Gourami's, Good, Bad Or Evil In A Community Tank

[jkilby]

I am currently stocking my tank and want a few 'feature' fish as such. I went to my local Maidenhead Aquatics with my boys this weekend and they like the kissing gourami's, personally I like the Yellow Honey or Opaline myself. Can/should you have more than one pair in a tank (200 litre) or do they get narky with each other. Also as I have Cardinal Tetras and Normans Lampeyes already in place, would they eat them and the shrimp (bumblebee, tiger and cherry fire) that I am looking at getting ?. Would there be better larger colourful tankmakes for my current/planned stock of tetras, lampeyes, Kuhli Loach, Borneo Sucker Loach, Gold Barb, Three Lined Cory, Albino Cory, Panda Cory and a red Betta?

 

[KittyKat]

I am currently stocking my tank and want a few 'feature' fish as such. I went to my local Maidenhead Aquatics with my boys this weekend and they like the kissing gourami's, personally I like the Yellow Honey or Opaline myself. Can/should you have more than one pair in a tank (200 litre) or do they get narky with each other. Also as I have Cardinal Tetras and Normans Lampeyes already in place, would they eat them and the shrimp (bumblebee, tiger and cherry fire) that I am looking at getting ?. Would there be better larger colourful tankmakes for my current/planned stock of tetras, lampeyes, Kuhli Loach, Borneo Sucker Loach, Gold Barb, Three Lined Cory, Albino Cory, Panda Cory and a red Betta?

Firstly, you would be better off increasing the numbers of khuli loaches, barbs and Corys to at least 6 of each. They're all schooling fish! For the Corys, if you do not have space for 6 of each species, then try to have at least 4 of each species.

Secondly, gouramis and Bettas are not compatible so the answer is "no".

Kissing gouramis are monsters so aren't suitable for you anyway, but if it wasn't for the Betta, a single opaline gourami would fit or 1m and 3-5f honey gouramis would have worked as an alternative. You would be better off looking at 1m 2f Apisto cacatuoides as feature fish, but I personally think you should sort your stocking out before considering any more species.

 

[Tauempire]

Hi there i used to keep the opaline and honey gouramis in with barbs and sometimes fry were in there and never had a problem however they maybe grow a little large for the fish thats in there and may take a couple of nibbles at them best getting smaller fish as the shrimp make good meals for larger fish

 

[karin]

You are right to be asking the question! Welcome to the forum.

Kat knows her stuff so go with her suggestion. For most tanks less than say 100 gallons, kissing gouramis are not appropriate.

The conversation above hinges on many things, but the size of your tank is important. What are the dimensions and the gallons/liters?

 

[jkilby]

Sorry I didn't mention quantities of fish, just species. 12x cardinal tetras, 12x lampeyes, 4x Kuhli Loach, 2x Borneo Sucker Loach, 6x Gold Barb, 3x Three Lined Cory, 3x Albino Cory, 3x Panda Cory. At the moment the only residents are the cardinals, lampeyes and Khuli's, the rest are on the 'to get' list as they are ones that get my attention and I understand that the three types of Corys will shoal together, or so I have read anyway.

The Betta is a maybe, I like them, the ruby shark and gouramis, but the last thing I want to create is a tropical warzone. The tank is 100cm wide x 40cm depth x 55cm high.

 

[KittyKat]

[..] the gallons/liters?

200 litres is 52.5 US gallons or 44 imperial gallons

 

[jkilby]

End of the day I want a nicely stocked, colourful, peaceful tank. I like the colouring of the clown loach, but my local shop says 240+ litre tanks only or a responsible rehousing in place for when they get too large. I do have a friend running two 600 litre tanks that said he would rehouse if I went down that route, but again I am after good solid advice gained from experience, not just from a salesman in a fish shop (no disrespect to the guys in my local shop, as they are friendly and hopefully informative, but when push comes to shove they are there to sell).

 

[KittyKat]

Sorry I didn't mention quantities of fish, just species. 12x cardinal tetras, 12x lampeyes, 4x Kuhli Loach, 2x Borneo Sucker Loach, 6x Gold Barb, 3x Three Lined Cory, 3x Albino Cory, 3x Panda Cory. At the moment the only residents are the cardinals, lampeyes and Khuli's, the rest are on the 'to get' list as they are ones that get my attention and I understand that the three types of Corys will shoal together, or so I have read anyway.

Oh! That changes everything! Here is what I suggest based on what you said..
* 12× cardinal tetras
* 12× lampeyes
* 10× Kuhli Loach
* 2× Borneo Sucker Loach - coolwater, do best at 18-20C in my experience, depending on exact species of course
* 6× Gold Barb
* 10× Corys of one species, maximum half and half of two
* 1m 1f Bolivian rams
* 1 Trichogaster trichopterus (blue/opaline/gold/three-spot gourami) or 1 lace gourami or 1m 3f honey gourami or 1m 2f dwarf gourami or 12 sparkling gourami

The Betta is a maybe, I like them, the ruby shark and gouramis, but the last thing I want to create is a tropical warzone. The tank is 100cm wide x 40cm depth x 55cm high.

