Mixing gouramis with barbs

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Andrew G

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I thought you couldn't mix gouramis with tiger barbs due to the barb's aggresive nature, but I noticed that our lfs had them mixed in a very small tank (about 10 gal). The guy said they could be mixed. I have a cobalt blue about 2 in. and a honey about 1 in. Can they be mixed with my 7 barbs?
 
It all depends on the temperment of the barbs. If you have a large number of the same variety of barbs then they will stop bothering other fish.
 
It also depends on the temperment of the gourami. For example, I wouldn't worry nearly as much about a blue/opaline gourami with a large enough school of tiger barbs, but would definitely not consider the same setup for pearls. They're much shyer fish.
 
I wouldn't mix them to be honest, they both can be aggressive.
 
What's the cobalt blue? A dwarf or a three-spot? Colisa lalia or trichogaster trichopterus?

Your honey will almost deffinately get harassed.

Gouramies can't usualy harm barbs because barbs move very quickly and not all species of gourami are aggressive. Trichogaster trichopterus (three-spot) is one of the more aggressive ones and can work with tiger barbs provided they are in a good size group (the barbs I mean - not the gouramies), However, most gouramies have long thread-like ventral fins that make them prone to being nipped. The feelers grow back but it's a stressful ordeal to put your fish through for no reason.

Neither dwarf gouramies (colisa lalia) nor honey gouramies (colisa chuna/sota) are good tankmates for tiger barbs. These 2 species are very likely to be nipped and bullied and, especialy in the case of the dwarf gourami, the stress or any injuries inflicted can be extremely detrimental.

Having said that, white skirts are also not the best fish to keep with gouramies. They aren't quite as nippy as tiger barbs but they are pretty bad none-the-less. Also, if the cobalt blue is a three-spot after all, and not a dwarf, 15 gallons isn't realy enough for it and the honey to co-exist into maturity so you'll have to think about re-aranging the set-ups soon anyway. If it's a dwarf, they should be ok.
 

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