Oddball Tankmates For Gourami?

[IronLung]

I posted this on the beginners boad:

I had a fish tank with a betta and mollies as a child....and as teenager and college student i had a bigger tank (70 gallons) with Gourami my fav fish....i learned by trial and error..i am 28 now and moving into a new house and i want to get an aquarium..i haven't had one in years so i feel like a rookie... i am going for a tank that is 120 gallons to 180 gallons...

I was going for the larger semi-aggressive gourami like Gold and Blue, Platium, Oplanie , Pink kissing, paradise gourami....i have seen them with angle fish so i was thinking about them too...in my 70 gallon tank i use to have a elephant nose fish with the gourmai, it went okay ....but the elephant was so sensitive.....it died in a week...my tank condition must have not been to good, but while alive he got along with the gourami...now i am thinking of a spiny eel of some sort... my friend said it would work...he told me something i could not believe...he said he saw angel fish and gourami in the same tank with Discus...is this true...or could he have been mistaken...aren't they harder to maintain and get bigger..how big...? aren't they aggressive?

what tankmates should i get (keep in mind i hate tetras and Barb)


i hear sand is better then gravel or rock..is it true .....why?...i use to have the common rock/gravel with a bottom fitler underneath (and a bio wheel up top)... can i do that wtih sand?

can birch go with gourami.. baby whale...?bronw knife?...ghost knife? opinions ...suggestion

Got this reply:


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The thing with gouramis is they are territorial, particularly the males, so any aggression is primarily going to be directed at any fish that they might mistake for another male gourami about to invade their territory. Still, it's a nice big tank you're going for, that makes a difference. Establishing artificial boundaries, like plants or ornaments breaking up the sightline should also help, if you are keeping more than one gourami.
If it were me, I would look out for some nice catfish to fill out bottom space- something like a Queen Arabesque- or in that size tank, why not a trio (1 male, 2 females)? But that's just personal preference, you sound like you're more of an oddball person. About the bichir, eel and ghost knife- I would ask in the oddballs forum.

 

[jasonskillz]

my fire eel does fine with my osphronemus
even when my gourami is really hungry or pissed off, he still wont bite the eel
i think fire eels are so cool since they look nice and will eat from your hand

 

[sylvia]

Firstly, opaline, blue, gold, lavender, cosby etc are all exactly the same species - Trichogaster trichopterus. I realy reccomend you learn to use the scientific names as the common ones (often several per species and between species) can cause deadly confusion. Generaly speaking, this species is also called the 'Three-spot gourami'. I tend to use that name when reffering to them. Keep in mind that three-spots are one of the most aggressive of gouramies and that they idealy need to be in large female-oonly groups. They grow to 6" and males will readily kille ach other. In situations where a male is kept with females (and it must be only one male and several females), if they breed (which they do readily), the increasingly territorial males are perfectly capeable of attacking tankmates - even catfish and other bottom-dwelling fish that you'd expect would be ignored.

Paradisefish (Macropodus opercularis) don't usualy work well with three-spots and I'd avoid keeping them with any other territorial fish. Two males will often fight to the death in the manner of bettas. Also, because they only grow to 3", they are not usualy large enough to prevent them from being eaten by predatory species.

Kissing gouramies, as you may know, are also territorial and, unfortunately, impossible to sex visualy. However, if you keep about 4 (which you can do in the size tank you are proposing), they work very well with medium-sized oddballs because they can hold their own but won't attack most non-gourami tankmates. Do keep in mind that their size (often 9" - sometimes more) means they won't work with very small fish (which they will eat) and that they have a taste for vegetation (BTW - plant-based foods are essential and should form a good part of their diet). If you want to get a spiny eel, these gouramies should be fine with one.

You mentioned angels. Angels and gouramies can sometimes work together but only in quite a large tank - yours is a good size! Because they compete with gouramies for territory (seeing as they occupy the same water levels) and can become aggressive when breeding, it would be best to avoid species of gourami that are easily bullied or nipped (eg: pearls) or species that are likely to be provoked into attacking (such as kissers and sometimes even three-spots though their size means they are about equaly matched with angels).

A species that does work well with angels is Colisa fasciata. These are also known as banded, indian, striped or giant gouramies (not to be confused with the true giant osphronemus gouramies which need an even larger tank to be comfortable) and grow to 4". They are peaceful but very colorful and a mixed group (with about 2 females per male) looks lovely.

Concerning the angels themselves - if you go for these cichlids, make shure you get an even number as you otherwise run the risk of pairs forming, leaving one odd fish to be bullied. Keep in mind that they cannot be sexed accurately as youngsters and that they are territorial and can be quite aggressive when breeding. I'd get about 8 maximum and leave room for some large schooling fish (have you considered rainbows? Look up Melanotaenia boesmani or Melanotaenia lacustris - or both for that matter - they are stunning and active in groups of around 7 or more).

Discus are cichlids similar to angels. However, they are lot more fragile and most discus owners are adamant that they should not be kept with angels which often carry diseases to which discus posess no resistance. Having said that, they are very similar in temperament though discus grow larger. You can keep the mroe peaceful gourami species with discus - eg: Colisa fasciata (mentioned earlier) and moonlight gouramies (Trichogaster microlepis). Pearls usualy work also and are by far (IMO) the most beautiful gouramies. Discus do best in groups (especialy as juveniles - like angels they can't be sexed and pair off later on - a group of around 6 is usualy reccomended) at high temperatures so this needs to be kept in mind when choosing tankmates. The majority of gouramies fit this bill perfectly but it's extremely important not to overcrowd in a discus tank. Some of the mid-dwelling gourami species make ideal tankmates for discus (eg: croaking gouramies, spiketailed gouramies and some ctenopomas) but you need to make shure the gouramies are large enough to not get eaten by an 8" discus cichlid and that, in turn, the gouramies pose no threat to the discus. Many ctenopomas work because they mind their own business and, though largely predatory, only target small fish and are quite shy. Badis are another interesting option.

Sand is not actualy 'better' than gravel but it can often look better. It comes down to eprsonal prefference realy - unless you have fish that like to burrow or dig (eg kuhlie loaches or bottom-living cichlids, catfish etc). It is also better for fish such as cories that tend to search the bottom with sensitive barbels that can be damaged by course gravel. In terms of cleaning, sand doesn't allow debris to mix in with it and it settles on the top - though very visible in this way, it is also easier to spot and remove. You can gravel vacuum a sand tank by swirling the vacuum just above the sand - this stirrs it up and allows you to remove debris. Keep in mind that a deep layer of sand can lead to toxic air pockets forming. Provided there are some catfish (eg: cories) to stir this up, there shouldn't be a problem (or just keep the sand shallow).

I'd ask in the cichlid section for info on discus and the oddballs for info on spiny eels (as there are a few species). Check the fish index here also.