwarf gourami disease. Please take a look at this article on imported fish and this terrible disease. If you do buy, I strongly suggest buying from a local breeder who can demonstrate to you that the stock is healthy over generations.

Aquarium trade may have spread gourami virus | Practical Fishkeeping magazine

Instead, consider the thick-lipped/non-dwarf variety of gouramis, which don't seem to be infected. I have a thick-lipped paradise who is just as pretty as the flame dwarfs, and healthy.

[fearlessfisch]

I found this link very interesting:

DwfGDis

Excerpts from the conversation:

.... DGD is apparently caused by a virus, so antibiotics do not help. DGD is practically ubiquitous in shipments of Dwarf Gouramis from Southeast Asia. One scientific study found almost 1 in 4 Dwarf Gouramis were infected with it. It is also EXTREMELY contagious, and as soon as one fish dies, the disease WILL spread, so that the entire batch of fish will be infected. For this reason, I personally recommend people NEVER buy Dwarf Gouramis from anywhere other than a local breeder. Truly, it just isn't worth it. If you want to keep a small gourami, skip Dwarf Gouramis (and their hybrids and variants, such as neon, robin, and sunset gouramis). Instead go for Colisa labiosus and Colisa fasciata (Thick-lipped Gourami and Banded Gourami respectively). These fish are similar but not affected by the disease. Your female gourami is, more than likely, infected and so doomed unless you separate the fish immediately and are extremely lucky. But the other fishes (including the pearl gouramis) should be fine. There's no sign that DGD spreads to fishes other than Dwarf Gouramis. Sorry to be the bearer of bad news....


......

Dwarf gouramis -- Colisa lalia -- are indeed extremely prone to bacterial and viral diseases collectively known as "Dwarf Gourami Disease" (DGD). These are a problem because of how the fish are farmed. The odds on a standard, store-bought dwarf gourami getting DGD is better than 50% unless the fish is kept in soft, acidic water at slightly higher than average temperature (~5 degrees GH, pH 6.0-6.5, 25-28 degrees C). Even under these optimal conditions, there's no guarantees your fish won't come down with DGD. It's really as simple as this. Now, as for treatment -- there isn't any. None. Zilch. Nada. When a dwarf gourami is infected, particularly with the viral form, well, that's it. The best you can do is destroy the fish painlessly. There's no recovery, and antibiotics (naturally, this being a viral disease) have no effect whatsoever. Nor does adding salt to the tank, prayer, or sacrificing a cock at the altar of Asklepios. Commercially-bred dwarf gouramis are, in my opinion, a total waste of time and money. Far, FAR better to buy one of the similar but infinitely more robust species like Colisa labiosus or Colisa fasciata. These have the same basic colour but are about a third to a half as big as the Dwarf gourami....

[meegosh]

After reading this I think I'm going to skip the dwarf gourami. I loved the one I had in my tank for over a year and a half. I'm now completely skeptical of buying one at a LFS. So pretty much any DG at a petsmart or petco has about a 50% chance of having this virus?

[CatatonicBug]

I got the Honey Sunset Gourami's from Petsmart, and ended up loosing 2 of 3 after about 6 months. The last one may have been my fault because I was not very educated at the time. I would not suggest putting a full sized gourami in a 30g tank though. That's a bit small for such a large fish IMO.

[Sum22]

ok, now I need to consider another showcase fishy. Suggestions that might get along well with my other planned fish?

Glass catfish, oto catfish, gold barbs, harlequin rasboras and 1 of something cool.

[meegosh]

Pair of blue rams? I'm not sure how they would get along with the barbs or rasboras. Just a suggestion, I'm thinking about getting a pair myself. I'd have to do some rearranging of the fish but I could get it to work.

[CatatonicBug]

Originally Posted by meegosh

Pair of blue rams? I'm not sure how they would get along with the barbs or rasboras. Just a suggestion, I'm thinking about getting a pair myself. I'd have to do some rearranging of the fish but I could get it to work.

Ooh! Good idea! They stay small enough and are really nice looking fish. They don't tend to be too aggressive, but I think they can hold their own against the smaller guys.

[Sum22]

Anything special to take care of German Blue rams? Aren't they prone to dying too?