Okay, Demons Are Gone..

[CBBP]

Well today I finally took the three three-spot gouramis back. that sucks because they where such pretty fish. Anyway, now I have room in my aquarium and i still want some pretty fish.

Any recommendations for a peaceful gouramis tank? I kind of want some dwarfs or a sort of betta females. IS there any chance the two can be mixed? I doubt it. If no..

how many male gouramis can be kept together? is only one male per tank...

Will female betas be mean to the other females and other types of fish? And vice-versa?

then what gouramis do I want to keep together in a 29?

 

[sylvia]

First you need to tell us what other fish are in the tank. Many gouramies are mainly top-dwelling fish and will compete with others for territory. Similarly, territorial or aggressive fish such as cichlids or sharks will compete for space and can prompt gouramies to become quite aggressive in retaliation. Fish that nip will also limmit which gouramies will work well in your tank.
It would also help to know how many of each fish you have to see just how much space you have available for the gouramies.

I personaly would not go for dwarfs. They are fragile and very prone to disease. IMO, they are far better suited to a tank specifically designed for them with lots of planting, a few small, peaceful schooling fish and, basically just a very peacefull stress-free environment.

However, there are similar species that are equaly beautiful (if not more so) but less likely to drop dead in a community tank and cause trouble for all the fish.

The most obvious would be the honey gourami - Colisa chuna/sota. These are quite often confused with dwarfs - particularly with the red color morphs. They are slightly smaller (1.5") and do not have quite the same coloration. Males develop a stunning dark blue-black ventral coloration whereas females are a paler golden honey with a brown horizontal stripe running along the body from eye to tail. There are some other varieties - most noteably the red color morph - where the females are often almost as bright as the males but the males also have less of a dark coloring when in breeding condition. These fish do well as trios (1male, 2 females) but, due to their small size, you can keep them in a larger group as well as long as the ratio of males to females is approximately 2:3.

A larger fish that looks similar to the dwarf is Colisa fasciata - the banded gourami. They are also known as giant gouramies because they are the largest in the Colisa genus. Make shure you do not confuse them with the true giant osphronemus gouramies which grow to 30"! Bandeds row to 4" but are surprisingly placid fish. They also do well in trios but males can also co-exist. In your tank, if it^s planted, a couple of males would be ok. Having said that, females are not as lacking in color in this species as is the case with dwarfs and ît seems to be worth keeping a couple of females with your male simply for the behaviour. the presence of females also typicaly encourages male gouramies to show off and be particularly brightly colored.

A similar fish to consider would be Colisa labiosa. This is commonly known as the thick-lipped gourami and grows to about 3.5". Again, a trio would be best and the females are paler and have shorter fins. Most of these fish sold in LFSs seem to be of the orange color morph (and can be confused with honeys or even be mislabelled as honeys). There is a striped pattern that I personaly think is more attractive.

If what you want, however, is a hardy and beautiful centerpiece species to replace your three-spots, pearl gouramies are the way to go. Both sexes are stunning though males are obviously more flamboyant - with longer fins with extended rays (hence the other common name - lace gourami=. Males develop incredibly bright orange-red ventral coloration whereas females tend to have a wash of olive green (which is also beautiful). These fish are generaly peaceful and are my favourites. They grow to about 4-5" with males being slightly larger than females. Again, a trio would be best in that size tank. In a larger tank, it would be a good idea to get even more as these are actualy quite social gouramies and will display shoaling-type behaviour if in a large group in a larger tank.

There are many other species that would work but these are the hardiest, most colorful and most common.

 

[CBBP]

Well the only thing in the tank is 5 pepper cories and a japanese trapdoor snail. It is pretty new.. but it is mature as I seeded it with some sludge from my goldfish tank.. there is so much sludge in that RENA XP haha!

anyway.. the fact that alot of those honey gouramies cna be kepot in greater numbers is intresting.. I mean the reason i wanted Betta females is because many could go in the same tank.. but those Pearl gouramis are amazing looking.. what combinations of the two species can i get? number wise? 1 trio of pearls? or can ou get bigger numbers? and 2:3 with the honeies yes?

Will any of these speices you mentioned go at eachother 24/7 like those three spots did?

 

[sylvia]

If you want to combine two species, I'd go for a trio of pearls and a group of 5 sparkling gouramies. You may need to replace or add to some of the sparklers if it turns out you have more males than females but, if you plant the tank relatively heavily, even several males should co-exist peacefuly. It's not realy possible to sex them as juveniles in the LFS where they also tend to be quite pale. The reason I'm suggesting these two is because sparklers should stay towards the middle of the tank whereas pearls like the top and, because they are significantly different to each other, the two shouldn't clash. Chasing-wise, it shouldn't be an issue with the sparklers because of the size of the group. With the pearls, the male will probably chase the females a bit - but it's rare that you get a very violent male and they'll calm down soon enough anyway. Again, floating plants and a gentle current are best for all these gouramies.

If you want more pearls, you could just about fit a couple mroe females in but I wouldn't get another male. I always say it's best to provide medium-sized gouramies with about 10 gallons per fish so, realy, 5 in a 29 is quite a bit. It works with pearls only because they are social.
If you want honeys as well, however, stick with a trio of pearls and get 3-5 honeys, always making shure there are more females than males. Honeys do like the upper layers so the pearls may chase them away once they get a size advantage over them. While young, you may actualy find the honeys do the chasing Male honeys do chase females but it doesn't get violent. Again, planting the tank makes things less stressful for the females.

One little thing - I know you seeded the tank and all but do check your water parameters to make shure your ammonia and nitrIte have gone down. Just do be on the safe side.

 

[CBBP]

I check my water parameters everyday..

mm.. welk.. pearls i am intrested in.. what other types of fish can I getr?

 

[sylvia]

Do you mean other gouramies or just any other fish?

If you mean just any other fish, something mid-dwelling and shoaling would probably look best. Maybe some harlequin rasboras or checker barbs or you could try a school of black phantom tetras. The rasboras are the closest schooling but I always think black phantoms look stunning with pearls because they compliment them so well in terms of fin shape and colors. Other schooling fish you could consider are spotted rasboras, glowlights, neons, cardinals, congo tetras, silver-tipped tetras, neon blue/dwarf/paecox rainbowfish, pristella (x-ray) tetras, clown rasboras, threadfin rainbowfish (I think these are gorgeous) or pretty much any other non-nippy shoaling fish that won't get to large (so as not to overstock as they need to be in a gorup of 6).

You may notice I didn't mention any danios - I absolutely LOVE danios but, unfortunately, the most common species such as zebra or pearl also like the top layers. As such, coupled with their high activity level, they are not ideal pearl tankmates. Having said that, if you can get some of the smaller, rarer species, you could keep a group of those as well.

Another to cosnider might be pygmy/dwarf cories. Those tend to spend their time in the mid-lower region of the water column so make good shoaling fish, though unconventional, for a gourami tank.

You could also get a trio of cherry barbs, platies, guppies, endler's, american-flag fish or swordtails. Avoid mollies - for some reason they just don't usualy get on with gouramies - I think it's probably because they tend to spend a lot of time in the upper water layers and get relatively large so they often clash with gouramies. Obviously, none of these are schooling fish (note - cherry barbs don't school) but a trio of any of these would work nicely together with the pearls. Do watch you don't mix endler's with guppies and remember that livebearers need to either be in a single-sex group (in which case you need not go for a trio) or in groups with at least 2 females per male (arguably more females are needed with male guppies).

 

[CBBP]

maybe black shirt tetras?

 

[CBBP]

nothing?