Do Golden Gouramis Need Friends?

[FungusTrooper]

Hey all.
 
We recently adopted a medium sized male golden gourami from a family friend who was moving and couldn't keep her fish anymore. She left her house in the care of another friend for 6 months, but he did absolutely nothing to the fish - it's a wonder any of them survived! The gourami was at one time housed with 2 emerald corys, but they were dead by the time she got home - we're thinking the gourami survived by eating them. Poor things.
 
So now he's here in a planted 20 gal tank. We're going to up the tank size as soon as we get a chance. We also adopted some corys and an angelfish from the same woman - we put the corys with the gourami, but he kept chasing them around, so we removed them and they now live with the angelfish who is much more chill.
 
The question I have is do male golden gouramis need friends? When we re-tank him it'll hopefully be in a 30 or 40 gal tank, and I'm going to attempt to carpet it with plants. Will he be okay on his own in there, and if not, what could he possibly get along with if he can't even deal with corys?

Thanks a bunch.
 

 

[TallTree01]

They don't school so he will be fine on his own.
However, a 30-40 gal with just a gourami would look kind of bare.

 

[FungusTrooper]

That's good to know, I wasn't sure if he'd get lonely/horny on his own.

And while I agree, until I see how well I manage to plant the tank (which doesn't exist yet), I wont know how bare it looks. However, if it does look bare, what kind of mates can I get him? Like I said, he already attacked the poor corys we tried with him.

 

[TallTree01]

The chances are, if he attacks cories you'll have to be very careful with what you put in with him. Maybe Plecoes? He's a semi agressive fish which means semi agressive tank mates would be ideal. Maybe some of the rougher tetras like Beunos aires or tiger barbs?

As for him wanting to mate, he will build nests out of bubbles if he feels like it but you won't need a female for him to be happy. They don't pair up or anything so you'd need maybe 2-3+ females if you feel the need. The need? The need to BREED !

 

[DerpPH]

Dont worry they can be kept alone but in a tank that size? Maybe some zebra plecs to make the tank look nice? Plants and also some semi aggressive fish can work like some barbs and loaches

 

[Jan Cavalieri]

I always try to buy my gourami's in sets of two - I read somewhere that they do like the company of their own kind - so unless one has died - ALL my gourami are in sets of two. It also seems to keep down the aggression from some of my bigger gourami's - not that they are even particularly aggressive, just exerting their dominance. Anyway - they seem less inclined to take on of two smaller gourami's. I like a peaceful tank. I'm a big gourami fan - they come in wonderful colors and are generally not aggressive and, in my experience so far - very hardy. I also have two bushynose pleco's to take care of the algae (the yellow with blue eyes) I LOVE LOVE these adorable fish and they work night and day to get rid of algae - I'm going to run out if I'm not careful Not a single Gourami or any other fish has bothered them whatsoever - mine are still pretty small so I worried about that. They can be very pricey but I've never had such an algae free tank.

 

[Anmarpugs]

I have a male Golden gourami, and he is very bossy ( dominate ). He was put in a small tank because he was chasing the other fish in a 10 gallon tank, he was smaller then. Well I bought and set up a 40 gallon breeder tank with plenty of plants, rocks, wood. He is now in a tank with 5 rainbow fish, lots of cory’s, 4 tetra’s, 2 glow light tetra’s, 4 Cherry barbs, 3 other gouramies, 2 pleco’s, 2 yo yo loaches, 1 Chinese algae eater, 4 shrimp, 2 Mexican orange dwarf gray fish. He is still dominate, but not to any particular fish, it is now shared, so not a problem. Sounds like a lot of fish, but I do 1/4 water changes once a week.