A couple gourami questions

[mandi]

I've been searching for a nice "centerpiece" fish for my 20 gallon (long) tank. (Here's a picture to give you an idea of hiding places & open swim-space in the tank.) I was *thinking* about gourami, but I had a few questions before I went any further.

Right now the in the tank, I have 1 platy (female), 5 zebra danios, 3 corys, and 3 otos. My first question is, are danios too "hyper" to keep with gouramis? I'm concerned they'd stress them out.

I'm actually hoping to give the danios away or move them to another tank. If I'm able to do that, and I just had the 1 platy, 3 otos, and 3 corys, would gouramis be ok?

The types of gourami I looked at and was thinking about were either dwarf grouamis (my LFS had some beautiful dwarf honey gourami in last week, and I was very tempted haha) or opaline (I think they're SO pretty). How many should I keep in the tank (if I went with dwarves, how many, or opalines how many?) and what male to female ratio? (Should you keep 1 male and 1 female, or say 1 male to 2 females like livebearers?)

[Edit] One more question (haha sorry) -- I recall reading somewhere (I think) that gourami like floating plants. I have some hornwort in another tank -- woudl that be a suitable plant for them?

 

[KentBlokey]

They should be absolutely fine with the Fish you mentioned.
I have two Dwarf Neon Blue Gouramis with Zebras, Cory's and a Pleco!

I'm no expert on Gouramis so I'll just comment on the ones I have. Which shouldn't be kept alone, As I said, I have a pair. Both males (with the help of sylvia who cleared that up ) I think two Blue Neon (if you happen to choose them is righ for your Tank, and i'm not sure if the sex matters!

 

[mandi]

Thanks for the response.

So you think I would be better of with dwarf gourami rather than the opaline? (The opaline are my preference if I can find them at one of the LFS's in town, but I definately don't want to get a fish that I don't have the setup to keep properly.)

 

[sylvia]

As already mentioned, the danios wouldn't be a problem

Also, to answer your last question, hornwort would be fine. They aren't picky.

Now as for which gourami to go for -
Well first we need to clear up whather this 'dwarf honey gourami' is actualy a color morph of the dwarf gourami (colisa lalia) or a honey gourami (colisa chuna/sota) as this will effect how many you can keep.

Because this is a 20 gallon community, I suggest no more than 2 male dwarfs or 1 male dwarf and 2 females. Dwarfs get to 2", 2.5" at most but are territorial and relatively aggressive to their own kind (as in only towards other dwarfs). Males will chase females so make sure you have more females than males or LOTS of, especialy floating, hiding places if you are going to keep both sexes. You can tell which is which because females are silvery-grey with little color while males have bright colors - ranging from banded red and blue to honey-orange to pale sky blue.

If you go for honeys (not dwarfs), you could get up to 5. They average at around 1.5" and are not realy aggressive. Males are territorial but, being smaller, don't take up as much space. I'd go for up to 2 males and at least 3 females. Males have a pointier dorsal fin and, when in good/breeding condition, will develop a dark blue-black under-side or throat color.

Now opalines are tricky What you need to know about gouramies is that they are individuals. Each has its very own character and some will be aggressive while others will be docile or even-tempered. Their personalities are one of the things I love about them - it's also something that I often find very frustrating. Opalines, being relatively big fish at 6" when full grown, also happen to be rather territorial and aggressive. Unlike dwarfs or honeys, this aggression is not limmited to only their own kind or other gouramies. That means you need to take care when choosing how you will stock. Males are the worst when it comes to aggression - they also unfortunatly are the ones with the most impressive long finnage However, females look quite similar - with only a rounded dorsal, shorter fins and deeper body (wider when viewed from above), to set them apart. Well basicaly, I would not suggest going for anything more than a single male OR two females. NEVER put 2 males in a small tank together unless you have raised them with each other and know for certain they get along - three-spots (trichogaster trichopterus) and all their color morphs (blue, opaline, gold, cosby, lavender etc.), can be quite mean to each other and males WILL fight, to the death if necessary, if they feel their tank is lacking in territory. You COULD try a male with 2 females but I'd say a larger tank would be called for (considering their size) and I would not reccomend a single male and female pair as the male might stress the female in this smaller-sized tank.

I have to admit that I would personaly go for honey gouramies (not dwarfs) as they are the ones I could keep most of and the ones least likely to cause problems However much I love opalines, I will never keep them in a group again except for when breeding (have had multiple devastating experiences with them...). I also tend to avoid dwarfs now that I've kept quite a few as they don't tend to last very long (often carry many diseases or are weak due to mass-production and in-breeding that has had negative effects on their immune systems).

Having said that, have you considered pearl gouramies (trichogaster leeri)...? They are beautiful and peaceful and, though only slightly smaller than an opaline, you should be able to keep a male and 2 females.

Colisa fasciata and colisa labiosa would also work, kept like dwarf gouramies, 2 males OR one male and 2 females OR 3 females, if you preffer. They are rarer though.

 

[mandi]

Sylvia, you are fabulous! Thank you for all the wonderful information. I'm really excited now!

