Fish compatibility

[Scottishnewbie]

I got some new fish for my tank today. I bought a Betta, zebra danios and rainbow something's. I will attach pictures. Do you think I'm going to have problems? Other tank mates are dwarf honey gouramis, neons, bristle nose, diamond terra, black diamond tetras and corys.

 

[Scottishnewbie]

Anyone help?

Advice much appreciated.

 

[tamtam]

What is the size of the tank and can you give an exact count of how many of each fish? It will be easier to give complete advice with this info.

Right off the bat though you should not have the betta in there. Betta can sometimes fair well in community settings but with a gourami in there I wouldn't expect it to last long with out issues.

 

[tamtam]

It's also hard to tell from the pix, but are the rainbows you are talking about Celebes Rainbows??

these - Tropical Fish for Freshwater Aquariums: Celebes Rainbowfish

 

[Samzter]

Black diamond tetras may like the bettas fins

 

[Scottishnewbie]

They are tamtam. I've just checked.

My tank is 180 litres, got live plants, caves and driftwood.
I have 6 diamond tetras, 10 zebra danios, 6 Celebes rainbows, one bristle nose, 5 cories, 3 dwarf honey gouramis and the Betta. All seem fine so far but I can easily remove the Betta and put him in a 30 litre tank on his own if uku guys think its a good idea.

 

[Hobgob]

I would remove the Betta. It is a nice sized tank do I would still say you have room to add fish but the gourami and Betta are pretty similar and won't be good together. Also those little fishes will probably be able to nip the Betta fins pretty easily since he can't swim that fast to get away.

 

[j_diaz01]

Betta and gouramis are both the same type of fish so they naturally see each others as competition for territory.

 

[Cynic]

Your betta will 90% be dead within a week with that stocking

 

[Pipedreamer86]

I can tell you from experience that you MAY run into issues with 3 honey gouramis in the same tank. I had 3 honeys together for quite some time. They started off great friends, together all the time, then out of nowhere after about 3 months of harmony problems began. I never witnessed actual aggression but there was definitely an alpha male and he stressed the others out horribly.

 

[Scottishnewbie]

My gouramis are one male and 2 females. Does the help to avoid aggression?

 

[tamtam]

My gouramis are one male and 2 females. Does the help to avoid aggression?

It can. I mean there is always that chance that you get a butt head fish, they all have their own characters and sometimes you just get stuck with a butt head. Though honeys are one of the few gourami that seem to have repeated success in numbers. I think provided you have good hiding space and with the M to F ratio it should really help and you stand a good chance of it working. As they mature the dynamics could change but I would try adding more decor/plants/cover if the problem arises. Most of my issues like this that have popped up with my gouramis are often solved with a change to the environment.

You could try and keep the betta in there but as mentioned there is a good bet it won't work long term. If you have another tank that you can move him to you can do that now or try and see if it works but I would pay very close attention. Some of the fish in your tanks can be fin nippers and gouramis are typically a big no no to bettas. You do have good numbers though and that's a plus.

 

[Hobgob]

My gouramis are one male and 2 females. Does the help to avoid aggression?

Honeys are dwarf gouramis right? If not I am sorry. But if they are how did you manage to get two females? Dwarf females are all just grey and dull in colour are they not? I was looking for a female for a good two to three months trying to get one ordered in and was told that he couldn't get any. I wouldn't want you to have all males and the worker said they picked out male and females. Normally stores dont have female dwarf gouramis.

 

[tamtam]

Honeys are dwarf gouramis right? If not I am sorry. But if they are how did you manage to get two females? Dwarf females are all just grey and dull in colour are they not? I was looking for a female for a good two to three months trying to get one ordered in and was told that he couldn't get any. I wouldn't want you to have all males and the worker said they picked out male and females. Normally stores dont have female dwarf gouramis.

No they are different fish. They are pretty similar as they are similar size and with all of the color morphs of each it can be hard to really know but honeys are different than dwarfs.

Dwarfs are more "round" they look a little squished from front to back and honeys are a bit more slender.. sort of like a gold gourami. They are often mistaken for each other and I've seen my LPS sell honeys are dwarfs a few times.

 

[Luananeko]

Bettas can do just fine with gourami, but do keep an eye on them just to be sure. I have a King Betta in with a mix of 5 gourami (2 blue, 2 opaline, 1 pearl) with zero issues whatsoever. I also have guppies in there too, which are supposedly another big no-no with bettas. Again, no one has issues with anyone, and they've been like that for over 6 months without even any flaring after the first week of establishing ranks/territories. It all comes down to fish personalities combined with how you introduce them.

 

[ktomminello]

I have successfully kept betta and gourami together, and it is not for the average hobbyist. I will never say that it CANNOT work, because it can. However your decorations with hiding spots must be kept where your fish can be alone and call home. Your tank sounds semi aggressive to aggressive, in which you're going to need a lot of space and a lush vegetative environment- think dark water, reeds and broad leaf plants with lots of grass and moss, driftwood and lava rock. This on top of a watchful eye for aggression and fin nipping- especially with your betta- once fin rot sets in your betta will be pretty much doomed, that is if he's being nipped, and it happens FAST- lost one in 2 days to it. Good luck and keep us posted!!

 

[Scottishnewbie]

So far so good!! Everybody seems to ignoring each other so fingers crossed!
Thanks for advice everybody x

 

[Wiggles24]

I have also kept betas with gouramis and honestly I have never had an issue. I would keep an eye on it though

 

[Hobgob]

So I was at my lfs yesterday and learnt something. Red honey gouramis are the ones with the red line kind of like dwarf gouramis. Well these gouramis are a mix between The dwarf and the normal honey gourami. These fish are super aggressive towards each other. the normally gold honeys are not. I saw some honeys yesterday so I just had to ask why the red ones looked different. Apparently the true honey is a lot more friendly towards itself and other fish or the same species where the red ones are super aggressive due to the dwarf bit in them...