Dwarf Gouramis

S

sirsears

AC Members
May 24, 2007
108
0
0
55
Hi,

So, I am ready to add some colorful fish, and the other day I saw the Red Dwarf gourami, and loved them. For those of you who have gouramis, I was just wondering how many i should buy, any special requirements, etc.. I plan to make them my centerpiece of my tank. Thanks for any advice you can throw my way! Looking forward to posting a picture of my tank after I buy them. I have had my tank now for 2 months and I love the hobby, and thanks to all your advice I feel comfortable that my tank is conducive to new fish and I look forward to stocking it.
 
20 gal? Just one DG
 
For a 20g don`t listen if the store tells they do better in pairs.Two males are the worst number to get.The larger one may bully the smaller one.Float hornwort plant and the Dwarf will have his own home.

Also if you see a smaller one that looks healthy probably better getting that one.Fish farms have them on an all you can eat daily diet.
 
Last edited:
Just one? i thought they only grow to around 2" long...I shouldnt get one male and one female?
 
If you get any, get a single or make sure to get 1M & 2F. There are problems with the red "sunset", "sunrise", "mellon", etc (Colisa Lalia) dwarves though. Many seem very weak. Every tank of them I've looked at lately has had some dead. I had 2 die on me for no apparent reason (and 2 before I knew about cycling, :wall:). In a 20 long with your current stocking, I think you'll have room for a trio. Make sure that there are plenty of hiding spots and different "territories".
 
My first fish were Dwarf Gouramis - my LFS sold me 3 very pretty ones - all male. Within a couple of days one was dead - beaten to death by another Dwarf Gourami.

I went back to the LFS - they said buy females - it will cut down on the aggression. So 3 small (as that was all there were available) females were added to the tank. I guess they were too young - they did not last very long either - about 2 months.

Then I was down to my last male - no one else in the tank was aggressive so I figured he would be fine. Within a month he developed some health issues - steadily went down hill. I could not see any issues - no spots, etc. but he continued to get more lethargic and just sat on the bottom of the tank.

The I stupidly brought home some Tetras and did not QT - I introduced Ick to the tank. The last male was not strong enough to survive the Ick /treatment.

They are beautiful fish - but I could not watch them beat each other into the side of the tank anymore. Find out what you need to do to reduce the aggression. I don't know if the females I added were too young, wrong type of gourami, etc. I do know that I was extremely upset as I lost each one of them. I seriously considered just shutting the tank down - I loved those fish and they had such a great personality - when they weren't trying to kill each other.
 
Wow, that his horrible cmartin.. That made me reconsider my choice of getting gouramis.. i was wondering why in the thread of stocking new tanks there was no mention of gouramis... can anyone tell me any other fish that I should avoid? I am stocking a non-aggresive community tank..
 
:iagree:

Looks at Honeys...
 
I love my dwarf gourami and have gotten away with something that I shouldn't.... 2 males. They've been together for 4 months and have no issues, each has there side of the tank with plenty of foliage to block their views. I also have a tank with 5 blues and 1 gold. They were inherited with the tank, but have no issues either and have been together for over a year. I wouldn't choose either stockng now that I've done research, but if it aint broke... That said, it would be tough to plan properly for gourami in an 18G tank. What are the other inhabitants? Are you nly looking for a "centerpiece".
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
AquariaCentral.com
Top Bottom