How Many

[basboi85]

ive decided im going to have nearly a all species tank.

i have a rio 400 (5ft/450L)

i currently have 2 blue spotted females


can i mix them up instead of just having blue spotted females,

 

[epic154]

im not sure what you mean

 

[basboi85]

What i mean is can i mix the gourami's up say adding dwafs ect ect or should i stay with just blue spotted gouramis and im thinking of adding males maybe 2-3 as i have a fairly bigger sized tank than most people but im unsure of how many i could add
As i dont want to over stock/ make a unhappy enviroment for my proposed fish

I was hoping to have say atleast 10F and 3M

Any ideas if this would work or am i just dreaming ???

 

[epic154]

yeah its fine to mix dwarf gourmai speices up i have a flame gourmai and a normal dwarf gourmai and your tanks big keep us updated

 

[basboi85]

so you would say the amount i said above was fine and thanks for the reply

 

[epic154]

yeah its fine keep us updated

 

[Ruskull]

Whoa, that's a lot of Gouramis in a single tank. Not sure of the size of your tank but 3 males in any tank is asking for trouble in my opinion. Ah, just re read & your tank is very long at 5 feet. Still, I'd think any more than 2 males is very risky. Three Spot's are one of the most aggressive of the Gouramis, sometimes even the females, just saying................

If by "Blue Spotted females" you mean Opaline Gouramis, I'd try a couple more females first and then introduce a male when you have the time to monitor the situation long term. You can add Gold, Blue, Platinum or Lavender color morphs since they're really the same fish. Assuming that works out, add a couple more females, wait a bit & then add a second male or similar size to the other. At this point you'd have 2 males & 6 females. The safer bet would be to add a sort of dither fish like Rasboras, Cherry Barbs or Glass Catfish. Also very important, add a lot of plants to create different territories for each fish.

Good luck & keep us posted on your progress.

 

[basboi85]

One of my females has become very bossy/aggressive to the other female of same size hence why ive said about adding another lot of females to kerb her behaviour and give the other a break.

Ill stick to 2 males as you suggested it strongley against it, and yea they are basically the opaline or how ever many different names they have but my 2 girls show the blue spot morph more than any other varient.

And to be fair all i see where i live is opaline or spotted gouramis none of the other colours which is a bummer really

And thanks for replying

 

[Ruskull]

No problem, I love these Gouramis and I'd hate to see you have problems with the wrong mix. To be fair every Gourami has their own personality but any Three Spot males I've had have been terrrors.