Gourami questions..

[Copachick]

We really want to start getting Gouramis in the future. Is there ANY combination of sexes and types that WILL get along better? They sound like such difficult fish to keep because I hear and see them having so much agression to one another. Even if its two females, a male and a female.. etc.
We want them, but no idea what the best ones to get are...

Any advice would be OUTSTANDING

 

[HUKIT]

Everyone always states how aggressive these guys are, I have a 55g with 14 gourami's from pearls, moonlights, opalines, golds, and blues with zero aggression issues combining both males and females. There certainly may be some aggressive ones out there but in my experience people repeat things like parrots(quite frequently on this site) that they have heard or read on other sites without actual experience.

 

[Copachick]

That is very true. Sometimes people state things like they were facts, but really its their own peronal opinion that may not be true.
We were thinking about dwarfs, and the pearls are really pretty. My bf likes the blue ones. In your experience do you think getting one of each is good? Or maybe two of each? being one male and one female of the two..

 

[HUKIT]

I generally use one 1m/3-4 females per species except pearls they're all males, sort of like stocking mbuna. We don't have access to female dwarfs here in the states so males are the only option.

 

[LJGoose]

We really want to start getting Gouramis in the future. Is there ANY combination of sexes and types that WILL get along better? They sound like such difficult fish to keep because I hear and see them having so much agression to one another. Even if its two females, a male and a female.. etc.
We want them, but no idea what the best ones to get are...

Any advice would be OUTSTANDING

Being in the hobby for the past 14 years off and on and an avid owner of Gouramis I can tell you that they are one of the most peaceful fish you can purchase. Never had a problem aggressive with Gouramis.

 

[Copachick]

Im really glad to hear some honest opinions.
Here is another question. We have a now empty 29 gallon. How many gouramis would you guys suggest having in there without overstocking and stressing them out?.

 

[Coleallensmom]

@Hukit....I imagine if you have truly have little aggression issues, it's because of the size of your tank and the sheer number of gouramis that you are keeping together. I have experience with gouramis as well and I can tell you for a fact that in smaller tanks with smaller numbers of gouramis...you can to some extent expect territorial behavior, especially with breeding males. I think like many fish it all just depends on the fish in question as well as the tank they are be kept in/tankmates.

@Copachick..here's some links you might want to check out-

blue, pearl and snakeskin gouramis

http://www.tropicalfishexpert.co.uk/gouramis.html

 

[HUKIT]

I would pick 4-5(pearls are my favorite) with nothing else except a small school of corys or 2-3 with other fish.

 

[sherlock1315]

Sorry to break into this thread but nobody will respond to mmine... HAHA. I was wonder if i can put a huge femal blue gourami with a medium sized male dwarf gourami.

 

[jpchin]

Hi i have 7 dwarf gourami's(all males) in a 45 gal coffee table aquarium that's 54" long. Along with the gourami's i have 2 blue rams( both females). In my experience they get along extremely well. Never a slight problem with them. They are in a community tank with tetra's, mollys, platy's and glo fish. The length of my tank might help but i can't say for sure. I would get them and try it out. I think if you get them all at the same time that helps too. They sort of grow up together. good luck. They are beautiful fish.

 

[bruinsbro1997]

Yes you can keep gouramis together. I usually reccomend not doing it but over the past couple of days I've been re-analyzing how this hobby works and realize its experience, not research, that is the truth. In my research, every website says that you cannot keep male gouramis together and cannot keep sexes together. I have kept two male honey dwarf gouramis together before perfectly along with a gold male gourami and everyone got along swimmingly. I also remember when I had a trio of one male to two females that the male loved to court both females around. So yes, you can.

 

[user404]

Dwarfs seem to act different than full size gouramis..I have full size gouramis one blue and one gold and one pink kissing gourami in my tank...My blue gourami is a little aggressive toward the gold but never messes with any other fish in the tank..Its not to the point where they needed to be seperated or anything..Its usually just a few mins at most and they go about their way..All 3 of mine are males but I would just see how they act..Some fish are crazy and some arent..Most people will say the same thing about mixing Cichlids My blood parrot is just lazy and passive..Just watch them and see how they do..

 

[tropical-fish]

I have experience with gouramis as well and I can tell you for a fact that in smaller tanks with smaller numbers of gouramis...you can to some extent expect territorial behavior, especially with breeding males.

this is quite true. i had 5 gold gouramis in a smaller quarantine tank for a few weeks and the dominant male would not let any of the others near the middle of the tank. they went into hiding and only came out to feed. once they were moved into my main tank things calmed down.

 

[Copachick]

Very true, this hobby comes with experience, not facts. Because every fish is different, every situation is different. Im realizing this myself...what little bit of time ive been in this hobby. Some people who say that certain fish in theyre tank get along great, might not get along at all in mine.
We might make the 29g the future gourami tank. I think its a smidge smaller than I wanted my gouramis in. We are getting a 120g that we planned on putting our Bala shark in (after we bought him from our LPS that didnt tell us what size tank they needed). RIght now he is peachy in the 36gallon... Before him we were going to put gouramis in the 120g. I guess those two cant go together, can they? We planned on getting a few more Balas once we have the tank. WE started out with 3, but two didnt make it :-(

 

[Copachick]

And the two didnt make it because our serpaes for some reason have stressed and killed everything we put in the tank with them.. (snails, otos, balas) except the silver tips.

 

[Copachick]

Oh and two catfish bottom feeders

 

[fishiefish51]

Get 2 kissing gouramis

 

[jetajockey]

I've kept 2m/2f paradisefish together in a 29g without any major issues. However at breeding time I had to separate the two that weren't involved and then eventually the female, at least till the eggs were removed, then everything was good again.

 

[Coleallensmom]

Get 2 kissing gouramis

I would not recommend 2 kissing gouramis for a 29 gal tank.

 

[fishiefish51]

I would not recommend 2 kissing gouramis for a 29 gal tank.

Totally agree man. I have 2 in my 30 gallon and they have been living for 3 years now. They are very small however. So for a 29 gallon it may be to small but you gotta go by the size of the fish. What size is best for them to be kept in?