Gouramis

dwf73

Gold Dragon
Oct 29, 2003
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brooklyn, NY
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I am wondering if people can explain to me why there is such an interest in gouramis among fish hobbyists. I am not criticizing them at all, it is just that I never really got into that specific type of fish and I notice that a lot of people enjoy them, so I would like to hear about their good points. Thanks.
 
Certain types of gouramis i think are absolutly beautiful fish...their quite graceful in movements and very pleasing to watch. Their not picky eaters and are relativly easy to keep and can live with most community fish in peace. Alot of the LFS types are kinda boring in coloration, but every now and then youll find strange and or exotic morphs and they are quite stunning!
 
I like them because they get to a decent size,are interesting to watch and they are colourful.
Alot of people think of them as peaceful as well but I've had compatability problems with gourami's & zebra danio's/ neon tetra's.
Later
Eric
 
I've always loved the dwarf species (I don't mean specifically dwarf gourami) with my favorites being chocolate gourami.

The smaller gourami, I think, have quite interesting behavior. I love to watch my honey go amongst the plants a look a things. They are also fairly cheap and quite pleasing to look at.

The larger gourami don't seem to have such behavior, though I cannot complain much about the pearl gourami. They are very peaceful.
 
I don't care for standard ones, but I like the dwarf variety. They're active enough to keep the tank busy, but still graceful to be able to appreciate. The dwarves are eager and always seem like they're looking for something. Their colors are awesome too when they start to thrive.
 
hahahaha...i have 3 moonlights, 3 pearls, and 15 3spot gouramis (including 13 babies from my let-nature-take-its-course fry), for a grand total of 21. i love them...they're big enough to have a personality (never saw much of that in true schooling mentality fish), and i find them relaxing, especially in numbers in larger tanks. a few of the babies will be going into our communal tank at my workplace when its get set up later this month.

i plan on breeding the pearls next, but i have to get a male. males tend to be a bit pugnacious, hence all of my gouramis (not counting the babies) are female. i used to have one male (hence the babies), but he unfortunately died a week after the babies were born.
 
I have a large pearl gourami and am very happy with him. I wouldn't say that he picks on the other, smaller fish, but he does take advantage of his larger size and the intimidation his size has over the other fish.
 
I think part of it is that gouramis make perfect centerpiece fish for smaller/medium sized tanks. You have your tetras/barbs/danios ect swimming back and forth, your bottom dwellers... bottom dwelling and your Gouramis cruising slowly all over the tank, swimming at all levels and checking stuff out.

Gouramis come in all sorts of striking colors, are generally good community fish and are full of "personality." Most varieties are hardy as well. I'm not sure if it's that people like them so much (I do, personally they are my favorite group of fish) but as a group, Gouramis have very few drawbacks, or strange care requirments.
 
So when people are talking about Gourami is it safe to assume they are generally going to be talking about the smaller ones? The only ones i have ever kept were licorice, and my fish suppliers usually pushed the kissing gouramis on me- do you think that the larger breeds are less attractive? I have certainly found them more agressive-almost intolerably so- and this is coming from an arowana/characidae guy.
 
Originally posted by dwf73
So when people are talking about Gourami is it safe to assume they are generally going to be talking about the smaller ones? The only ones i have ever kept were licorice, and my fish suppliers usually pushed the kissing gouramis on me- do you think that the larger breeds are less attractive? I have certainly found them more agressive-almost intolerably so- and this is coming from an arowana/characidae guy.


Well, when someone says "Gourami" I generally think of the 3-spot gourami or the dwarf. Any gourami larger than the 3-spot doesn't seem to be that popular so I'd say yes, they're talking about the smaller ones. I'm not too fond of the kissers myself, I like most of the other gouramis though.

Why is your supplier trying to push those kissers on ya anyways? Because of their size?

Some gouramis get aggressive, some dont, it all depends on the fish and it's conditions really. IME if the gourami is the biggest fish in the tank it will be less aggresive than if it feels threatened by other similar sized or larger fish. Some types will fight amongst themselves too.
 
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