Giant Gourami

[Synirr]

I recently discovered giant gouramis, and now I desperately want one. I can't resist that big ugly mug
Anyway, I can't get a bigger tank until I move out and I know an 80 gallon is too small for one, but I'm wondering:
How big a tank DO they need? I know they get a little over 2ft long...
Would they be able to live with oscars?
Are they fast growers?

Any info would be much appreciated
It looks like my "dream tank" just got a little bit bigger

 

[ryan]

Gaint Gouramis are certainly ugly! The Giant Gourami or Osphronemus gorami are found in the waters of China, Malaysia and eastern India.

They are big fish reaching around 24" in length and producing alot of waste so good filtration is essentail. Because of their thick bodied, inflexible shape they need a tank at least 36" in width. A tank of around 300 gallons is required to house the fish for life but they are normally for sale at a very young stage and can be grown out in smaller tanks. Normally seen at around 4-8cm in shops they have an attractive banded colouration which with age vanishes as the fish darkens, large specimens are harder to find in captivity and are seldom seen over 16".

They are generally pecaeful except with members of the same species in a confined environment, obviously because of their size they will eat smaller fish. Diet wise they will eat just about anything so a varied diet of commercail and frozen foods is best.

Keeping them with Oscars should not be a problem.

 

[Paul_MTS]

would just like to add caution to the oscar bit.

we had a giant gouramai come into work because he was kicking the oscars butt that it was living with. the gouramai was about 15"

and then when we added a young redtail cat to the tank he beat him up bad, pecking at his back and fins, neadless to say the redtail was quickly moved.

 

[Synirr]

would just like to add caution to the oscar bit.

we had a giant gouramai come into work because he was kicking the oscars butt that it was living with. the gouramai was about 15"

and then when we added a young redtail cat to the tank he beat him up bad, pecking at his back and fins, neadless to say the redtail was quickly moved.

Hmm... I'm going to guess it's one of those "depends on the fish" situations. I suppose that years from now, when I have my own house and huge tank, I can try it and see how it goes
A giant gourami would probably be less likely to agress against tankmates it had been raised with, wouldn't you think? A lot of large, relatively intelligent fish are like that

 

[ryan]

Apparently Gaint Gouramis tend to be more aggressive when they are younger and calm down abit with age. However, their still a powerful fish and if they want to they can cause serious damage so as you say it depends on the individual fish and hows irs been raised etc, but I can't see a problem with giving it a try.

 

[Paul_MTS]

yep i'd agree down to the fish on this one, if they had a bad child hood etc

I'm not sure how fast they grow but if you get 1 in withoscar and get them growing on together you might beable to make a happy couple.

I'm pretty sure (although cant be certain) that the oscar and the gouramai had been living together for quite some time, so weather or not the GG just turned over night i'm not sure.

it's funny that he accpected a MBU puffer into the tank, although they had a few scuffs as 1 day I came into find a perfect half circle out of the GG's fin, kind of MBU mouth size!

There was also a Salmon catfish in with them, he was very old and didn't do much though.