Want Gouramis

[kimmers318]

I just bought a 29 gal tank and want to put gouramis in it...but am seeing info pertaining to territorial issues and male fighting. Can you put a single male of different species in, or do you need a pair? Are they better off keeping only 1 male or pair per tank? I love the colors on these guys, esp. the males and had hoped that a "community" of them would work but it is looking like maybe not. I also have a 64 gallon community with larger tetras, clown loaches, cory cats and platy's (which will be moving to a 20 gallon soon). Would it be best to put 1 male/pair in the 64 and then another in the 29 with other community fish? Or is it possible to have a few different gouramis togther? The dwarfs are my favorite so that is my first "wish" purchase for the new tank. Any information you can give me about gouramis would be great...most websites just say what they are compatible with but don't discuss their compatibility with each other much other than to say the males can become territorial so it would be best to add all at once so no 1 fish can decide he wants the whole tank and then pick on new fish.

 

[ringham]

why do u want to get a single male? I have a pair of pink kissers and a single female 3 spot gourami and a single golden gourani and they are fine.

 

[kimmers318]

why do u want to get a single male? I have a pair of pink kissers and a single female 3 spot gourami and a single golden gourani and they are fine.

I don't want to end up with a couple of fish constantly fighting...I love the males coloring, don't wish to breed...would like to have a couple of dwarfs and maybe pearls but I want to make sure they will all be happy!

 

[KimA]

I used to have a Gourami tank - Red & Blue Dwarfs, Moonlight, Kissing, Thick Lipped, Opaline/Gold - and didn't really have any problems except for the odd squabble between the Opaline/Gold's as they can be bullies (they should really be kept in a minimum of 3/4 fish to try to minimise bullying). Just made sure that i had at least 1 male/1 female of each where possible.

 

[sylvia]

Single male gouramies kept together can work but it depends greatly on the species.

Generaly speaking, stick to species that grow to a similar size and allow 10 gallons per male. Your tank would, therefore, be just about enough for 3.

You mentioned dwarfs - 3 males of different colors might be an option to consider but I'd more readily suggest the hardier pearls (trichogaster leeri) or some colisa labiosa (called 'thick-lipped' - grow to 3.5") and/or colisa fasciata (called 'giant', 'banded', 'indian', 'striped' and 'rainbow' gouramies - grow to 4"). Note on the pearls, however, that males only truly look at their best when in the company of females. I'd personaly suggest you go for a trio of pearls in your tank (1 male, 2 females). I assure you you won't be dissapointed and agression should be minnimal.

The other you may wish to consider is the honey (colisa chuna). These are very similar to dwarfs but hardier and slightly smaller (max. 1.5"). There are a handful of varieties and, due to their smaller size, you could probably manage up to 6 males in your tank. (Note that keeping two trios - that is 2 males and 4 females - would be a better option though).

Concerning the larger gouramies - avoid them - three-spots (includes opaline, lavenders, golds, platinums, cosby and blue ) are aggressive regardless of sex, kissers, moonlights and snakeskins (being the other realy common larger-sized gouramies) are realy too large for a comfortable 29 gallon community. Moonlights maybe, just about (at a max. size of 6-7").

You asked specificaly about the necessity of keeping gouramies as apirs - just to clarify, it's generaly best to avoid pairs as male gouramies will chase females. It's far better to either go for single-sex groups (care should be taken when mixing males obviously) or mixed-sex groups where the females out-number the males.