New dwarf gourami

[Angelamarie]

We got it a few days ago at petco, the "fish expert" said it would be fine in our 5 gallon with our two baby tiger barbs. Since we are still new to this hobby i was wondering if you guys could give some advise also i was wondering if it was possible to sex it? Shes been doing well and we do have small plants that will hopefully grow since we have figured out that they do like plants.

 

[Mumma.of.two]

Hi.
Looks like you have a male. The females are harder to find and are silver in color. Unfortunately the 'fish expert' got it wrong. DG require at least 15g and tiger barbs 20-30 gallons minimum and a school of 6 or more of their own kind. They can get rather nasty if kept in small quarters with not enough mates so keep a close eye in them with your DG. He's very pretty btw.

 

[DavidAl]

Ditto the above ↑↑↑

I have not found today's dwarf gouramies to be very hardy, most not meeting their full lifespan in aquaria. They're known to carry a virus that shuts them down sooner rather than later. They start off looking healthy then grow very skinny, no matter how much food you provide it, then eventually die. Good luck with yours...

David