I wish I had a clear answer for the whole honey gourami confusion. The LFS had the tank labelled as "Dwarf Honey Gourami" I'll have to take a look (if they still have them). I definately think they would be a nice option. I will also look into the pearl gouramis as you mentioned.

Thanks for steering me in the right direction! I'm off to do some more research (now that I have Latin names to look up specifics) and hopefully sometime this weekend I'll make it to the LFS's to have a look around.

 

[LKravitzDO]

I have a question, can a dwarf gourami share a tank w/ a pearl? and do the pearls like to be in pairs (I really only want one)?. I currently have 2 male dwarfs who are being very territorial in my 20 gal. (fortunately it's long- they have divided the tank!! , so I'm moving one of them to a 10 gal., and i wanted to add the pearl to the 20 gal. Thanks!

 

[sylvia]

That would work fine. Pearls are very peaceful and dwarfs don't usualy bother other species so they should get along fine. They also need not be kept in groups When you first introduce the pearl you may have a few clashes with the established gourami but they will soon settle.

mandi - I'm glad I could help Let us know what you decide.

 

[mandi]

Well, I had a very UNrewarding trip to the 4 LFS in town today. *SIGH*

All of them had blue gourami, and 3 of the 4 had neon blue dwarf gouramies. One place had female dwarf gourami too -- one of them had a lip that was bleeding though! One had a single thick-lipped gourami.

Anyway, the more I looked at all of them, the more I kept thinking about those honey gourami I had seen a couple weels ago -- unfortunately, they didn't have them anymore. I talked to one of the ladies at the LFS though, and she said they place their orders on Mondays and that she would have her husband call when he was there to let me know if he can order some honey gouramies for me and give me a price.

So, I was really disapointed that I didn't find any today, but I'm happy that they'll hopefully be able to order the ones I decided on.

 

[Inchworm]

Hi mandi

It's too bad you couldn't get the honey gouramis; they would have been a nice addition to your tank. Perhaps your lfs will get them for you yet! IMHO, they would be the very best choice for your tank.

Pearls can be aggressive as any other large gourami, and I would not recommend keeping more than one male of any large gourami species in a 20 gallon tank. Females, on the other hand, can get along quite well with each other in pairs or groups.

As to the floating plants, please remember that gouramis, like bettas, need to get to the surface to breathe air, and take care not to let the plants grow to the point where they could have a problem doing this.

 

[Mr Miagi]

By the way guys, i have had no trouble keeping my 5 pearl gourami together. I really think the size of your tank matters greatly in how many gouramis you can keep. I mean, ive got 1 male, 4 females in my tank and no fighting whatsoever.

Inchworm made a great point about the floating plants too.

Goodluck with your choice of gouramis mandi, it is sooo tuff isnt it!!!

 

[mandi]

Goodluck with your choice of gouramis mandi, it is sooo tuff isnt it!!!

Yes! I haven't seen a gourami yet that wasn't absolutely beautiful. It's tuff to decide on just one. (Excuses to buy more tanks eventually haha.)

Inchworm -- Thanks for the tip about keeping the floating plants well trimmed so there's open surface for them to breathe. I will keep that in mind.

Hopefully the LFS will call today and tell me they can order the honeys for me. *Fingers crossed*

 

[cometcattle]

Mandi - your 20g is beautiful! Great piece of wood!

 

[mandi]

Aww thanks! )

I redid it a little a couple days ago (preparing for the gouramies). I attached some more java fern to the wood and added some floating hornwort plants (which need rearranged a bit).

(BTW all the little white dots on the wood and the moss balls are my baby apple snails )

 

[Mr Miagi]

Beautiful looking tank mandi

 

[mandi]

Sylvia, this is kind of directed to you, but anyone who has advice feel free to jump in.

I was searching for aquarium plants online and someone recommended www.azgardens.com to me -- while I was on that site, I noticed they sold fish too so I was browsing. I looked and sure enough they had 2 types of fish that I've been searching for locally and can't find (even to special order them) -- dwarf puffers and honey gouramies. (For different tanks of course haha.)

However, I came back and re-read your post where you said to see if they're really a "dwarf gourami (colisa lalia) or a honey gourami (colisa chuna/sota)". The ones on their site (here) are listed as Colisa lalia (and now that I look at it again, they're calling them "Dwarf Honey-Red Gouramies").

Still, I think the fish is really beautiful, and I e-mailed them to find out if I could specify a number of males/females for my order.

ANYWAY...
My question is, being that they're dwarf gouramies and not true honeys -- will they be more aggressive? I had planned to buy 2 males and 3 females (as you mentioned would be ok for true honeys) -- but I'm guessing that's not going to work for this type huh? What number of males/females would you recommend in this case? (I would kind of like to get at least 1 male & 1 female, or 1 male & 2 females because I'd like to try spawning them in the future ... but I also want whats best for the fish.)

Thanks for the help. Hopefully this works out and I'll be placing a BIG order soon haha. (Incidentally, has anyone ordered from that site before? Good/bad?)