Licorice Gourami

[Auratus]

I will be receiving 4 licorice gourami later this week and I'm pretty sure they are wild caught. I'm doing my best to get my ph lower and provide what they need. But, I'm just wondering if anyone here has them and exactly how much of a challange they are to keep. Many have said they are very sensitive, and I'm thinking wild caughts are going to be even more so.

Any advice for tank prep?

Edit: I guess I should give a little more info on what their setup will be.

Tank mates are just going to be three sterbai cories. The tank has been running for almost a year and there is currently a male pk in there. He has gotten more and more aggro towards the cories so he's going to be moved.

The corner filter is run by a bubbler so the flow is very calm, but it does an excellent job filtering. I'm adding indian almond leaves to the tank tomorrow after I get some dipsticks to test my ph before and after. May even get some RO water tomorrow. There are lots of caves created by my rocks and they can always burrow in the java moss. Temp is at a steady 77. Maybe 75 at night but we've been keeping the heater on in the house so it shouldn't drop much. Tank is only 8 gallons, but being that they are timid I figure a smaller area will be okay for them if I keep up with w/c.

 

[Dwarfs]

My father (lucky62) had one for a while in water with a neutral pH and a temp of around 78-80. He could probably tell you more than I can but I remember it eating freeze dried bloodworms and dafnia as well as live brine shrimp

 

[sylvia]

I haven't kept wild-caught licorice gouramies (at least I think they weren't wild-caught) but I would expect them to be a little more picky than the tank-bred ones. You'll need to lower the pH quite a bit, at least at first, and make sure you acclimate them very slowly. Like most gouramies, pH fluctuations can cause a lot of trouble. Make sure yours remains steady. If the only way to acomplish this is RO, I suggest you get some before they arrive so you can get a hang of mixing it with your tapwater to get the right pH and to enable you to lower it somewhat more gradualy so you don't shock the cories. When the licorices first arrive they may not accept anything but small live foods. Keep that in mind. they should take small bloodworms or daphnia until you can train them onto other foods (which should be relatively easy) and they've settled in. 8 gallons is ok for a pair but 2 males may not get along. just keep an eye on them and buy an extra 2-5 gallon if you see any aggression. keep in mind that any aggression, leading to stress, may very easily make them catch a disease if conditions are not ideal. Licorice gouramies are somewhat sensitive to bad water quality but I don't think they are extremely so. Just keep up with water changes and aim to keep nitrAtes as low as possible. They should be ok. Good luck with them! Do post some pics if you can - I love these cuties BTW, nice looking tank. Do you know which species of licorice you are getting? I assumed it would be p. deissneri as that's the most common.