Suggestions On Which Gourami To Choose?

[KrystaK]

I have a 30 gal (36X12X18) that has sand substrate and is a mix of live and fake plants.
In it there are:

Two Dalmatian Molly's
2 Platy's
3 Guppy's
3 Panda cory's

I was wondering what type of Gourami people would suggest? I was planning a few more platy's and a few more Corys to even out the numbers as well as a group of schooling fish (I was thinking about 6-8 either tetra's or Danios)

I was thinking either a Dwarf Gourami (Though I hear they eat shrimp)or a Honey Gourami if I could find one.
My local Pet shop typically fine mostly blue and opaline Gourami, would either of them be okay and not to aggressive?

 

[nicko378]

If I were you I would get a pink kissing gourami. I have had mine for months at I love it. It is a great fish to watch and it does fine with small fish like corys. Dwarf gouramis are a great fish too. They can be aggressive at times but are generally peaceful fish in my experiences with them

 

[Ruskull]

Honey Gouramis are great with all the fish you have. So are Dwarf G's but they are more fragile in my experience. I would think your tank would be okay to add a single female Three Spot, Blue, Gold or Opaline Gourami FEMALE to the mix. I had a male & he chased my son's male Molly non stop & he was much smaller than the molly too.

 

[citrus-squid]

As Ruskull said, dwarf gouramis can be very tricky to look after as they seem to be prone to mystery illnesses. The ones that come in my pet store are usually so sick, I learned this the hard way. If you're going for a dwarf, I suggest waiting until there are some in the pet store that are fairly big, pretty much full size. That way you can be a little more certain that they're the more robust individuals. In my experience, dwarf gouramis are quite placid, but I think it does depend on the fish. The one I have in my tank is very docile and I've never seen him chasing anyone. He has a corner that he's claimed, amidst some bushy plants I can't comment on honey gouramis as I've never owned one.

Just be wary if you get a dwarf, when I got my male I also got a female, who was very sickly and died... I think it infected the tank (I know, should have quarantined them, but I didn't really know what I was doing at the time), and all four of my danios became very ill. Thankfully adding some of the General Tonic from Tetra brought them back to health, so my guess is it was some kind of nasty bacterial infection. That's just my advice if you're leaning to dwarf