how many?

[kelly82]

how many gouramis could go into 36"x12"x16" tank? fake plants hollow logs and small fake rock formations,lots of hiding,and fluval 4+filter for filtration and airation, which i know is for 4' tanks and above but i keep it on lowest setting and figured you can never have too much filtration media! anyway,i dont want dwarfs as they have been agressive in previous tanks ive had. i would also like to know what sorts of gouramis can go together as i didnt want all the same. at the moment ive got 4 corys in there.:grinyes:

 

[ct-death]

Gouramis range in size from 3" up to over a foot in size.

Most are the "dwarf" Gouramis and are around 3.5"-4". They are aggressive towards others of their species and fish with colorful long fins, and will boss around smaller fish. I have 2 male dwarf gouramis in a 30G (heavily planted and caved) and I would suggest this to be the max. Even with this, I would say that I got lucky with their personalities, but the tank is divided in 1/2 which has helped a LOT!

What species were you considering? Males I assume?

FYI -- In almost all cases, the dwarf Gouramis (there are 2 species varieties) are usually the same species, but are just different color-forms, and will be similarily aggressive towards one another.

 

[kelly82]

hmmm...well,i was looking at opeline, golden and pearl. just like,3 pairs, 1 pair of each, i have been told that i could quite easily do this in my tank, but i dont know,would they actually fight or would they just have their own little territories that they would defend? the ones i knew were agressive were the little blue and red striped ones that grow to like 2", was watching them in local store and they were permanently harrassing each other as always, the opelines,pearls and goldens seemed much happier, slowly following each other around,these were the ones which i was told would be fine together in pairs, i also liked the 3 spots, but forgot to ask about those.

 

[ct-death]

The Opaline and Golden Gouramis are the same species (Trichogaster trichopterus), but a color morph of the Three-spot Gourami. Like all the variants of this species, the Opaline Gourami is generally considered a good community fish when small, but they are not as peaceful as the other gouramis and can be quite agressive.

They are known to attack smaller fish and can be very 'bossy' and/or territorial when they get large (~6") and should really be in a tank larger than 30G IMO.

*Belligerence and hurassing other tankmates is common in this species; while others will be peaceful to the point of shyness - Large personality swings I think are common in Gouramis/Paradise fish as a group, but as a rule they are the "Kings of the Tank" or the Bullies if you will...

Pearl Gouramis (Trichogaster leerii) is a great community species and will only grow to about 4", but can be shy. These will do very nicely in a 30G tank (based on your dimensions you have a 30G).

 

[kelly82]

just realised its 15" tall not 16" but thanks for the info. so if i housed some in this tank they would chase each other around lots? would they actually damage each other or just harrass? sorry 4 all the q's, just wana make sure we get good combo of fishies. hubby is off to fish store tonight to take a look so hopefully he wont buy on a whim, he really likes the golden ones. personally my favourites are the pearls. we were considering a pair of convicts but were warned off them as they apparently breed like bunnies :grinyes: personally id love that but gota be realistic,nowhere to rehome any babies that survive! our other tank is every fish keepers nightmare i think but it works well, everyone gets on well and have done for some time, we brought most of the stock for that tank going purely by what we liked the look of that didnt get too big think we were lucky though as its a very nice community,no fights squabbles or chasing,everyone just gets on in their own little ways. so all these 'dumb' questions are to try to stop the chance of dead/depressed fishies :help: got lucky once,not chancing it again!

 

[ct-death]

I would highly encourage you to find fish that you like (LFS or where-ever) and Google on-line and post here.

I would try and steer you away from the Golden/Opaline/3-Spotted Gouramis for a 30G tank. It also depends on what else you would like in your tank as well. For example, a pair of Golden Gouramis (1 male/female) and 4 Corys would work out well in your tank, but when you start adding more...

It's not hard for a fish to be stressed to-death from hurassment.

 

[kelly82]

all i wanted was gouramis,with the corys of course, i wanted something very different from what we have in the other tank,and im not interested in the guppy/tetra/platy type stocks that most people have. we want something big enough to see moving from across the room, colourful, energetic, outgoing. wish i could get hold of hubby,just to let him know he knows what ones we were checking out over the weekend, he doesnt usually buy without me there, but it has been known,especially when he likes a certain type of fishy! hence the albino ruby shark in our other tank :headshake2: i love it now but was worried it might harrass our cories,hes actually very very laid back and just cruises round the bottom and plants etc all day hoovering stuff!

 

[kelly82]

ok hubby just got home with 2 pearl/lace gouramis 1 m 1 f, 2 golden gouramis 1 m 1 f and 1 opeline gourami (female, only 1 left), omg, and theres no way we can get back to the fish place until saturday at the very earliest, poss sunday depending on when he finishes work :eek3: well,they will just have to get on for a week! just released them into tank after 1/2 hr float +water mix aclimatization,they are swimming round in their pairs, pearl ones r smaller than the others,and look a little shy,but all seem ok at the moment,just calmly swimming round investigating with their feeler things lol, hope they dont have a falling out:welcome: little fishies,for a short stay!