Companions for Blue Gourami's?

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DrRobert

Registered Member
Jul 24, 2008
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Chicago, IL
Hey all,
I started my 30 gallon freshwater tank about a month and a half ago and while I did have some problems during the first couple of weeks, it has stabilized. However I don't think I did enough research because I bought four blue gourami's, two male and two female. The two males have grown pretty territorial but it looks like there's enough room in the tank and it hasn't been a problem. I read that adding more peaceful fish of a similar size can decrease this tendency. Is this a good idea, and if so any ideas for what kind?
 
hey, welcome to the community dude. blue gouramis grow to around 4-5 inches and i think females grow a bit bigger. so there arent alot of space for much fish. if there are fights often then its best to provide more cover such as plants, driftwood or other aquarium safe decorations. as for tankmates, i'll be a bit biased here.

you'll need some bottom dwellers. a small group of small cories are very active and fun to watch. and for the middle, 6 harlequin rasboras or golden/white cloud minnows if you can find them the gold strain is sold on www.liveaquaria.com but out of stock now. you can also use the site's fish compatability chart for some ideas but the info is not always accurate
 
Blue gouramis (Trichogaster trichopterus) show a lot of conspecific aggression, especially between the males. I do not think a 30 gallon is enough for 4 of them. I would say return three and add a school of 8-10 harlequins or other schooling fish of schoice and about 6 kuhli loaches or corys.

What do you mean by 'stablilized'? What are your exact ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate readings???
 
:iagree: Any aggresion will get worse the larger they get. Better to save them and you the stress ahead of time.

And welcome to AC!
 
Females are less aggressive. It's the males that are bullies.
 
Gourami aren't THAT bad when it comes to other fish. They mainly focus on eachother. I have neons, loaches, SAEs, and Otos with 4 Gourami (all trichs) and the only spats are short lived and amongst eachother. It is a heavily planted 55 so each has it's area, the spats only happen when 1 ventures to the wrong place and they've never done anything more than chase and "lean" on eachother.
 
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