What Other Fish Can Go With Semi-aggressive Gourami

[IronLung]

I had a fish tank with a betta and mollies as a child....and as teenager and college student i had a bigger tank (70 gallons) with Gourami my fav fish....i learned by trial and error..i am 28 now and moving into a new house and i want to get an aquarium..i haven't had one in years so i feel like a rookie... i am going for a tank that is 120 gallons to 180 gallons...

I was going for the larger semi-aggressive gourami like Gold and Blue, Platium, Oplanie , Pink kissing, paradise gourami....i have seen them with angle fish so i was thinking about them too...in my 70 gallon tank i use to have a elephant nose fish with the gourmai, it went okay ....but the elephant was so sensitive.....it died in a week...my tank condition must have not been to good, but while alive he got along with the gourami...now i am thinking of a spiny eel of some sort... my friend said it would work...he told me something i could not believe...he said he saw angel fish and gourami in the same tank with Discus...is this true...or could he have been mistaken...aren't they harder to maintain and get bigger..how big...? aren't they aggressive?

what tankmates should i get (keep in mind i hate tetras and Barb)


i hear sand is better then gravel or rock..is it true .....why?...i use to have the common rock/gravel with a bottom fitler underneath (and a bio wheel up top)... can i do that wtih sand?

can birch go with gourami.. baby whale...?bronw knife?...ghost knife? opinions ...suggestion

 

[dwarfgourami]

The thing with gouramis is they are territorial, particularly the males, so any aggression is primarily going to be directed at any fish that they might mistake for another male gourami about to invade their territory. Still, it's a nice big tank you're going for, that makes a difference. Establishing artificial boundaries, like plants or ornaments breaking up the sightline should also help, if you are keeping more than one gourami.
If it were me, I would look out for some nice catfish to fill out bottom space- something like a Queen Arabesque- or in that size tank, why not a trio (1 male, 2 females)? But that's just personal preference, you sound like you're more of an oddball person. About the bichir, eel and ghost knife- I would ask in the oddballs forum.

 

[IronLung]

Anybody else got any info, opinions ...or ideas on this matter?

 

[StaniFish]

well, i have two male pearl gouramis who are a little bit aggressive to each other in a tank with 2 golden danios- the gourami's themselves get on but chase each other around occasionally but otherwise the fish in this tank are happy- i would recommend a few danios