Biggest gourami for tank

[OohFeeshy]

As much as I love my khulis, until I've got a moonlight sorted they're not out much. So it looks very bare. I'm after a pair of gouramis, probably to breed. I'd like the biggest that can fit sesibly, if possible . Oh yes, 15g, 6 khulis and a relatively young betta who's not interested in other fish and too preoccupied with exploring the tank. And he's isolated at night (don't ask, I just don't want him getting stuck when I can't help him). He might be moved, but he's at an active age.

 

[sylvia]

Where's the moonlight gourami right now then?

Moving the betta in and out of isolation is very stressful for him. It would be much better for him (and your other fish) if you'd just get him his own 2-5 gallon tank/bowl.

Kuhlies get to 4" so, though you may not see them all that often, your tank is actualy pretty much fully stocked with 6 of them in there.

Having said that, if you move out the betta (don't risk mixing him with a gourami) and the moonlight isn't in this tank (should be in a 30 gallon minnimum), a banded gourami (colisa fasciata - gets to 4") would fit in teh 15 gallon with the loaches.

If you want large gouramies, you simply cannot keep a pair of fish. Small fish like honeys (colisa chuna/sota) or sparklers (trichopsis pumilus) would work as a trio (1 male, 2 females) if you planted heavily. Again, move the moonlight and betta out first and don't get both the honeys AND the sparklers - just one of the two species. Neither gets large though - honeys to 1.5", sparklers to just over 1". The latter would be the better option.

You won't be able to breed any of the above in a community tank setting. If you seriously want to breed, get a bigger tank so you can house the large gouramies you preffer and use the 15 gallon as a specialy set up breeding tank. A search of this forum should reveal plenty of posts concerning the breeding of gouramies. Also look at the pinned topics, the fish idnex here and, of course, search google.com.

 

[OohFeeshy]

Where's the moonlight gourami right now then?

Moving the betta in and out of isolation is very stressful for him. It would be much better for him (and your other fish) if you'd just get him his own 2-5 gallon tank/bowl.

Kuhlies get to 4" so, though you may not see them all that often, your tank is actualy pretty much fully stocked with 6 of them in there.

Having said that, if you move out the betta (don't risk mixing him with a gourami) and the moonlight isn't in this tank (should be in a 30 gallon minnimum), a banded gourami (colisa fasciata - gets to 4") would fit in teh 15 gallon with the loaches.

If you want large gouramies, you simply cannot keep a pair of fish. Small fish like honeys (colisa chuna/sota) or sparklers (trichopsis pumilus) would work as a trio (1 male, 2 females) if you planted heavily. Again, move the moonlight and betta out first and don't get both the honeys AND the sparklers - just one of the two species. Neither gets large though - honeys to 1.5", sparklers to just over 1". The latter would be the better option.

You won't be able to breed any of the above in a community tank setting. If you seriously want to breed, get a bigger tank so you can house the large gouramies you preffer and use the 15 gallon as a specialy set up breeding tank. A search of this forum should reveal plenty of posts concerning the breeding of gouramies. Also look at the pinned topics, the fish idnex here and, of course, search google.com.

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Theres no moonlight gourami, I meant moonlights as in cold cathode moonlighting or similar . The betta, well, no sure what to do with him, he's at an age where really 3g is too small . I might start leaving him out, he's getting the gist of the tank now. 6 khulis does bring you up to max. stocking levels on most systems, but they're low waste producers and hoover up any leftover food, so theres not a huge amount of waste and the tank is quite well filtered (A fluval 2 with floss around output and a elite mini with lots of media) and cleaned regularly.

Anyway, gourami wise, I was thinking a gold gourami or other colour variety. Although I have seen a lot of variation of maximum size, some say 4'', some say 5, some 6.

 

[sylvia]

Lol, sorry about the moonlight misunderstanding... I was wonderng why that sentence didn't realy make sense If you don't have the gourami, don't isolate the betta at night. He'll be fine. I think you are probably aware of this but bettas do not get along with gouramies. This was the reason I suggested moving him (if a 3 gallon's too small, then get a bigger tank for him and give him a few peaceful tankmates). No matter how peaceful and tolerant you may think your fish is, when you suddenly introduce a gourami to HIS tank you're bound to have problems. And if you were to get past this stage, you'd have problems later on when the gourami would mature and take over the tank. Gold gouramies, for one, are not an option. They are a color morph of trichogaster trichopterus (three-spot gourami) and are one of the more aggressive species. They also can grow to 6" and need at least a 20 gallon to be comfortable though you could keep one with only a few bottom dwellers in a 15 if you wanted. However, regardless of how good your filtration may be, I wouldn't add a 6" fish to your 6 kuhlies (assuming you took out the betta). Either move the betta and get one of the small gouramies I mentioned before or get a small schooling, non-nippy fish or a couple of (female) platies instead of gouramies to go with your betta and kuhlies.