Are gouramis friendly?

[Tenko]

After reading a few other posts I get the impression that not all gouramis are as friendly as I've been led to believe.

I've got a pair of dwarf neon gouramis and a pair of dwarf red gouramis, will these be fine with the guppies, cardinals, catfish and female bettas? Also, will these fish be okay with the gouramis?

I just lost 6 cardinals due to some murderous black widow tetras, and I'm about to start medicating injuries suffered by some guppies from the same gang, so I want to make sure I have no other potential killers in the tank.

I'm hoping to get a pair of larger gouramis, can these be aggressive towards tankmates?

 

[rsz]

My neon dwarf gouramis were fine in my tank, very friendly and all that, I expect they'll be ok in your tank too. If you've already got them (and reading through your post, I think you have) then just watch them, I'm sure they're fine. The only fish I'm not sure about is the female betta - I've heard they can be a bit temperamental (depends on their personality, of course).

I don't know about larger gouramis, I'm afraid, but if you type the


I'm hoping to get a pair of larger gouramis, can these be aggressive towards tankmates?

 

[FanOFish]

I've come to the conclusion that it depends on the gourami. Here is my experience....

I had a beautiful pearl gourami that was a nice peaceful fish until he got big. He then realized he was the big dog in the tank and chased the two dwarf gouramis I had constantly. He also began chasing black neons until there were no fish that would swim in the top half of the tank. I gave him away.

This left two dwarf gouramis.....now one of them has realized he's the dominant one and is constantly chasing the other dwarf but leaves the rest of the fish alone.

So based on my experience, I would only have a single gourami in my tank or a pair male/female.

Others on the board have had much better luck so I think you just have to see what personality you bring home and be prepared to deal with it.

 

[Tenko]

I was hoping to get a larger fish to compliment the smaller ones but have ruled out angelfish as I've been told they get huge and like to eat mouth-sized tankmates.

I thought I couldn't go wrong with gouramis, peaceful community fish I was told by the lfs. I have 2 pairs of dwarfs at the moment, they are very timid and peaceful. Might have to stick with them. Having lost a load of fish due to rampaging black widow tetras I'm a bit apprehensive about adding more potential killers into the tank.

 

[OscarCichlid]

I thought I couldn't go wrong with gouramis, peaceful community fish I was told by the lfs.

Not true. Many gouramis are very aggressive. Mainly because of territory. In my 30 Gallon i had a dwarf, a giant and a kissing gourami. The kissing gourami killed the dwarf and the giant in one night. In my 55 my 2 Blue Gouramis and my male Paradise gourami are always herrassing the Opaline Gourami, Female Paradise Gourami, Clown Loach, Gold Gourami, and my plecos. They killed off my tiger barbs, my rainbowfish, my corys, and some other fish. And that is in a very heavily planted tank. For the most part gouramis like the company of other gouramis. Dont get to many male gouramis as they will fight and only one male Paradise gourami per tank because they fight just as feirce as bettas.

 

[Tenko]

Hmmm

I've got male/female pairs of dwarf neon and dwarf red gouramis, they seem to be rather placid at the moment. I just hope they don't start fighting. Perhaps having female company will calm their agressive urges. Plus it's a 180 litre tank with decorations and plants, hopefully they can find their own territory.

I'll steer clear of buying a pair of large gouramis then. Just make do with the ones I've got.

Are there any types of fish that generally antagonize dwarf gouramis or visa versa?

 

[OscarCichlid]

I have had problems with dwarf gouramis fighting. Particularly with Kissing Gouramis and Male Bettas. The kissing gourami would always try to fight (kiss) the dwarf gourami and wind up killing it by sucking the slime off of him and the betta would start fights with him (i guess because of there color) and lose. The Dwarf would kill the betta by nipping his fins. So i woulnt put bettas or kissing gouramis in a tank with dwarf gouramis..

 

[Tenko]

So i woulnt put bettas or kissing gouramis in a tank with dwarf gouramis..

Oh. I have 2 female bettas in the tank with the dwarf gouramis. Is the problem just with male bettas?

One of my gouramis died this evening unfortunately, no signs of damage on her at all so I'm ruling out an attack.

 

[OscarCichlid]

Yes, the problem is only with male bettas. Females dont fight. Males will pick on anything with bright colors or large fins.

 

[Tenko]

Thanks OscarCichlid, I've grown quite attached to the dwarf gouramis and female bettas so I'm glad I can keep them all in the same tank.

 

[Doggfather]

they each have their own personality i guess

 

[Sea_Monster87]

My fire dwarf is VERY friendly. Unless you go near "his" castle. He'll chase the other fish away from it.

 

[cherrybarbbaby]

My Gouramis (honey) love my betta and at first my two honey Gouramis would chase the other if I came up to the tank ( I am the food lady afterall)
But now they get along great.
They never really had fights. I think I have a boy/girl pair (one is lighter and the other is more vivid in color) I can't be sure since I don't really know the right way to sex them.

My pair are really peaceful. They are really quite sweet (they eat food from my hand) . I love them because of that.

But fish are like people they have so many different personalities.

 

[noop]

sorry you lost one tenko. was it a male or a female? if it was a female, you'd better do something about it!

my tank is only 30 gallons, but my 2 male dwarf gourami really don't get on... if there was a female to fight over, i don't think i'd have 2 males left for long...

 

[Tenko]

I have a male, female pair of dwarf red gouramis and now one lonely male Dwarf neon gourami. The crap thing is, the lfs I got them from only sell them in pairs so I'd have to beg to get a single female from them, plus I sort of made my mind up to take my custom elsewhere.

The other good lfs only sell males as 'there's no market for females, customers only ask for them 3 or 4 times a month'. Call me stupid, but isn't that a market?