Gouramis stocking advice for 55 gal. tank

[bigfishguy]

and on the subject of otos

i would tell u ur probably better off gettin cory cats....
there not agressive EVER and u can mix and match for a nice looking school of different types

 

[TKOS]

Well ottos and cories do different things in tanks. They are really interchangable.

 

[pisces22]

Speaking of Gouramis and aggression.....

I think I have a really weird situation- I recieved a new 20 g, cycled it, and wanted to put 3 male dwarf gouramis in it-but everyone said it wasnt a good idea, so instead I bought 1 male dwarf for each of my three tanks ( i love them!)

However the pet store I purchased them from was new, so I though I could just quarantine the three in the 20 for a couple of days9unless aggression was too severe)

It turns out they get along shockingly well-there is one larger and two the same size-they all occasionally flare at each other during feeding times and chase for 2 secs, but nothing more severe then my mollies or platies. Ive inspected each one every day for signs of fin damage, bullying ect but there is nothing

They ve been hapily co-existing for almost a month-its a pity to split them up-they look so gorgeous together.....oh well

 

[TKOS]

When they are younger it isn't always so hard for them to get along. They tend to get more aggressive as they age.

But gouramis can also be gentle as well. Sometimes it depnds on the individual fish. These fish are generally listed as semi-aggressive because it is hard to tell what they may end up doing.

So it might be okay to try keeping them together but be aware that it might be necessary to move them in the future.

 

[Dianna]

I have a 55 gallon heavily planted tank with four gouramis: a pearl, a dwarf flame, a regular honey, and a red honey. The trick is to have LOTS of plants, especially floating ones. You also need other fish to act as dither fish. I have a school of about 12 harlequin rasboras, 6 cherry barbs, 5 siamese algae eaters, 4 flying fox, four kuhli loaches, a leftover zebra danio, a few otos, and three mountain minnows. If something interesting starts going on in the tank, everybody rushes into the fray. This sort of breaks it up in a hurry. I've never had problems with the otos bothering anyone, of course with all the plants they have plenty of algae. I also throw in some sinking food for the kuhli loaches and the otos (and everyone else) eats that too. The gouramis chase and squabble occassionally but nobody ever gets hurt. I read that you have to have several of them, that way the harassment is spread around. I was actually thinking about adding another pearl. They seem to be the most peaceful. The little honey gourami seems to be the bully. Pretty funny to see him chasing away the much larger pearl and flame!