Gourami help

[kimbowee]

I just set up a 30 gal tank. Right now it contains 3 dwarf blue gourami, 3 hatchet fish & an upside down catfish. I will be adding 3 more hatchet fish next week.

The dwarf blues are quite large. The biggest is a little over 3" the smallest is 2". All of the profiles I have read state that a dwarf should be 2" max. They definitely look identical to the pictures of the dwarf blue pictures I have found.

I had the LFS order 5 female dwarf Gourami's for me. They should also be in next week. They usually only carry males.

When I was first researching the dwarf Gourami's everything I found said they were a peaceful fish if kept in groups within the same species with the right male/female ratios. From what I am reading here they are more aggressive than I originally thought. Am wondering if this set up would still be a good idea.

I also have a 20 gal with 2 mollies, 3 guppies & 3 Oto's. Should I maybe rehome one of the males to this tank? If I do, should I also put in a female or 2? Since I special ordered the female Gourami's I had to pay for them up front with no refunds.

Ok, one more question. In the main Gourami tank I have a large airstone that pretty much covers an entire side wall of the tank. I think it is confusing the Gourami's because when the bubbles reach the top it almost looks like a bubblenest. Should I remove the airstone?


Any advice appreciated!!! Thanks!

 

[sylvia]

The bubbles shouldn't be problem. They'll get used to them.

I'd think having 8 dwarf gouramies in a 30 gallon is a bit much but it can work with the right aquascaping. Still, if I were in your position, I'd move one male to the 20 along with 2 of the females you've ordered. Then I'd leave the remaining 2 males and 3 of the females in the 30. Provided they all have plenty of places to hide and set up territory, the gouramies in both tanks should be fine.

I should add that the fact that one of them is 3" worries me because it may mean you don't actualy have dwarfs but banded gouramies, or possibly even thick-lipped (colisa fasciata and colisa labiosa respectively, as opposed to colisa lalia). Besides the fact that they get larger, it also means the females you've ordered won't be the same species (which kind of defeats the purpose ). Just to make sure, grab a ruler and actualy measure the fish - you'd be surprised at how easy it is to over-estimate sizes. Though dwarf males can sometimes grow a bit bigger than 2", they rarely actualy reach 3".

 

[kimbowee]

Thanks for the info Sylvia!

I did measure the biggest guy, and I did overestimate a little. He is still a little large though. From the tip of his nose to the tip of his tail he is about 2.5" and the other 2 males are 2". I have been comparing pics & all he definitely looks like a dwarf blue with red striping. Are the larger species identical looking also? Maybe he is just big boned?

The tank is heavily planted with a couple of caves. It is so heavily planted I was sure I lost my upside down catfish yesterday. I even went as far as looking behind the stand & on the floor, then under the hood thinking he must have found a way out. He showed up this morning tho.

I will move a male & 2 females to the 20 gal when I pick up my females Friday. Will I still be okay if I add a group of cories or Black Phantom tetras to the 30 gal with the remaing 5 gourami's?


Again, thanks for the advice! One of these days I am going to figure out how to work the camera & post pics on here. Hubby is the computer geek tho. )

 

[sylvia]

At 2.5" he's probably just a larger male and everything'll be fine. If not, you'll know soon enough as he'll grow to at least 3" (depending on the exact species). The larger colisa species look similar to a dwarf but not identical. If you've kept fish you know for certain are dwarfs in the past, you couldn't confuse them (IMO).

As for adding cories and tetras, that would be fine as long as you are careful to not over-stock. They are otherwise perfectly compatible and should get along great.

I would love to see some pics once you've got all your gouramies together though I couldn't realy help as far as how to post pics goes ... I'm no good with all that technical stuff .

 

[kimbowee]

Ok, so I took some pics of the males I have now. But I can't figure out how to post pics in this section. I was doing so well, I swear, LOL. I figured out how to post pics in Household pets and everything! Guess I will have to try & find one of those pro's.