More than one gourami

[sarah5775]

Well, I have an opaline gourami. I want to add a dwarf gourami or two. . (55 gallon tank with quite a bit of room left, other residents tetras and livebearers)

A few people have told me that this is a bad idea. They say the gouramis may fight. Others have said its ok to add. My question is- in the lfs there were tons of gouramis together in a tank, and they did not fight, so why would they fight in my tank?

But what would you recommend? I would rather err on the side of caution.

 

[Crepe]

The reason LFS' have so many fish in the tank is because they are going to sell them, not keep them long term. They don't have them for long enough for them to fight and become aggressive. This is the case with all fish at the store actually, although it has less do with aggression and more to do with poor water conditions in most cases.

If you do decide to add dwarf gouramis you will need to add one male and 2-3females otherwise they will quickly loose their color and become belligerent. It also depends on the demeanor of each fish.

 

[sarah5775]

Hmmm. May not be worth it then. I could add some mollies instead. The thing is, most of the fish in my tank are real small (guppies and platys) and I wanted a few larger ones. Any other options to gouramis that would go well with bloodfin tetras, black skirts, platies and guppies?