Gourami Fans Speak up!

[NeonSwordtail]

I might call myself "neonswordtail" but my favorite fish is actually the dwarf gourami. It is such a funky fish. It can breathe air with something called a labyrinth organ, it is small enough for my ten gallon, it doesn't seem to be scared of me, like some of my other fish, and there are many more things! If you like gouramis post now!

 

[wabyrd]

Uh, yeah, I like them, but they are such a pain to keep...Never been successful with those guys at all...

 

[madasafish]

LOVE them. Got one neon blue and one dwarf gourami (both males)--I call them Andy and Red (from Shawshank Redemption), fellow inmates LOL.

Luckily, they've been able to withstand high ammonia levels and everything! Fantastic little fish, and if they weren't so readily available, I bet they'd go for a lot of money! They've got really beautiful coloration for FW fish. And, yeah, they rule in terms of size. I'd be hard pressed to come up with another fish that stays that small, that peaceful and which looks so good!

Some of the other Gouramis aren't as interesting to me--they get too big, or their coloration is too dull. I'm going to get some females to keep Andy and Red company (Perhaps I'll name them Rita Hayworth and Fuzzy Britches--only funny if you really know the movie...). I know the females are kinda dull, but I'd love to have gourami fry!!!!!!!!!

Well, that's my 2 cents.

 

[Mushime]

i love gouramis too, but unfortunately (or fortunately, whichever way you lean) i love bettas more...and since the two really can't be safely kept together, the bettas win.

a tank full of gouramis can be stunning, but a tank full of female bettas in every color of the rainbow is much more pleasing to me

 

[Allivymar]

I've got 2 male dwarf gouramis in my planted 10g tank. Cute lil buggers, zippin in and out of the leaves and chasing each other around.

I have to admit tho, angelfish are my weakness. LURVE them.

 

[jasonit]

I am with Allivymar, I love Angelfish and gouramis. I have a pair of Pearl Gouramis mixed with 3 angelfish. They are so tranquil (the gouramis) I love to sit and watch them hover. I am thinking I have a male and female. How do you tell with Pearl gouramis? One has the fringey things on his anal fin, but the other doesn't... Is that an indicator?

 

[tkos]

In my parents tank I have 1 honey dwarf gourami that is great. He rules the tank and makes sure the big flying fix doesn't get out of hand. I even catch him sitting on the fox's head sometime. Veyr funny. We also have 1 chocolate gourami that is the most peaceful thing I have ever seen. Now of ocurse I realize that they like to be in groups so I am going to see about getting him some friends in a separate tank.

 

[lmw80]

Gouramis! I love 'em! I have a neon blue dwarf in one of my tanks and a blue in the other one. I used to have a pair of kissing gouramis too. They were a little aggresive though.

Jasonit - I am not 100% sure about pearl gouramis but I know that with a lot of gourami species, you can tell by the dorsal fin. The males is longer and pointier and the females is shorter and more round...check it out....lemme know if it matches yours, I'd love to know!

 

[madasafish]

Often, fish stores will not sell the females of Gourami species because they are drab in comparison with the males. (A good way, also, to make sure that fish stores will continue to buy more Gouramis, if the fish stores and clients cannot mate the gouramis!) Which brings me to the question of what they do with all the superfluous female fry......... a question that has been bugging me seriously for quite some while!!!

The dorsal fin is the official marker for the dwarf gourami species (male's is pointed, female's is rounded), but I'm not sure about other gouramis. Chances are, lmw80, that you just have two males with slightly different dorsal fins (often in the stores the dorsal fins look different because they are nipped, or because the fish is not fully extending the dorsal spines upwards). Is there a difference in coloration between your two specimens??? That's probably a better marker than the dorsal fin.

 

[lmw80]

Hi madasafish.....it wasn't my gouramis I wanted to know the sex of. Jasonit wanted to know the sex of his. Thank you for all that info though! Very interesting and informing!

 

[SixFootDaisy]

I have one male Dwarf Gourami and two female Blue Gouramis.

My DG is my bestest friend in the world.

 

[madasafish]

Good call, lmw80. Sorry about that. No prob for the info!

 

[ShyGecko]

I have 5 gouramis right now...2 Moonlight and 3 Pearl. I LOVE them! They are the friendliest fish I have ever seen! And they are so funny!! My biggest Pearl, who is about 4 inches long, is SOO pretty. His chest is DEEP orange, and his anal fin has really long, rainbowy (if that is a word, lol) fringes on it. He's beautiful. My other Pearls look just like him, but tiny 1-2 inch versions. LOL

 

[madasafish]

Awesome, ShyGecko. The Pearl Gouramis at my LFS are always so drab. I'm glad you got some good specimens! Also, never seen the Moonlights, but like the look of them on www.fishbase.org!

 

[Madame_X]

I have two male neon blue dwarfs in my 12 gallon tank. They're such a pretty fish. Their colors are so bright!

They seem to fight quite a bit, though. Neither one has ever been hurt but one of them is always hiding now while the other plays in the current with the platies.

Once my 30 gallon is ready, I think I'm going to move him over there. He may be much happier playing with the bolivian rams.