A little fuss between my Dwarf Gouramis.

[Wild_Monkey]

Hey, another new guy to the community and the fishy bussiness. Well I have a 10 gallon tank with two Dwarf Gouramis, seven White Cloud Minnows, three Cory cats, and a few Ghost Shrimp. I was wondering if that is too much fish for my aquarium. I am also wondering if those are all good tankmates. I've read up alot and and they say those usually go well together, but was just wondering about your guys opinions as well :) .
On another note about my Gouramis, I wanted to know if it's okay to have two males together. They seem to chase each other around sometimes. I've also noticed that one has I think a missing scale near the gills. The other one seems to be more dominant (I think I spelled it right) but I think the long. . ..tentacles? I dont know what they're called, but those things that hangs from each side of them. You know those things. Well anyways "those things" well one of them seems to be a little shorter as if it were bittin off, or maybe I'm just getting too worried.

Any input, feedback, or advice would be highly appreciated!
Thanks in advance! :)

[Analog Saint]

Those "tentacles" I believe are longer pelvic fins. Gouramis come from swampy areas, and these supplement their vision. They kinda act like little "feelers" in case the gourami is in water where vision is poor.

As to your tank- I'm pretty sure you'd be well overstocked in a 10 or 15. You may be able to get away with that in a 20- but I'm still kinda new. Someone will back me up, or correct me if I'm wrong.

Males do fight. When you first put them in the tank, they'll probably fight the most. They stake out territory, and will defend it. If there's a size difference in the gouramis, it's likely the bigger one will pick on the other and possibly even stress him out to the point of maybe getting a disease or exacerbating an existing condition. Once the territories are drawn, the fighting will subside, and they'll stay on their own turf, and just chase the other around if they step a little out of their part of the tank.

How can you get many gouramis to coexist? It's difficult in a small tank, but it depends on the situation. Some gouramis will chase all fish away- and can get pretty rough. Some will only chase other gouramis of the same species away, and may tolerate the minnows just fine.

In the mean time, make hiding places for your gouramis- create little refuges or caves if possible. Some aquarium-safe piping covered in gravel will do. Also, try and break up the line of sight between opposite ends of the tank. I have a rather large fake rock thing that splits my gourami tank in half, and that is a GREAT help. When they have a way to mark their territories out, they may be able to share the tank- BUT:

If one gourami is injured, keep him separate- even dwarf gouramis can get aggressive. Give him some time to heal. Even if it's minor- if he's being chased, that can stress an injury and cause a world of trouble.

Hope I could help. Gouramis are fun fun fish. Mischievious little guys, but entertaining.

[OnyxFishies]

Gouramis are fun fun fish. Mischievious little guys, but entertaining.

I have to agree. My two males (Dwarf Gouramis) are little vacuum cleaners, too. They eat everything. They chase each other a bit, but don't seem to nip at each other and in general seem to be half hearted about it. (and they hide together if I stick the net in the tank or bug em too much with my hand) They are young yet though, so we'll see.

I have mine with 6 neons, and I've never even seen them chase the neons. Even when the neons steal food from nearly out of their mouths. :p I also have 4 anaeus (sp?) corys and a weather loach. I've got a few live plants, a large (fake) cave/rock structure and many plastic plants. (to be soon replaced with live ones) I plan on a few more fish, but probably only 2-3 oto's.

With that fish load in my tank, I don't really feel comfortable adding too much more, aside from some shrimp if I can find em locally. I think I could push it with a few more smaller fish, or 4 or 5 neons, but I don't have plans to.

[TKOS]

I would say your fish load is a bit on the pushing it side. Removing a gourami would be the best thing for the tank. I have only had a few gouramis myself but I find they work best in 20 gallon setups. Even then they can get aggressive but it does leave more room for the picked on fish to get away and hide in.

[Wild_Monkey]

Well, thanks guys I was thinking of getting rid of one, but is this absolutly nessecary, or will they calm down after a while? There's also more questions that comes to mind. Will the other Gourami get lonely? Or will he be fine? I've read that keeping one male with one or two females works well (works best with two I think). Then again I could cause even more stress by over populating, am I wrong? I also have a one gallon hexagon tank, would that be enough to quarentine one of the gouramis, or should I just leave them together?

Any more sujestions or opinons would be appreciated! ! ! :)
Once again thanks in advance!

[TKOS]

Gouramis, IME get more aggressive as they age and need more territory. They won't get lonely and don't need females. In fact you would be hard pressed to find a female gourami for sale at a fish store these days. My single dwarf gourami lives in a 20 gallon tank with tetras and a flying fox and does quite well.

1 gallon is not even close to enough room to hold a gourami for any length of time. A 5 gallon bucket is very cheap and makes a good quarentine tank.

[Wild_Monkey]

Thank you very much! I think I will get rid of the other fish by selling or returning him. Your answers have helped me a great deal for I hate seeing my fish under stress etc. . .
Once again thank you for answering my questions! :)

There's one more thing, though, if no one minds :D . Is there any special or certain types of plants (fake or alive) or ornaments etc... that Gouramis perfer/like?

