gourami community

[Willday123]

Hi,
I’m looking at setting up a tropical fish aquarium, the tank I’m looking at getting is a 20 gallon. My aim is to have at least one centrepiece fish i.e Gourami maybe even 2. But I’m just wondering what other types of fish would mix well with the Gourami’s.

thanks for the help

 

[Meg0000]

Hi,
I’m looking at setting up a tropical fish aquarium, the tank I’m looking at getting is a 20 gallon. My aim is to have at least one centrepiece fish i.e Gourami maybe even 2. But I’m just wondering what other types of fish would mix well with the Gourami’s.

thanks for the help

A lot of fish could mix well with honey gourami, I think they are more peaceful than most gourami.. If you want to keep gourami, I assume your water is soft so you could probably have tetra or rasboras and corydoras

 

[Willday123]

Thanks for the info. I have not yet tested the water. Still waiting for tank to arrive.
do you how many fish I’d be able to roughly fit on 20 gallon tank?
thanks again

 

[Meg0000]

Thanks for the info. I have not yet tested the water. Still waiting for tank to arrive.
do you how many fish I’d be able to roughly fit on 20 gallon tank?
thanks again

I am really not good at this but @Byron @Colin_T @Retired Viking and other people could help you better probably

 

[Meg0000]

Thanks for the info. I have not yet tested the water. Still waiting for tank to arrive.
do you how many fish I’d be able to roughly fit on 20 gallon tank?
thanks again

Also you can look on internet for the info on the GH of the water where you live

 

[Jan Cavalieri]

I think most Gourami can handle slightly hard water - that's what I've got and they do just fine - I even had a litter of babies.

A true centerpiece would be a single Pearl Gourami - they are big, they are grand, very inexpensive and very slow and peaceful - I would only put this particular Gourami in at it's size (about 5 inches) JUST ONE. Then surround them by much smaller honey gourami, just the regular "dwarf gourami" and a dwarf blue gourami. I love the chocolate gourami but they are about $30 and have special water needs. But the Pearl is a truly special Gourami and hates fast swimmers (luckily none of the Gourami are fast at swimming). AVOID NON DWARF species or you'll end up with 5-8" semi-aggressive fish.

On the Pearl - the males have the darkest color breasts and are the prettiest but sometimes it does fade or get more vibrant - hormones.

 

[Meg0000]

I think most Gourami can handle slightly hard water - that's what I've got and they do just fine - I even had a litter of babies.

A true centerpiece would be a single Pearl Gourami - they are big, they are grand, very inexpensive and very slow and peaceful - I would only put this particular Gourami in at it's size (about 5 inches) JUST ONE. Then surround them by much smaller honey gourami, just the regular "dwarf gourami" and a dwarf blue gourami. I love the chocolate gourami but they are about $30 and have special water needs. But the Pearl is a truly special Gourami and hates fast swimmers (luckily none of the Gourami are fast at swimming). AVOID NON DWARF species or you'll end up with 5-8" semi-aggressive fish.

On the Pearl - the males have the darkest color breasts and are the prettiest but sometimes it does fade or get more vibrant - hormones.

I have pearl gourami since last week and I can already tell they are very social fish that likes compagny of other pearl gourami. They grow too big for a 20 gallon, I think a 30 is minimum for them. Also dwarf gourami and powder blue gourami are usually more agressive than honey gourami exept maybe the females so that is just to take in consideration for a community tank.

 

[JuiceBox52]

I have pearl gourami since last week and I can already tell they are very social fish that likes compagny of other pearl gourami. They grow too big for a 20 gallon, I think a 30 is minimum for them. Also dwarf gourami and powder blue gourami are usually more agressive than honey gourami exept maybe the females so that is just to take in consideration for a community tank.

I agree

 

[Jan Cavalieri]

I've got 3 Pearls in a single 29 gallon tank with other fish - doesn't look overcrowded because they move so slow they really don't take up a lot of space - he/she could probably have even 2 in there and not notice. But wanted a showpiece and that makes me think 1. I think all gourami do better in pairs and they hate aggression with a passion. I've never seen any real aggression from a DWARF powder blue gourami just a little dominance and that is normal with most fish they are actually very shy and peaceful. I have 4 full size Blue in another tank and absolutely there is some minor aggression and would never mix them with a Pearl. But the Pearls can hold their own against any dwarf gourami. Pearls can and will assert themselves and they will be left alone after once or twice - they are just too intimidating to most small fish except the aggressive ones (zebra striped danio's avoid at all cost) I have had the neon blue and Dwarf Gourami for over a year now - first fish I bought - had quite a few of them and never noticed any aggression except your typical dominance aggression (even the pearls do that - with two of them together one will try to dominate the other, and if you have 3 then 2 will pick on the smallest pearl - no physical harm but it can't be fun) The Pearls however tend to leave other fish alone. The other dwarf gourami will generally only show dominance to another dwarf gourami. Honey gourami are just sweet but I have one that runs off a large peaceful orange gourami over a cube of tubiflex so they can be assertive if they want something bad enough.

