Gouramis

[BondStreet]

Hi...

Haven't been on in a bit. Been busy.

Anyways, my tank is doin well.

So far in my 75 gal freshwater tank:

-all water has cycled and is doing extremely well.
-live plants are thriving. still waiting on getting a stronger light though to really have a good planted tank. Research on a good fixture but somewhat inexpensive is hard.
-I have about 25 small community fish(tetras, 3 Angels, corys, guppies, balloon-belly mollies) and they are all doing well.

My question is, I was wondering if Gouramis(any) are descent community fish. I hear conflicting advice. Some say they can be aggressive. Some say they are great peaceful community fish. Just wondering what is the general consensus. Also, which ones are better than others. Gold? Blue? Dwarf? Pearl?

Any advice on gouramis or any other great community fish would be great. I tend to love livebearers like platies and mollies etc, but whatever anyone has to say would be great.

Thanks for the advice!
Bondstreet

 

[Grant R]

Also, which ones are better than others. Gold? Blue? Dwarf? Pearl?

Hi, well you've come to the right place, as I have plenty of Gourami's !
You will always hear conflicting advice about anything and I have to say that with Gourami's, it's true. In general, you will find all the species of Gourami, very, very peaceful.

I currently have the following Gourami in my tank :

A moonlight, pearl, opalline (blue), gold & a dwarf gourami.

They all get on exceptionally well with my other fish (loaches, livebearers etc) and I've never had any problems. Recently though however, my opalline (and also the red tailed shark) have taken a strange dis-liking to the gold gourami - basically, just general chasing around the tank, especially at feeding time. There's never any injury though and it always seems to pass.

The even weirder thing was that the gold gourami used to be the bully of the tank and even killed off a new kissing gourami at one point within 24hrs.

Is very unusual how things pan out in the world of fish keeping sometimes. On the whole though, you'll have no problems and some if kept correctly can also be bred - great fun watching the bubble nests being built.

G

 

[brotherd]

I have 2 gold,a blue a pearl and a snakeskin(opaline depending on where you got it).I had to move the blue and a gold and the snakeskin to a tank with juvenil cychlids due to agressive behavior in the community tank.The pearl is in with 11 neons in a plant tank,Very quiet!There is only the one gold left in the community tank and all is well.I think it totally depends on the personality of the individual fish.Try one and see how it goes.

 

[brotherd]

I have 2 gold,a blue a pearl and a snakeskin(opaline depending on where you got it).I had to move the blue and a gold and the snakeskin to a tank with juvenil cychlids due to agressive behavior in the community tank.The pearl is in with 11 neons in a plant tank,Very quiet!There is only the one gold left in the community tank and all is well.I think it totally depends on the personality of the individual fish.Try one and see how it goes.

 

[Thaiboxer]

I have 2 kissers, 3 gold, and (formerly 2, now 1) Blue Dwarf. The 2 kissers have always been fairly assertive, the rest extremely calm. About a week ago, the kissers attacked the Dwarves! They killed one, the other was pretty beat up. I got a second tank, moved the remaining Dwarf and the 3 golds to it - they were looking pretty intimidated too, hiding in the corners of the 55 gallon.

Now my 2 kissers are in my 55 gallon with a red-tail shark, a pleco, and 2 new albino Oscars - that should keep them in line!

 

[jasonit]

I have a pair of Pearl and Dwarf Blue gouramis. They are in a 55 gal community tank and have never bothered any of the other fish (Angels, neons)

 

[BondStreet]

Thanks for that. I will just have to see how they are in the tanks at the LFS before I buy any I guess. I want peaceful larger fish in my community tank, so any other ideas would be helpful. Thanks
Bondstreet NY

 

[totalbeginner]

just a quickie, i have had a pair of small gourami and they don't care much for my cory, cherry barbs or each other. just chasing no real damage

 

[totalbeginner]

newsflasa, one of my guppies has two gourami sized bites out of its tail ( the only other thing in my tank with that shape of mouth (U shaped) are my neon tetras, all others have crescent shaped mouths)

 

[TheGaffer27]

Can gouramis and tiger barbs co-exist? any thoughts?

 

[BondStreet]

Hi there...
I have both and they seem to be doing just fine. When i chose the gouramis from the LFS, I was careful to choose what I thought were the most "docile" of the fish. Those were the fish that seemed relatively calm and weren't chasing others around the aquarium. That seemed to be the right thing to do cause the ones I bought are doing just fine in my tank now(which has a few barbs in it)
take care

 

[nejsux]

My friend has dwark gouramis in with tiger barbs, and they seem to do fine.