Paradise Gourami?

[thelastbetta]

At the store they had this small fish in called paradish fish and they were in their each small half gallon tanks below the bettas. I figured I'd get one seeing as it was fish day and it only costed me about a $1. The girl there told me that they would thrive in a small tank and just ate betta food, is this true? right now I have the fish in a 2 gallon with a mini heater/pump but I've got a spare 10 and 20 gallon if they need something bigger. Any help would be great.

 

[HeatherSweetness]

I'm curious about these guys too,we just started selling them at the store I work at and they rely on me for fish info. when customers ask for help. A couple came in the other night and said they bought one,and it killed everything in their tank,pecked apart some sort of sharks they had even. I'm as curious as you are.

 

[thelastbetta]

Well I noticed they had a tank of just paradise gourami's and figured they were territorial considering that the fins were all ripped up and the rest were in their own separate tanks. My fish is really curious and almost acts identical to a betta. I've managed to find a couple of sites about them including,

http/animal-world.com/encyclo/fresh/anab...aradiseFish.php
http/www.fishdeals.com/anabantids/paradisefish/
http/fish.mongabay.com/species/Macropodu...percularis.html
http/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paradise_fish

However each page tells me something different and that a tank is required for them, then another page tells me that they'll do fine in a bowl so I'm still interested in other gourami owners advice.

 

[pica_nuttalli]

in my experience, a single male paradise fish is pretty calm in a big tank like a 60g but terribly aggressive in a small tank like a 10g. most people who have tried keeping them in communities under 20 gallons have had serious aggression problems. think of them as being like overgrown bettas: irritable, territorial, and not to be kept with other paradise fish.

as for the tank needs of an individual, 5g at the absolute minimum and 10g preferably. an adult male paradise fish will have a 3.5" long body with another 1.5" of tail. paradise fish are pretty deep-bodied fish, so the typical inch-per-gallon is really an underestimate here. however, if you keep only the one paradise fish in a heavily planted tank, then you probably could get away without a filter. a heater is 100% optional in either case. if you're happy sitting around in a t-shirt and jeans, then that temperature is just fine.

FYI: paradise fish love algae wafers and flakes. feeding them spirulina is a great way to enhance their color and really make your paradise fish happy.

 

[savo318]

in my experience, a single male paradise fish is pretty calm in a big tank like a 60g but terribly aggressive in a small tank like a 10g. most people who have tried keeping them in communities under 20 gallons have had serious aggression problems. think of them as being like overgrown bettas: irritable, territorial, and not to be kept with other paradise fish.

as for the tank needs of an individual, 5g at the absolute minimum and 10g preferably. an adult male paradise fish will have a 3.5" long body with another 1.5" of tail. paradise fish are pretty deep-bodied fish, so the typical inch-per-gallon is really an underestimate here. however, if you keep only the one paradise fish in a heavily planted tank, then you probably could get away without a filter. a heater is 100% optional in either case. if you're happy sitting around in a t-shirt and jeans, then that temperature is just fine.

FYI: paradise fish love algae wafers and flakes. feeding them spirulina is a great way to enhance their color and really make your paradise fish happy.

ive got a male and a female in a 50 gal tank, and theyre one of the most peacefull fish ive got, i feed them tetraprima, and they seem quite happy on that, the only fish ive got that occasionally has a go is a dwarf gourami. but on the whole thyre greaat

 

[Opilius]

In my experience as long as the tank is well planted and not overpopulated they will be fine (Mine leave the other fish alone and dont even bother eachother).

Opilius

 

[Ben L]

Hi, i agree that paradise fish can be really quite aggressive especially with slow moving tank mates (larger fast swimming shoaling fish have always seemed to get along fine in my experience), and really i always treat them as i would a betta. I do not know what colour variant yours is but i would say that albino forms tend to be less aggressive to other tank mates (although males will still rip each other's fins to shreds) than the wild coloured specimens. As well as this paradise fish will cross breed with another closely related fish and the result is supposedly much more peaceful, although i have never owned one so im not sure how accurate these claims are.
As reguards to feeding flake food will be fine and regular live food feeds (daphnia) seems to help brighten up their colours. As for tank conditions i'd say the 5 gallons has to be the minimum and any temperature above 50c is fine, afterall they were the first exotic fish imported to Europe after the fancy species of koi and goldfish and they survived fine in those long unheated 1800's boat trips in fine health so the warmth of a house is a positive luxury for them

 

[tetras4me]

paradise gourami? never herd of it. do you mean paradise fish. anyway all laybirinth fish can live in farly small tanks. but never the less the bigger the tank is the better.