Gourami compatability

[Guest]

I have been thinking of adding a colorful type of Gourami to my 55 gal, but want to check the compatability with my current stock before hand. I currently have:

Black Skirt Tetra's
Lamp Eye Tetra's
Clown Loaches
Dojo loaches
Cory Cats

Would a pair of Gourami's get along with these fish?
TIA

 

[bosk1]

Why type of gouramis? Most are generally only aggressive toward other gouramis, and will likely not have compatibility issues with your current stock. The biggest concern I have is over the term "pair." Again, it depends what type of gouramis you are talking about, but... Males can often be aggressive toward each other, but it is easy for those who don't know much about gouramis to make their "pair" consist of two males, since males are generally more colorful. With many types of gouramis, males can be aggressive toward females as well, and it is often preferable to have multiple females to sort of spread out the aggression. I have often seen that advised.

 

[Guest]

When I was looking at the LFS, they were reddish in color and very striking. Im not sure, but they might be Dwarf Gourami's. The only reason I was thinking of a pair was so that one didnt get lonely, but I want to make sure the balance is right and there are no conflicts before I add any to the community.

 

[Pleco]

I had 3 dwarf gouramis that went at it until 2 were dead, he then terrorized other fish in the tank, though not as bad as he terrorized the other 2 gouramis. I've heard the dwarfs are a bit more on the aggressive side, i certainly wouldnt keep them again.

You may have better luck in a 55G than i did in my 40G though

-Pleco

 

[hc8719]

try other gouramis, moonlight gouramis are very peaceful, i have 2 males that get along. however i have kissing gouramis as well, who bully the moonlights (despite the moons being larger).

they ignore other fish though

 

[shumway]

Opaline Gourami's are pretty good with other fish,I have 3 in my 55 and the only one's they bug are each other

 

[ksfishguy]

How about a pair of angelfish?

 

[Guest]

Angel fish would be nice, but I was under the impression that the other fish would nip their long fins off. But they would make a nice centerpiece fish, as I really dont have any and I considered this before.

 

[Tostada]

Gouramis are a lot like bettas. They have widely varying temperments, and the males are usually more aggressive.

The general trends I see are:
- one gourami may or may not pick on your other fish
- multiple gouramis will usually only pick on each other
- a pair of females gets along better than a pair of males

The gold/opaline/blue gouramis seem significantly more peaceful than the dwarf and kissing gouramis. I have a female gold gourami that is by far the biggest fish in my 30 gal, but never really bothers anybody except for chasing around my lemon tetras now and then.

 

[Guest]

I was at the LFS looking at the Gourami's today and they were all males. I asked the girl about females and she said they only get them by accident if they come in a shipment of males. I always take what the Petsmart people say with a grain of aquarium salt, but I dont think they like to sell female Gourami's. Maybe because they arent as colorful, I dont know.

 

[RoK]

Petsmart people say with a grain of aquarium salt, but I dont think they like to sell female Gourami's. Maybe because they arent as colorful, I dont know.

That is usually true for dwarf gouramis.
With many of the larger gouramis, like the blues and golds, that is not true.

If you get just one dwarf gourami, he should be fine with the other fish.