There are also Honey Red - honey with a red tail if you can find them. Same with Dwarf Sparkling Gourami. I had two expensive licorice Gourami and neither survived very long - tiny but beautiful - if you have soft water they would probably do better. I have semi-soft water and I think that shortens their lifespan so find out the GH of your water from your City's Water Quality Report (usually online).

I had a terrible accident the other day - since I'm disabled a friend helps me change the water weekly in all my tanks -75%. The day after the water change on two tanks there was a huge ammonia spike in both of them. In one all the fish were fine (but I changed the water anyway) in the other I lost 7 out of 12 fish - they just died one after another - I didn't have a tank to move them to. I was left with one dwarf gourami and a red/blue gourami (not my favorite) and all the rest of the gourami along with other fish died. Quickly changed out the water and there have been no more deaths. We still don't know where we went wrong - we've been doing water changes for ages - even this discussion board ruled out all we were thinking - and why NONE of the fish in the other tank died I have no idea since they had the same ammonia and nitrite readings (both high). Just made me sick to lose all those fish. So I'll wait awhile before I purchase more fish to make sure there is no disease in that tank but the remaining fish look stressed but healthy - they saw all their companions die around them. So sad.

 

[Colin_T]

What are the tank dimensions (length x width x height)?

What is the GH (general hardness), KH (carbonate hardness) and pH of your water supply?
This information can usually be obtained from your water supply company's website or by telephoning them. If they can't help you, take a glass full of tap water to the local pet shop and get them to test it for you. Write the results down (in numbers) when they do the tests. And ask them what the results are in (eg: ppm, dGH, or something else).

----------------
If you don't have the tank yet, get a longer tank. The bigger the tank, the more choice and variety of fish you can keep. A small tank will limit you to a small number of small fish. A bigger tank will give you more options.

 

[Willday123]

Hi,
I’ve managed to get the hardness of my water (see the image attached )

The dimensions of the tank are as follows;
L 61.4cm X W 32.2cm X H 41.9cm

If you think I’d need a bigger, il look into one.
Thanks again for everyone’s help!
Also Jan sorry for the loss of your fish

Darren

 

[Meg0000]

Hi,
I’ve managed to get the hardness of my water (see the image attached )

The dimensions of the tank are as follows;
L 61.4cm X W 32.2cm X H 41.9cm

If you think I’d need a bigger, il look into one.
Thanks again for everyone’s help!
Also Jan sorry for the loss of your fish

Darren

View attachment 102902View attachment 102902View attachment 102902

Since you have moderatly hard water, a very cool fish you could have is dwarf neon rainbow. Also Paradise fish is kind of in the family of gourami (my profile micture is a female that I have) and could also probably work but I would not recommend them as much because they tend to be agressive and eat other fish (basically better kept with other PF). I am not sure if you could still have gouramis with that water but other people could provably give you better advice on that.

 

[Essjay]

Words are misleading. You need a number rather than words.

Water Hardness | Water Hardness Map | South Staffs Water

Check out the information on water hardness in your local area. If you need additional advice please contact the South Staffs Water team.

www.south-staffs-water.co.uk

Click first on 'Water Quality Zones' to find the zone code for where you live. When you have the code, look at Useful Downloads and click the link for water hardness. That will give a table. Look at the line with your water zone code and tell us the number in the degrees German column.

 

[Byron]

A few things now we have the data--though I am assuming something aroound 200 ppm for GH, that needs confirming. GH at 200 ppm (equates to 11 dGH which is the other unit common in the hobby for GH) is moderately hard water. The tank dimensions are those for a standard or high 20 gallon (roughly 75 liters) tank. I'll come back to this.

Gourami vary in their level of aggression. Males of all species are territorial, to varying degrees depending upon the species. Beyond this, some species show a marked degree of aggressive behaviour beyond just male territory defense. But there are also other species among the smaller sized gourami that are relatively peaceful except perhaps when spawning.

To the tank size again, if you stay with the 20g the only gourami suited would be Honey Gourami (a trio, 1 male 2 female). The dwarf gourami is risky for disease unless you know a breeder. The pygmy sparkling might manage with the GH, this species could have a group of five.

Good tankmates for any peaceful gourami are the rasboras, or some of the quieter tetras. Cories for the substrate if you have sand are OK with any of the afore-mentioned.

 

[Willday123]

Words are misleading. You need a number rather than words.

Water Hardness | Water Hardness Map | South Staffs Water

Check out the information on water hardness in your local area. If you need additional advice please contact the South Staffs Water team.

www.south-staffs-water.co.uk

Click first on 'Water Quality Zones' to find the zone code for where you live. When you have the code, look at Useful Downloads and click the link for water hardness. That will give a table. Look at the line with your water zone code and tell us the number in the degrees German column.

Hi,

13.2