Sparkling Gourami Question

[jossswonk]

Hello! I'm currently in the process of redoing my 10 gallon and sparkling gourami have caught my eye. Right now my tank has a small school of 6 celestial pearl danios (might add more if possible) and I'm planning on adding 6-8 pygmy corydoras as well. If I were to get sparkling gourami how many should I get with that tank size and stocking? There are a lot of plants in the tank. I've heard that they can be fairly aggressive towards each other so I wanted to hear from people with experience. Thank you to anyone that can give advice!

 

[gimme301]

Gourami temperaments can vary. You may get lucky but most likely you're going to wind up with a bunch of dead CPDs. I've never kept Trichogaster chuna (honey) but supposedly they're peaceful and can be kept in a community tank. Thing is, and I hate to say this, a 10 gallon is a little small for what you're planning. If you really want the gourami I'd limit it to one and skip the corys.

 

[jossswonk]

Oh my! All of the research I've done had said that sparkling gourami were peaceful with other fish. It's a good thing I checked here. Have you had a bad experience with sparkling gourami?

 

[WhistlingBadger27 10]

Honey gouramis are a very different critter from sparkling gouramis. I kept a group of them in a 12 gallon long, and they were very social and interactive with each other. They make this chattery/croaky sound at each other that's really cute. I saw no real aggression either among themselves or with other species. So it's probably worth trying. But yes, I would leave out the cories. SGs like to hang out around the bottom.

 

[jossswonk]

Ok perfect! My lfs has 6 right now. What male:female ratio did you have success with? I can pick and choose from the group.

 

[WhistlingBadger27 10]

Ok perfect! My lfs has 6 right now. What male:female ratio did you have success with? I can pick and choose from the group.

If I remember right (this was a few years ago), I couldn't tell males from females so just took what they had. Most gouramis like 2-3 females for each male, so maybe that would be a start.

 

[jossswonk]

This is the tank they'll be going in. I'm planning on getting more plants soon to get more biodiversity and hiding places. The lid broke so that's why the water level is down. I'll be filling it up more when I get a replacement.

 

[gimme301]

Have you had a bad experience with sparkling gourami?

Not bad necessarily, they were in a much larger tank and would squabble over territory and chase each other around constantly. They aren't very fast swimmers but they still managed to pick off the small shoal of harlequin rasboras they shared a tank with over time, one by one. The pearls and blue dwarfs I've kept exhibited the same behavior. They're all considered relatively peaceful so maybe it was just my usual bad luck. After seeing your tank, which looks very nice btw, you might be able to get away with it. The wisteria breaks up the line of sight and there's plenty of hiding spaces.

 

[seangee6]

My own experience is that even when this tank grew in fully they were relentless in chasing and killing each other. Mine were pretty relaxed about anyone else in the tank though - but I did have to separate them

 

[jossswonk]

Well when I went to go pick them up the store had a male, a female, and one half the size that I couldn't tell the gender of. Not wanting to risk it, I decided not to get them. This may be a sign that they are not meant for me. Any alternate suggestions?

 

[BanjoFish]

Well when I went to go pick them up the store had a male, a female, and one half the size that I couldn't tell the gender of. Not wanting to risk it, I decided not to get them. This may be a sign that they are not meant for me. Any alternate suggestions?

Honey Gourami?