Adding a male Gourami before female?

[Shetland James]

I have had a tank running for a while specifically with dwarf gourami's in mind, IE living and breeding. I've read various reports over how you should start it, but I'm curious.

My LFS won't be able to get females in for a bit and I'd like to get the tank populated. One of my mates was raising Gourami's and he added a male before the female and it was fine, but I've read they can kill the female.

Should I just wait?

 

[mandell]

Depends on your size tank in a smaller inviorment the male may stake the hole tank as his territory and kill the female if he dos not like her, larger tanks should be ok and depending on how many your adding. To cut down on fights get more females then males.

When adding slightly agresive fish its always better to ad them all in at once from the same sorce if possable, at leaSt that has been my experance.

 

[Shadowraven]

I would wait. It would be better to add them at the same time. That puts them on the same footing and he won't have any territory established yet. Otherwise he may look at her as an invader and male dwarfs can be aggressive to their own kind.

How big is the tank they will be living in?