Albino Paradise Gourami?

dixaisy930

I'm trying really hard to act normal
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The lfs had a group of fish that had no label. The kid had no idea what they were, so until I was sure I wasn't going to bring any home. After looking on here, I'm 99.9% sure it's a paradise gourami, but it was white with orange stripes (the eyes were orange/red). Is this just a color variation, or are they albino? Also, are they compatible with community fish (mollys, danios, platys, etc). And how do they do with other gouramis? I have one honey gourami in there now.

And how do you sex them, and what should the m/f ratio be? Or should I just have one in there? (65 gallon tank)
 
There are many fish known as 'paradise gouramies' but I will assume you are reffering to Macropodus Opercularis. If this is the case, there are many color morphs but one of the more common of these is albino so maybe this is what you saw. They get to be around 4" and males can be distinguished from females by their considerably brighter coloration and especialy from their elnogated dorsal, anal and caudal fins. In mature fish, the differences are very obvious. Males are more aggressive and, when in a confined space, they will fight almost as aggressively as bettas. They don't make good tankmates for slow fish that are likely to get nipped or wont be quick enough to get away if attacked but I think platies or mollies should be ok as they don't rely have any trailing fins and can be quick if they need to be and danios are very fast little fish so they'd be fine. I don't know about the honey gourami - normaly I would not reccomend it, but considering the size of your tank - there should be enough room and hiding places for it to escape to if chased. If you were to only get females, aggression would be quite limmited and the number wouldn't matter that much - probably 1-3 would be fine (I don't think you'd realy want or need more than that). If you get a male though, either just get one or get a male and 2 females. The males also chase and harass females outside the breeding season which is why it's best to keep them as trios rather than in pairs (so attention is devided). I should point out that I cannot guarantee they will get along with your current fish (particularly if male) so be prepaired to re-home them if necessary though chances are they'll be fine.
 
Thank you very much! I think my best bet will be to get one or two females. They're pretty enough for me. :)
 

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