How many gouramis to stock?

The friendliest place on the web for anyone with an interest in aquariums or fish keeping!
If you have answers, please help by responding to the unanswered posts.

Hholly

Aquarium Advice Addict
Joined
Oct 18, 2011
Messages
3,090
Location
Central Indiana
I'm confused about how many of a species of gourami are best to have in a community tank, to keep the peace. If one wanted 2 different kinds? Do they need to be single specimens? Or pairs, or threes?
Thanks!
 
Hello H...

I hope you have a very large tank. Gouramis can get quite large, up to six inches for the Blue Gourami. You could have the smaller Pearl or Dwarf species with Barbs, White Clouds and Loaches.

The Pearl and Dwarf Gouramis are very peaceful. Not so sure about the Blue species though. Many times a large, peaceful fish can make lunch of a small tankmate.

B
 
Snakeskin Gourami mates. Here Is my snakeskin:
 

Attachments

  • image-3679122297.jpg
    image-3679122297.jpg
    60.6 KB · Views: 252
I had a pearl and dwarf gourami. I bought them together so I can introduce them in the tank at the same time. Trying to avoid territorial issues.

First 3 weeks was fine. Then the dwarf kept chasing off the pearl wherever he went. So I had to give the dwarf away because the pearl will allow itself to be bullied till death.

This is a heavily planted tank too.

So if you try it make sure to keep an eye on them. Some people have them without issues at all. It will vary.
 
I'm interested in the dwarf and gold gouramis. I have a 45 gal. 24" tall aquarium. I just see so much conflicting info on these guys. I'd be happy to just have one of each. But if they'd be less aggressive in pairs I would do that too. Thanks for the replies!
 
I have had lots of gourami. I had a 29 with blue, platinum, moonlight, snakeskin, dwarf flame, and dwarf honey for over 2 years. One of each, and they all got along great, the moonlight was the alpha but didnt really do much except chase them anways, no continuous chasing. Also had them in a 65 with the same blue, platinum, and moonlight, but added opaline and a gold (rehomed the dwarfs) and they all got along good. They have there battles, ecspecially the moonlight and opaline, but nothing that would hurt them.

I always did one of each and it seemed to work out great. Corys and loaches are good tankmates too.
 
IME gouramis+DGs is usually risky. Sometimes the gouramis get super aggressive to the DGs sometimes, and if you're not lucky, they'll kill them. I was lucky enough to have two male DGs and a female gold gourami live peacefully and co-existing for a year, but that is the exception, rather than the rule. You could try it, but keep the tank heavily planted, and always have a plan B, because if they don't stop beating each other up, one will eventually kill the other.
 
i have 7 dwarf gourami's in my 45 gal. all male. they get along fine. haven't had any problems and they've been together for about 11 months. i have an all male tank. rams, gouramis, glo fish, x-ray tetras,mm platys, and sail fin mollys. without any females there isn't any aggression at all. everyone gets along great. i would advise you to take some time to observe the gouramis before you make a choice. watch how they interact with each other in the pet store. it's saved me a few times. i could tell who was the bully in the tank and who was very peaceful. i do that with all the fish i buy. it takes a bit longer but you can avoid the bad guys. good luck. :)
 
Well, here's my 2 cents, I've had experience with Gold gouramis - bought 2 and it never went well, one finally killed the other and I found out (failed to research properly) later that it was a bad idea. Unfortunately the surviving gold was just to aggressive toward my angels so I had to re-home it. I currently have an opaline (blue) gourami with my rams, black neons, flame tetras, and african featherfin in a 55 gal and it completely peaceful and I love it. i have read the temperment of the dwarf blue is such that it will allow itself to be bullied to death without ever fighting back so that has stopped me from adding one to my tank, but I've seen on this site that other people have had success with multiple species. good luck and sorry for the essay :)
 
Last edited:
JoeBob said:
Well, here's my 2 cents, I've had experience with Gold gouramis - bought 2 and it never went well, one finally killed the other and I found out (failed to research properly) later that it was a bad idea. Unfortunately the surviving gold was just to aggressive toward my angels so I had to re-home it. I currently have an opaline (blue) gourami with my rams, black neons, flame tetras, and african featherfin in a 55 gal and it completely peaceful and I love it. i have read the temperment of the dwarf blue is such that it will allow itself to be bullied to death without ever fighting back so that has stopped me from adding one to my tank, but I've seen on this site that other people have had success with multiple species. good luck and sorry for the essay :)

I would have to agree that the dwarfs allow themselves to get bullied to death. I had two in my 70g well planted tank and one stressed the other so much that he never came out of hiding, only to eat. Then one day he showed up dead.
Since then I have moved my remaining dwarf to my 17g and added a gold gourami to my 70g. There would be no way I would add another gourami in with him. He'll be swimming along peacefully one second then the next he snaps! Goes after everything in his way. I'm pretty sure he bullied my angel to death.
 
Wow, thanks for all the responses everybody! It's given me a lot to think about. I will probably start with one dwarf. And later maybe add a young female gold and see what happens. Thanks again!
 
Back
Top Bottom