Gourami & Other Fish

[sam_1985]

Just a quick question coz i cant find the answer anywhere else but was just wondering can I put a GOURAMI in with mollies & guppies? plz can any1 help me. thanx

 

[Rhiannon]

Yes you can with guppies. My boy is houses with my guppies and pays no attention to them.

Dont know about mollies though I dont have them sorry.

 

[wayne84]

yer mollies are fine ( in my tank anyway ) mine have been mixed for a few months and theres been no probs

 

[sylvia]

Have I missed something? lol What species of gourami? It really matters!

Generaly speaking, mollies dislike gouramies but some species of gourami are more tolerant, less likely to retaliate or generaly more 'diplomatic' in their dealings with these annoying livebearers.

Guppies are bad tankmates for bettas but can be fine with other small gouramies. Many larger and/or more aggressive species will not hesitate to kill them.

In any case, if the gourami is large enough to fit the guppy or molly in its mouth, it'll eat it (and, yes, I'm saying this to make a point - I don't really think you have an osphronemus ).

 

[sam_1985]

im wanting blue coral gouramis i think they were, coz they were pretty lol. im a bit confused though coz 2 ppl have said yes they go with them & 1 has said no

 

[newtotropical]

im wanting blue coral gouramis i think they were, coz they were pretty lol. im a bit confused though coz 2 ppl have said yes they go with them & 1 has said no

All i can say is that sylvia seems to have a lot of knowledge when it comes to gourami!!

 

[sylvia]

Thanks newtotropical but, obviously, everyone has had their own experiences so no one should ignore everyone else and just listen to me

Blue coral - as in the dwarf color morph (Colisa lalia)? If so, a single male would do fine with guppies but may get harassed a bit by the mollies. Usually this isn't too serious so it's worth a shot. What kind of mollies do you have (ie are they sailfins or just 'ordinary' ones? How big are they?).

Is this the gourami? http/www.greenparktropical.com/Fish/imag...f%20Gourami.jpg If so, read the pinned article about dwarf gouramies.

 

[sam_1985]

Yea thats the 1, i read that other post u told me 2 but im, still a bit confused on how 2 tell the male from the female, as the shop we went in 2 didnt seem 2 have ne silver 1's of the dwarf blue coral, only the blue with red stripes. if there is a way of telling them apart plz let me know, as we brought 2 the other day after asking if they can go with balloon mollies & guppies.

 

[sylvia]

If they didn't have any silver ones - they simply didn't have any females. Many shops will not stock the females because of their duller coloration which makes them less likely to sell. Remember - LFSs need to make money.

So you have two males. BTW, never take LFS advice. You probably shouldn't be keeping two. The more dominant fish will chase the other around and stress him. This depends on tank size though. If yours is at least 20 gallons and planted, they could be fine. If not, return one to your LFS as dwarfs are particularly fragile fish and can die if stressed too much.

 

[Maximumbob]

personally i wouldnt keep mollies with gourami's. Mollies like to nibble on the slime coat of gouramis and goldfish. In large enough numbers it can erode this coat and make the gourami more prone to disease. It also stresses the fish more.

This is not guarnteed to happen with every mollie/gourami combo... but more often than not it will.