Bettas do better in smaller tanks, so you would be better off getting a 50-60 litre one for a Betta.
Keeping sharks is asking for a warzone.
See my suggestion above about gourami.

End of the day I want a nicely stocked, colourful, peaceful tank. I like the colouring of the clown loach, but my local shop says 240+ litre tanks only or a responsible rehousing in place for when they get too large. I do have a friend running two 600 litre tanks that said he would rehouse if I went down that route, but again I am after good solid advice gained from experience, not just from a salesman in a fish shop (no disrespect to the guys in my local shop, as they are friendly and hopefully informative, but when push comes to shove they are there to sell).

Definitely advise against clown loaches.. firstly they're schooling and secondly, even if your friend has a larger tank (and really, they should have a 6*2*2 fter).. how will you be able to let them go?

 

[jkilby]

You're a diamond, thank you VERY much for your advice. This is the kind of stuff I need to know, as I don't want to have fish getting stressed over their company or enviroment.

 

[jkilby]

Last silly novice question.... well for now anyway. Looking at the rams on a few sites and they show Bolivian, Electric Blue & Ramirezi, they list all as peacefull community fish, is this true or is the Bolivian better than the other two?

 

[Jamepsss]

Last silly novice question.... well for now anyway. Looking at the rams on a few sites and they show Bolivian, Electric Blue & Ramirezi, they list all as peacefull community fish, is this true or is the Bolivian better than the other two?

There's Bolivian rams and German Rams. The Electric Blue are a colour variation of the German Ram.

A lot of people on here are of the opinion that Bolivians are slightly hardier and an 'easier' to keep dwarf cichlid. I believe German Rams do better in warmer temps than most other tropicals.

They are peaceful on the whole but at the end of the day they're cichlids so can be a bit bolshy at times. (I have a Bolivian Ram and his colour and character are amazing, he can just be a little 'moody' sometimes).

 

[KittyKat]

Last silly novice question.... well for now anyway. Looking at the rams on a few sites and they show Bolivian, Electric Blue & Ramirezi, they list all as peacefull community fish, is this true or is the Bolivian better than the other two?

For you? I would say definitely a Bolivian is better than a blue (M. ramirezi - they also come in gold and balloon morphs). Mainly because blue are prone to ich (I don't think you want your first experience to be with fish which are known to catch diseases easily), your other stocking is on the boisterous side (not aggressive, just active), buying blue rams from a shop can be hit and miss, depending on their origin, and they can be very picky about the water chemistry. On the other hand, I would be happy to try Bolivians in almost any community tank that was big enough.

 

[james_fish]

I had a single Golden Gourami in a 200 litre that was fully grown, was a great fish that

James.

 

[jock2007-]

Last silly novice question.... well for now anyway. Looking at the rams on a few sites and they show Bolivian, Electric Blue & Ramirezi, they list all as peaceful community fish, is this true or is the Bolivian better than the other two?

personally i love the German ram, it really is a pretty fish, although they are much harder to keep alive. plus like said above there dont like that wide of water chemistry. and they like water @ the top of the tropical temperature scale i bought 6 rams and 4 died in about six mouths. Bolivian rams i think have a little less colour but are every bit just as interesting are easier to keep alive in your home tank

 

[Carlovel1]

* 1 Trichogaster trichopterus (blue/opaline/gold/three-spot gourami) or 1 lace gourami or 1m 3f honey gourami or 1m 2f dwarf gourami or 12 sparkling gourami

Just going to nit-pick
Although tiny, I wouldn't advise getting 12 Sparkling Gourami together. Chances are you will get a few males in there, which will start a war zone. IME the males are pretty boisterous, aggressive and territorial when there are more than 1 males in the tank. Personally, I would only keep them in small groups with only 1 male, this way they are less aggressive AND less timid (Sparkling Gouramis are very timid FYI, not usually a good choice for no plants/lightly planted tanks)
So here are your Gourami options:

*1 Big Gourami such as Pearl Gouramis, 3 Spot/Opaline/Gold Gouramis, Moonlight Gourami but do this with caution...these Gouramis grow large and will eat anything that fits into their mouths, including small fishes (Lampeyes... ).
OR
* Dwarf Gouramis. Preferably, keep this species singly and never keep more than 1 male if you decide to keep in a pair/small group
OR
*Honey Gouramis (inc.yellow and red colour morphs). Fantastic alternative to Dwarf Gourami. There are immune to Dwarf Gourami Disease and more hardier overall. As with others, only keep 1 male. However this species does much better in groups so add several females
OR
*Colisa labiosa (Thick Lip Gourami) or Colisa Fasciata (Indian Gourami/Banded Gourami)
Care same as with Honey Gourami, but these grow a little bigger
OR
*Trichopsis . This genus contains Trichopsis pumila (Sparkling Gourami), Trichopsis vittatus (Croaking Gourami), Trichopsis schalleri (Threeline Gourami). Keep them in small groups with only 1 male.

Carl