180 Gal Gourami Tank

[Evad]

Hi there,

I am in the process of fishless cycling a 180 gal tank. It will be heavily planted and I will be using CO2. I want to do a community aquarium since my 5-year old daughter would like that the best and was originally thinking about angelfish but now wondering if Gouramis are a better choice?

1) Angelfish tend to pair up and then beat the heck out of each other. Can I put 10-12 gouramis in this tank and they will get along?
2) Can I mix up the gouramis? Maybe 4 each of three different kinds?
3) Generally speaking, do gouramis get along with most community tank fish? Could I add neons and and other non-agressive fish?

Thanks for any reccomendations you may have!

 

[Evad]

I'll take the lack of response as a "no"

Back to angelfish!

 

[rossyt99]

Hi, I've found most Gouramies to be awkward and aggressive once established in their territory> the most dominant will harrass, harrass, harrass and make life a misery for the others (usually)

>HoneyRed Dwarfs are less bulliers but you can still get a dominant one chasing the other.

I'd go with Angels and then either sell/ re-home any formed pair> or get another tank to use as breeder!?!

'Pearl' and 'Lace Gourami' are nicer of larger G's, but try to avoid 'Three-spot Gourami' if you decide to get these instead.

Note; (I'm Pro-Angelfish, so may be biased)

 

[groovitudedude]

Hi, I've found most Gouramies to be awkward and aggressive once established in their territory> the most dominant will harrass, harrass, harrass and make life a misery for the others (usually)

>HoneyRed Dwarfs are less bulliers but you can still get a dominant one chasing the other.

I'd go with Angels and then either sell/ re-home any formed pair> or get another tank to use as breeder!?!

'Pearl' and 'Lace Gourami' are nicer of larger G's, but try to avoid 'Three-spot Gourami' if you decide to get these instead.

Note; (I'm Pro-Angelfish, so may be biased)

Why would you stay away from the "Three-Spot Gourami"?

 

[rossyt99]

Had a one which bullied all others of similar size for a while, and everyone I know who has had a one also shares same experience.

(Some might be O.k, just sharing personal view)

 

[Thomas 2507]

I just don't like Gourami. They are just aggresive above all.

I would go for Angelfish. Even if you do get a few pairs out of ten fish, your aquarium is large enough to cater for them.

What about Discus?

 

[groovitudedude]

Well, I have 2 Three-Spotted Gouramis that survive in my 100G somehow. I'm considering moving them to my friendly 55G community.

 

[Evad]

I just don't like Gourami. They are just aggresive above all.

I would go for Angelfish. Even if you do get a few pairs out of ten fish, your aquarium is large enough to cater for them.

What about Discus?

I would love to try Discus, but I see two issues: 1) My basement is cold and I dont think I will ever get the temp that high without running a ton of heaters all the time. 2) I do get power outage for 3-10 hours in the winter (live in the woods) so I dont think I want anything quite so sensitive. 3) I really want this to be a planted tank above all and only want a few centerpiece fish



THanks all for your responses - this helped a lot!

 

[chesterscot]

gouramis temparaments differ between species some are terratorial and some males will fight honeys are ok i think

 

[Majjie]

I think you'd be fine with pearl gouramis in a big group because any aggression is less likely then. I have three in a 79 gal ... two females and a male. I had to take a second male out because the two males were fighting but I'm now thinking of putting the second male back with another two new fish. I have another tank, mind you, so I can separate them again if there's trouble ... but I'm sure that pearls would be fine in a big group.

The trouble with pearls is that you can very rarely find them large enough, in the shops, to sex them - so it's pot luck what you end up with. A friend of mine bought four and they have all ended up male ... but because they grew up together ... and possibly because there are no females to fight over ... they all get on fine.

I think you'd be fine with three spots too - as long as you have only one male and several females. Female gouramis are usually (although not always) less aggressive. Most of the problems with gouramis are in smaller tanks where the territories are too small.

I wouldn't personally go with honey gouramis ... I found that they didn't do well in a larger tank. And I think you'd be better off with a larger number of maybe two different types of gourami.

Why not have a couple of angelfish too. Even if they do pair up, I think you'd be unlikely to have beaten up fish at spawning time with a tank that size. In my (admittedly limited) experience they are less aggressive to other fish than they are to other angelfish. And I think it's more fun to have several different types of fish. I have Koi angels - with a lot of yellow on them and they look really good with the pearls. (Not that you'd buy fish purely for their colours, of course!!)

If you want some smaller fish too ... I'd go for cardinals, rather than neon tetras - they get that bit bigger and are less likely to be eaten by the larger fish. A big group of cardinals looks stunning. I'd also recommend pentazona barbs - they're non-aggressive and tend to swim about together. They also love their grub and will clear up any food left on the bottom of the tank (assuming you're not going for any bottom dwellers like corys).

 

[Biulu]

Gouramis are great fish, but yes, territorial. They can be bullies towards their own kind, but are normally no problem with othr fish. I bought a 180 litre for my 2 pearl gouramis and 3 dwarfs, unfortunately the thing cracked....

If you count on 10 gallon/gourami, you are more than fine. I would choose pearls, honeys, or banded gouramis. They are not too delicate and have great characters. Dwarfs are nice too, but depending on where you live can be very prone to diseases. I have been lucky, but it seems that the ones you can get in Europe are mostly inbred, and die they under your hands as we say here.

For honeys, 5 gallon/fish should be ok. Try to take 1 male to 2 females, and you can even get babies! I am keeping my gouramis with a large variety of fish: tetras, killies, cories etc. It seems though that mollies don't go well with gouramis, so I would stay away from them.

If you like colour in your tank, and want a relatively easy fish (don't take the chocolate one though!), then go for gouramis.

good luck!

 

[NottsFishy]

i have four snakeskin gourami in a 55gal and they are great not as much aggression as other gourami i have had sure they would do fine in youre tank.