Should I just stay away from Dwarf Gouramis?

[DanR]

Hi guys,

Just a quick poll from the member base, should I stay away from Dwarf Gouramis or at least keep them in their own tank? I recently acquired 2 pairs of healthy looking Gourami 2x FR and 2x NB - they are rescues. I've red a lot of horror stories about these getting sick easily, TB breakouts and weird bacteria infections. Are these fish I should be steering clear of or is there a lot of fear for nothing on these guys? Wondering if I should just keep them in the QT tank as permanent residents rather than transfer them to my main tank at some point. Only other Gourami I've ever had was a Leopard Gourami, which I am told are not even really a gourami anyway.

Just wondering what your thoughts were... something I should avoid? Thanks!

 

[Mpwallace1]

I'm new to the hobby, and I cycled my tank with 2 male powder blue gouramis. The bigger one got territorial when I got them home, no biting mind you, just chasing. So I set up 2 caves for them on either side of the tank and they seemed to appreciate them. They are now both full grown-3.5" and the same size so no one is afraid of each other. They now slowly sneak up on each other to see how close they can get before getting chased. They leave all the other fish alone, and when you read about them, the experts say they are very docile, and a good starter fish. I caught a bout of Ich in its early stages, on my albino cherry barbs, and neons, and they handled the community tank treatment without any issue. I really like them especially when they meet me side by side at the top of the tank for their feeding. I find them very interactive. I'm not sure if your varieties are similar in nature.

 

[V227]

Thumbs down for gouramis. I have always considered them entry level fish. An old timer at the LFS recently told me that a large percentage of their gouramis orders have been either
DOA or sick beyond repair. If you have been following the members posts, there are a lot of sick gouramis out there. I know there are some beautiful color morphs of gouramis available
And a lot of members keep them. So before the grief begins, "no offense meant"
Just my opinion.

 

[coralbandit]

Absolutely stay away.
First smart question about dwarf gouramis I have read yet.
https://freshaquaria.org/profiles/disease/dwarf-gourami-iridovirus

 

[DanR]

Absolutely stay away.
First smart question about dwarf gouramis I have read yet.
https://freshaquaria.org/profiles/disease/dwarf-gourami-iridovirus

Wow that's scary stuff. So even if I left them in the QT tank, I could potentially and unknowingly infect any new fish I QT in there and transfer over later. Yikes!

 

[Mpwallace1]

Wow that's scary stuff. So even if I left them in the QT tank, I could potentially and unknowingly infect any new fish I QT in there and transfer over later. Yikes!

I'll say, good god, fingers crossed my 2 little guys don't end up with that. Nasty disease

 

[ashleykw]

I bought a male dwarf gourami from my LFS that looked a little roughed up, but the healthiest-looking one of the bunch. Being the only LFS in town and badly wanting one for my 10g, I brought him home and he developed an ich outbreak. He made it through that wonderfully and even healed, looking healthier than ever. After a few months of active and healthy behavior, he just strangely began to swim slowly and hide more than before. Eventually stopped eating and died... but looked perfectly healthy. Just not a good fish. I really think they're a nice-looking fish, but not worth going through something like that again, sad losing a highly-anticipated healthy-looking fish for an unknown mysterious reason.

 

[Vladka]

I personally like dwarf gouramis, I think they're pretty, I like the red and blue ones. But I will mention I've had them die very easily or unexpectedly, this time I think I picked out a good and healthy one, been good for some months now. However I don't think I'll be getting another one after him since it is a planted tank and I was hoping to have my red cherry shrimp happy, but they obv don't like the gourami.
When I had one in my 65 it wasn't worth it either because you could barely see him around all the bigger fish and he wouldn't eat so well.
The one I got this time was said to be the "bully" in his group, but he was the prettiest and healthiest plus I didn't have other DGs in the tank so I didn't really care, at least he's strong.

 

[Barliman]

Absolutely stay away.
First smart question about dwarf gouramis I have read yet.
https://freshaquaria.org/profiles/disease/dwarf-gourami-iridovirus

That's a shame. Dwarf Gouramies are an old favorite of mine.

 

[coralbandit]

Some more info on DGI;
http://www.aces.edu/dept/fisheries/education/ras/publications/Update/Iridovirus in gouramis.pdf

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26452601

https://sites.google.com/a/pets-more.com/www/fish/dwarf-gourami-iridovirus

Seems a shame there is sooo much info out there on this and we[not me] still support the sale of this fish which clearly IMO should be on the list of fish NO ONE should own...
They made this fish and disease for those who don't seem to pay a lot of attention to much ,like reports ,where there money goes and the health of the rest of the tank..Sure is pretty though huh? There are lots of other pretty fish out there.To boot this is just a mean fish in general.Gouramis[all] are no softies...

You have to know the fish industry only wants your money when you know the truth..