Snakeskin Gouramis

[randymyr]

I've been looking at these beautiful fish for the last few months, just sitting there in the store. These guys, i know, get big (around 8"-10") and I would love to get one for my tank. Just I'm wondering how they would do in a community tank. The ones at the store are only about 2"-3", and there's currently a deal on harlequin rasboras on, so I definitly jumped on that deal, but these guys are still less than half an inch! So I was wondering if I would be able to buy a snakeskin and have them live with the harlequins, or would the snakeskin just eat them. Also wondering about down the road, these guys get more than four times the size of harlequins, when full grown, so I would assume if they didn't eat the harlequins now, they could eat them later on.
Or am i just being a little over dramatic?

 

[Miah002]

Yes they will eat rasboras. Anything that can fit in their mouths will be eaten.

 

[kadkins20]

my lfs markets a variety of three-spot gouramis as "snakeskin gouramis" if you have this type then there should be no problem (though this type of gourami does tend to be a little more territorial than most). They usually dont even quite reach 6 inches

if you have a real snakeskin gourami, then they might get fairly big - the website i read said 6-8 inches in captivity, but sometimes up to 10 inches. It also said they were peaceful, but peaceful doesnt mean anything if they can fit the whole fish in their mouths.

if the harlequins arent small enough to be eaten now, and if they wont be small enough soon, then it should work

if you have multiple tanks you could keep them separate until the rasboras are big enough to not be eaten - a fully grown rasbora (about 2 inches) will likely not be eaten by a peaceful gourami