Honey Gouramis

[dsbrasw]

Do honey gouramis do well alone or should they be with other honey gouramis?

I have a 55 gallon community tank that already has two male dwarf gouramis. They have their own territiories and while they aren't best friends, they coexist peacefully most of the time - some occasional chasing and taunting but no physical damage. I introduced one red honey gourami to the tank and my red dwarf immediately starting chasing him. No physical contact -just intimidation.The honey is OK and has taken refuge in some tall plants that he blends well with. He does come out to eat and seems fine. I know it will take him a few days to get used to the new tank and for everyone else to get used to him.

I'm thinking if honeys do better in groups, I'd be better off to get him a friend (which would be another male - I didn't see females available). but if they don't do well in groups, I don't want to get another fish to chase him!

Thanks for all the help!

 

[carpguy]

Most fish sold as Honeys are a color morph of dwarfs. This is a nice shot I found of a male and female Honey:

If it doesn't look like that then its more than likely another type of dwarf gourami.

Gouramis are territorially aggressive fish. They're not friendly and they don't need friends. Three males is a lot: personally I'd go lower not higher.

 

[dsbrasw]

It's definitely not the same species as the two dwarf gouramis I have (colisa lalia - one powder blue one flame red). Its a red honey (colisa chuna). His body is more slender, his color patterning is different, and he's a much faster swimmer than the two dwarfs. He's still very small so I don't know if he has fully developed his color patterns. I don't kow if the shortcut will work, but this is what he looks like. See the first two pictures. My red dwarf looks like pictures 9 and 10 towards the bottom.



http://images.google.com/imgres?img...images?q=colisa+chuna&svnum=10&hl=en&lr=&sa=G

 

[snakeskinner]

like carpguy said, "dwarf" gourami's are some of the meanest towards eachother. Males should be kept to a minimum, females are usually ok together. By the way, Colisa is no more. They are now Trichogaster. Kyle

 

[carpguy]

Colisa is no more. They are now Trichogaster.

Colisa still is but the C. chuna has been moved over and is now Trichogaster chuna. C. lalia, C. labiosus and C. fasciata all Colisa on, at least according to fishbase.org.

Either way I think 3 males in a 55 could be OK with enough territory and enough obstacles but I think your taking a risk with it. Depends on what kind of tank you want. Fish don't do taxonomy: a rival is a rival.

 

[snakeskinner]

fishbase has been lagging for awhile now I've noticed so I'm not sure. I was told by someone that is usually on top of things like that that there was no more colisa but maybe he's wrong. most anything you search for is still going to list colisa no matter. Kyle