Gourami Stocking

[RachelMallory]

So I have a 55 gallon tank with a couple different species of fish. I am most interested in gouramis.
I had a blue and a gold gourami in my tank and the blue devoured the gold, literally.
So what if I wanted to put an opaline, two pearls, and two platinums in. do you think i would have an issue?
I have read up a bunch of differnt sites and have heard it from different sites that it can and can't work. what you do think?

 

[creeker]

Just make sure the Three-spot types are all females. With the Pearl, you could get two females or a male/female pair.

 

[robertsskippyj]

I have 2 male Opaline Gourami as well as 4 zebra loach, 1 bristlenose pleco and 10 cardinal tetra in my fairly heavily planted 180l. I use to have a third that I was unsure if it was male or female and it was hounded to death by the other 2 wouldnt let it into there respective halves of the tank. Don't think I would increase the number even with other varieties. But that's just down to what happened to me it maybe possible as your tank is a good bit bigger than mine.

 

[RachelMallory]

Well I have one blue three spot, but how do you know the different between males and females? I thought that the males were the ones with color and the females are just like dull and gray.

 

[creeker]

Well I have one blue three spot, but how do you know the different between males and females? I thought that the males were the ones with color and the females are just like dull and gray.

Both have about the same amount of color. The male has a longer, pointed dorsal fin.

 

[Ruskull]

I have an Opaline Gourami female, Gold Gourami female with a male & female Pearl Gourami pair. They get along fine because the blue & gold are similar in size. They all chase each other playfully. I used to have a Gold Gourami male & he chased all the others relentlessly. He died from a bad Ich outbreak which I'm still battling. I also had a large, 4 inch long Blue Three Spot that used to chase all the others around except the male Gold. I had to return her because she was too much bigger than all the others.

As Creeker said, the males have longer pointed dorsal fins. They also have taller, flatter bodies. Females will look very round in the belly as they mature. They're all very colorful. I have mine with Cherry Barbs, Lemon Tetras, Von Rio Flame Tetras, Cory Cats & an Oto. They currently reside in my 36 gallon bow front. Your 55 gallon should be fine to get 2 or 3 Pearls, a single male & two females. You can also have two or three of the Blue, Gold, Opaline, etc. as long as they're all females.