Does my dwarf gourami need a friend?

[hazyvonne]

I have a 55g community tank with platies, cories, pseudomugils, and otos. Last week I added a gorgeous powderblue dwarf gourami - my very first gourami ever. So far things are going awesome. I read that they are very shy but this little guy is anything but - he swims and plays all over the tank. Hangs out with the cories a lot, swims circles around the platies, and completely ignores the otos. When I stick my hand in the tank with food he’s happy to come all the way up to my hand. He has not shown any aggression so far to anyone at all. I was always told that Dwarf Gourami are semi-aggressive and one should avoid keeping more than one male in a tank. But now I also read on a few pages that they are super social and should not be kept alone but in a group of 5 or 6. My LFS has powderblue dwarf girls, but I can not put 4 or 5 of them in my tank without overstocking it and making my entire community unhappy. I could probably get one girl and be fine though. So here’s my question: would my boy be happier if I added one girl? Is he fine by himself? My only other option would be to return him, which I’d hate to do but I want to do what’s best for him. I should have asked this before I bought him, and feel really bad about that

 

[Byron]

I would leave well enough alone. Male gourami are territorial, the same as cichlids. Individual males of a species may be more or less aggressive in defending what they see as their space, and from the sounds of it the gourami you have does consider the tank "his." The appearance of other males would most likely be disastrous. Females, hard to say. But if he is alert and healthy in appearance, don't risk it.

 

[Ellie Potts]

I don't find male dwarf gouramis struggle when they're alone. If you want to add a female, I would add two so that he can't take out too much aggression on one. The dwarf I had in my 55 gallon was definitely too aggressive to have more males in the tank. Like Byron, I'd leave things be.

 

[hazyvonne]

Thank you for your replies! Having him as the only gourami in the tank was the plan all along - I just got worried when I read some conflicting information online.