Flame honey gourami , new fish questions

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Aliray

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So yesterday I bought a young male flame honey gourami. from petco for my 10 gal tank. He was hiding a fair amt yesterday but today is exploring his tank. His tank mates are 5 harlequin rasboras and 1 false julli cory. The tank is right near my recliner and today I saw one of the rasboras laying eggs on a plastic plant. I thought they they were still too young, but apparently not. So besides his breakfast of flakes he is now enjoying fresh caviar and picking the plants clean:lol: He is the first gourami I have ever had and I am already infatuated. Any hints or information on how to take care of them and what you feed yours would be appreciated. The only changes that I plan to make to the tank are an addition of two more of the catfish and one or 2 netrite snails in a couple of weeks. Alison:thanks:
 
Nothing too specific jumps to mind. Make sure to keep the water parameters good. Labyrinth fish can be sensitive to oil based meds, so keep that in mind if you need to ever medicate in the future. Don't add more labyrinth fish since they don't always get along. Ask any questions you have when they pop up.
So, did you get a honey gourami or a dwarf gourami? It sounds like a honey, but stores label fish weirdly and these two species have some overlapping common names. Either one is fine, I am just curious.
Good luck!

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Absolutangel104, Thank you for your reply. He was listed as a dwarf flame honey gourami and comparing pictures I think he is a honey gourami. That is good information you gave me. I also have a red crown tail betta in another 10 gal tank with 3 peppered cories. I had seen him at the store a couple of times 2 and a half weeks apart because of a couple of doctor appointments that took me near there. He was in with another slightly bigger male some gold barbs and I think a bunch of tinfoil barbs?, they looked like 3 inch silver sharks with blacked tipped fins. The other gourami kept getting nipped at by the gold barbs. Poor things had no place to hide. At least he comes with a 30 day money back guarentee. He is loving his new home and has a fake log to hide in, lots of plastic plants and 4 marimo moss balls. He will be the only one of his kind in the tank. The only other fish that will go in there is the other two catfish. I had gotten 3 but one was dead the next morning and the other a week later. The third one is doing fine ,water is fine per api master test kit. but I am still waiting a couple of more weeks to add the other catfish and then the tank is done.:) Alison
 
I looked up the fish on the petco add for live fish because now I was I was wondering and they only sell 5 kinds it was listed as collisa chuna or something like that. Alison:)
 
T. chuna is a honey gourami. Other fish are often mislabeled as T. chuna though.

Do you have a pic?
 
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I agree, pics would help a bit. :)

C. chuna is commonly called the honey gourami (among other names) while C. lalia is the dwarf gourami. These species are both frequently mislabeled, and when they give them ridiculous common names at the store it just adds to the confusion. Either is fine in your tank though. I have far better better experience with C. chuna. Most stores I have seen still label them as Colisia, though I believe Trichogaster is the more updated name. T. chuna and C. chuna are the same fish though.

They really like to have floating things. I like floating plants, but even one of those floating plastic logs can be a nice addition. In addition, they seem to enjoy broad leafed plants. I would look into silk if you are not ready to live plants.

You saw firsthand at the store how they don't always thrive when in the company of other gouramis. Their personality really comes through when they are able to swim freely. I am glad yours has been showing off his personality for you. They are great little fish.
 
Thank you all for your replies . I am computer challanged and have no idea how to post pictures or links to something. However on the Petco website under live freshwater fish they show a picture of each of the 5 kinds that they sell and the 5th pic labled as a dwarf honey gourami looks like my fish. I didn't want the regular dwarf one because it sounds like they have a lot of health problems and were a little more aggresive. In my betta tank I have some riccia and water spangles floating and I plan to put some in this tank as well. He ended up exploring his new tank. I think he's figured out that he is not in with anything that will nip or harass him. I will also pick up a couple os silk plants as well. Alison:thanks:
 
The picture on the petco site is domestic red form. It is widely speculated that it is a hybrid of T. labiosa and T. chuna. However, it may be a line bred form of T. chuna. That being said, juveniles of T. labiosa look very similar when young but grow to be bigger than T. chuna.

Here is a picture of a young T. labiosa.

5Le419W.jpg
 
False julii, aka C. Trilineatus are a bit too big for a 10 gallon in my opinion. You can keep it in there for now but they actually do need bigger tanks ,they hit 2 inches as adults. A 20 long would be a much better tank for most Coreys. I only recommend the three pygmy species for a 10 gallon tank.

YMMV


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I'll post a pic of my honey gouramis when I get home. Both are male, one is missing an eye but he is my wife's favorite fish. She calls he Igor
 
Mine has gold colored eyes, and a more orangy tone, his tail and bottom fins are the orangey color and not clear. Thank you for the picture Dalto. I am looking at him now and his forehead and face are more silvery colored. Alison:thanks::)
 
Mine look like this and have some black near the face. Black is commonly found on males
ImageUploadedByAquarium Advice1414687733.187178.jpg
 
Coursair, Thanks for your advice. Unfortunatly due to a lot of health problems a 10 gal is the most I can physically handle. So now I have 3 ten gallon tanks. It isn't perfect but maybe I should just get one more because I do want him to have a friend. rehoming is also not an option. right now he is about an inch long not counting the tail fin. I also don't know of any fish stores within a 30 mile radius that even sell the smaller cats. Alison:)
 
Mine also looks like Corona's gourami. I had a flame, looked like the other pic on this thread, but I lost him for some reason. He was really sweet. I noticed some are sweeter than others. And yes, Petco calls them Honey Dwarf Gouramis.
 
This guy seems really sweet and is showing more personality each day. Today is day 3. I really have to wonder why I never had one before. He is really cute and relaxing to watch. Right now he is checking the plants for anymore rasbora caviar like he found yesterday:D. Alison:)
 
Yep, you're seeing what I was talking about already! I normally do not care for gouramis at all. They seem stuck up and standoffish, but not the Honeys! They are in a class by themselves! And yes, they're super cute. I love it when they spread out their fins too.
 
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