Sparkling Gourami (Trichopsis pumilus)

TropicalNorth

TropicalNorth

Bligh..The Demander Of Attention..
Jun 9, 2006
860
0
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North Queensland, Australia
I'm getting a little all-in-one 6g hex tank for the kitchen (yes MTS has well and truly taken hold :)). It's going to be a well planted tank with low light plants; java fern, anubias, crypts and java moss probably.

After seeing some Sparkling Gouramis in the LFS I decided the tank will be a species tank (no other fish or shrimp/snails). I would like a group of 4-5 of them which is maybe a touch OS but I'm a experienced aquarist and the filter is really good.

So does anyone have any experience with these cute little fish? would a 6g be suitable for them? aggression? Thanks.
 
I would with stick 2-3, 4-5 is pushing the limits there you want to have enough space if you have aggression issues. Males can be aggressive towards each other, you cat really sex them unless you look for the ovaries in a fish's body under a bright light. They are a very cool fish I was going to setup up something just for them but my LFS was too expensive to stock them. Make sure they are true sparkling Gourami's not mismarked, they should be NO bigger than 1 3/4 inches full grown, usually around an 1 - 1 1/2 inches.
 
They are cute little fish, I would say it would be good to have around four. They are really shy fish, cute though. I think you might want to go for more than a six gallon though.
 
Okay I'll keep it at four or less. I'd like to have a bigger tank for them but since the tank is going in my mother's kitchen strict size limits apply LOL :).

The fish at the LFS are about a 1/2 inch long and definatley sparkling gouramis. I just hope they will have some in stock once the tank is cycled, they don't come up very often.
 
I'd recommend keeping just 2 of the little sparklers.

I bought 6 of them for my 37 gallon tall. They were all very tiny, under .5 inches hear.

I keep them along with a small school of harlequins and a couple rogue brilliant rasboras who were adopted into the school by the harlequins.

They grew to about 1.25 inches each. When they were young, they schooled together. I've had them for just about a year now. They're fully grown and have each gone their separate way.

They each chose a plant to live in. They keep to themselves and seem to appreciate having their own little territory. It seems as though 4-5 would be crowding them. Not too much room to establish a proper territory.
They are very cool fish. They seem to watch me as much as I watch them!
 
I'd say stay with 3-4 and ensure they have plenty of plants.
 
Thanks everyone :).
I'm going to use some filter media from my other tank to speed the cycle up but I want to make sure everything is stable and the plants are established first. This tank will be the first one I will use ferts on (Seachem Flourish and Excel) so it will be heavily planted with only the gourami's for inhabitants.
 
TropicalNorth said:
Thanks everyone :).
I'm going to use some filter media from my other tank to speed the cycle up but I want to make sure everything is stable and the plants are established first. This tank will be the first one I will use ferts on (Seachem Flourish and Excel) so it will be heavily planted with only the gourami's for inhabitants.
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Good luck. Tell us how the tank gets along.
 
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