[Izz]

Well, I'd hate to hijack another person's thread (actually, I don't mind that much), but I have a related question of my own. Would two male dwarf gouramis be too much for a 29 gallon? It would certainly be nice to get another one, but I am guessing I would be pushing the limit in that tank as well.

[Analog Saint]

Gouramis love plants, preferably live, because they are omnivores. Their diet should include some vegetable matter. I've long forgotten the names of most of my plants, but whatever plants work with your lighting is more important. They are one of the least picky fish I know. The two kinds of gouramis I keep absolutely love Spirulina Algae flakes- if you don't want them nibbling on your plants, a bottle of flakes will be about $4 and last you a while.

As for gouramis, here's some things to keep in mind:
1) they are solitary fish. they do like places where they can be alone.
2) they like a varied diet. veggies are important to their digestive health.
3) if they can always see each other, they will never leave each other alone, no matter how big the tank. little caves, tunnels, plastic rock formations, live plants, and such will help divide the tank up.
4) they establish a "pecking order" in the tank and undoubtedly the smallest one will get picked on, so that's why #1 is so important. So long as they have a place where they don't feel threatened, they will flourish.

If you keep those in mind while planning a 29 gallon tank, in my experience, you could probably keep three or four dwarf gouramis in there without problems. There's a site www.aquariumfish.net that sells females, if people are interested in keeping females.

[TKOS]

Those are good suggestions. A densly planted tank would be the best thing. My gourami never does enough damage to any of my plants for me to worry about him. I have on occasion throw in Nori, which is just sheets of dried seaweed for sushi that they seem to enjoy. I just rip it into small pieces and toss it is.

As for types of plants. I have crypts, java fern, riccia, some stem plants, all of which grow nicely and the gourami likes to hide in them a lot. If you get fake plants then get the ones with silky leaves as they won't hurt the finnage on the fish like plastic does.

[Wild_Monkey]

Thanks yet again guys! :) Those were all great sugestions! I'm going to look in to them. I've also heard that Dwarf Gouramis like plants that float on the top of the water-line, is this true? I'll also be sure to get the silk kinds if I'm going to get the fake plants, thanks! I'll also add some veggies to their diet. They like the fresh zucchini, (spelling wrong?) lettuce, spinach(<-- ?) I think. I will also try the foods you guys sugested, but I have lots of lettuce and zucchini because I grow them, and I've read about them. I don't have much spinach but I think I've read a little about it don't know.

Once again thanks alot! !!

[TKOS]

Veggie supplimented to flake food is a good idea. Lettuce and zucchini will be fine since you don't have to pay extra for them. Floating plants are nice as well, just make sure to trim them regularly or they will block a lot of the light getting into the tank and also gouramis like to breathe surface air as well.

[NatakuTseng]

I also noticed when I had my dwarf gouramis that they really liked to munch on hornwort. It would probably be worth it to get some and culture it yourself, fast growing and easy to grow, and feed it to them, its also a fairly attractive plant.

[Wild_Monkey]

Once again thank you guys VERY much! I'm new to most of this and was needing help, and you guys seem to know what your talking about. I was looking for a good forum that can help me, and I think I've found a good one. I will stay and help out as much as I can for I have some experience, and I'm still learning. So when I need help I know I can always come here and get accurate info.

Thanks alot guys!
If there are any more sugestions about Gouramis, White Clouds or Cory cats I would appreciate it, thanks!

[TKOS]

I don't think we mentioned cory cats, but make sure to have some sinking food pellets. I drop one in per 3 fish in my tank (shrimp pellets). This insures they get enough food and are not waiting for flakes to sink to them.

[Wild_Monkey]

I drop sinking granules in for my Cory Cats. They are TetraFin I think, but they're for Goldfish is that okay, or would the shrimp pellets be better for them?

Thanks. :)

[adblair]

Hey, another new guy to the community and the fishy bussiness. Well I have a 10 gallon tank with two Dwarf Gouramis, seven White Cloud Minnows, three Cory cats, and a few Ghost Shrimp....

Aren't White Cloud Minnows cold water fish? Maybe I'm wrong since TKOS didn't mention it, but I'm thinking that is what I have read on here. What temperature do you keep your tank?

[Wild_Monkey]

They are cold water fish, but they are very hardy and can adapt to higher water temperatures. I keep it around 78 76 degrees. They seem to do fine.

[TKOS]

They are hardy coldwater fish (I didn't mention it as it gets tiring to emntion it 5 times day as they seem to be put in a lot of tanks lately). They can withstand higher temps but it will weaken them a touch. Warmer water does not hold as much oxygen as cold water does and cold water fish thrive in high oxygen tanks.

Now it isn't easy to keep cold or cool water tanks and the white clouds should do fine in the mid 70's but it also means you should be doing more frequent or larger water changes. 20% a week is not enough (and Wild Monkey's tank is stocked high) so I would suggest 2 30% changes a week or at least a single 50% change every week to keep those fish happy and healthy.