Pearl Gourami good community fish?

[C-Dub]

Hey all, I have a 54gal corner tank with a 10gal hidden sump. Right now I only have 5 serpae tetra's, 4 gold pristella tetra's, and 2 cori's. I plan on adding more of these fish so I have a total of 8serpae, and 8pristella's.

Would a pearl gourami or 2 get along with my tetras? I want a few fish that will grow to be 4" or so. I also like blue Gourami's,and Opaline gouramis, which one of these 3 types would work better with my set up? If any do work, how many should i go with? Also could you add male vs. female ratio's as these will be my first Gourami's!

oh and any other suggestion's of dwarf's that could fit in the mix would be awesome. I'm looking for lots of color!!

Thanks in advance

[Red]

IMO i think you would have to chose just one of the gouramis and just a ratio
2 females to 1 male

[C-Dub]

so any of the three mentioned would be ok with my tetra's? And only one type including the dwarfs???

[Red]

Yeah i have had good luck with gold gouramis too and im not two sure if dwarfs and regular go toghther..

[C-Dub]

has anyone had experience with opaline gouramis?
I like the gold but I already have gold pristella tetra's and I want to bring in a different color. and also can anyone answer if they will get along with dwarf's??? thanks again

[nwnittany]

has anyone had experience with opaline gouramis?
I like the gold but I already have gold pristella tetra's and I want to bring in a different color. and also can anyone answer if they will get along with dwarf's??? thanks again

I don't have an answer in the academic sense, but I can tell you my experience.

I have a beautiful blue opaline, maybe 4-5". I also have a smaller (3") three-spotted gourami (I guess these are also opaline) and they both get along great. I'm terrible at sexing them, but I think they are both females.

They were both in an overcrowded tank with platys, guppy, molly, swordtails, danios, and neons and there were never any problems. And now they are in the same tank, but with far fewer fish and they are clearly the big dogs of the tank.

The only problem I experienced was when I tried to add another large blue opaline (these had been in the same tank at the fish store and were rescued together, so I thought it would be OK). In any case, it definitely wasn't OK....more like a showdown at the nwnittany aquarium corral. Obviously, I had to return him/her (again, I was never quite sure).

[C-Dub]

Awesome, thank you for your input. I'm just nervous about putting the wrong fish together because I have made some mistakes in the past.

[Gemini]

has anyone had experience with opaline gouramis?
I like the gold but I already have gold pristella tetra's and I want to bring in a different color. and also can anyone answer if they will get along with dwarf's??? thanks again
My opaline gourami is a big meany! He has killed an Angel fish, and my dwarf Gourami and is now in the process of attempting to kill my RTS. That will never happen as the RTS just darts off goes through a small gap and then comes back. But yeah in my experience the Opaline is a bit aggressive.

[C-Dub]

oh wow really? I'll keep that in mind, thanks! I was at the lfs yesterday and they had a ton of gourami's... I really like the blue, and gold. Would one of each work? or should i stick with a pair of the same breed? Also doe's anyone have dwarfs mixed with lrg gourami's?

[graceluvsplatys]

speaking of dwarfs, i have a dwarf who is the nicest fish i have ever met, an is super pretty too. he is in with cories and platys, and is so sweet, i can scoop him up in my hand, if i wished. best community fish ever. hes a neon blue. i feed him color discus pellets along with others and he loves em. i, from my experience would definitely get one ( mines a male i believe) for any community. but, i may have just gotten a nice one. i would try it though!

[ILuvMyGoldBarb]

I would personally go with the Pearls. Unlike the other members of the Genus, multiple males can be kept in a tank. Golds, Blues, and Opalines can all be tempermental, but the thing to remember about those three, they are all the same species - Trichogaster trichopterus. The three colors are simply different color varients of the Three-spot (trichopterus) Gourami.

[graycurse]

i had a dwarf and a powder blue together for a long time. they got along great. i'm pretty sure they were both male, but i've never been great at sexxing them. unfortunately, one day i went and bought a few tetra and introduced a plague of columnaris, which killed the powder blue. the dwarf was the only fish out of probably almost 25 to survive. his "feelers" were destroyed during the outbreak, but they're slowly growing back and he's starting to act like his old self again after not having long ones for about 5 months. he's in a tank with a bunch of mollies, and he's very passive with them. if they start bumping into him or come near him too much, he'll gently heard them with his feelers, it's cute. sorry for the long story, i just adore my dwarf

[ILuvMyGoldBarb]

Powder Blues are simply a different color strain of the Dwarf Gourami. Dwarf gourmais don't usually cause problems with each other and with other fish in the tank.

[kaoticice]

I would personally go with the Pearls. Unlike the other members of the Genus, multiple males can be kept in a tank. Golds, Blues, and Opalines can all be tempermental, but the thing to remember about those three, they are all the same species - Trichogaster trichopterus. The three colors are simply different color varients of the Three-spot (trichopterus) Gourami.

I thought all gourami are pretty aggressive against each other, especially against same male species. I also wanted to have about 3 pearl gourami in my 3ft tank, but I was initially planning to get 1male and 2females. But then hearing from your comment would it be appropriate to house 2-3 males instead?

Ed

[ILuvMyGoldBarb]

No, I wouldn't do just males of that species, you still need proper ratios. With T. trichopterus you can't put more than one male in a tank period, but with T. leeri (Pearls) you can do a 1:2 ratio of males to females, so you could get away with 2 males and 4 females. You may even get away with a 1:1 ratio but not all males.

[stubbytheplecostomus]

opalines, golds, 3 spot, platinum, and blue gouramis are all the same species (thrithogaster trichopterus)... they sometimes can be bossy, my opaline has killed a dwarf gourami and a small angel but he does fine with two golds (one of which is a male also), and my larger angel. So i would say its kinda hit or miss with them what they'll be ok with, as a rule avoid putting them with less aggressive fish of the same size. Also to sex them its easy, the males have pointy dorsal fins while the females have rounded dorsals.

[Gemini]

Powder Blues are simply a different color strain of the Dwarf Gourami. Dwarf gourmais don't usually cause problems with each other and with other fish in the tank.
Maybe I have cranky fish but for a long while my Dwarf tried to kill everything around it. Until the Opaline got to big and killed him... Maybe my tanks just aggressive and cranky ;)

[C-Dub]

think im going to go with a pair of pearl gourami's, along with (how many?) dwarf's. I went and looked at the pearls yesterday. Is there a good way to sex them? They were an estimated 2.5" at the lfs. Same q's with the dwarfs, i know the male dwarfs are more colorful.

[ILuvMyGoldBarb]

Typically with Gouramis the dorsal fin on the males will be pointed at the back end and the females will be rounded.

[C-Dub]

k, from the sound of that I don''t recall seeing one female at the lfs

[stubbytheplecostomus]

pearls are hard to sex i don't think they follow the same general rule for sexing gouramis, or they might be like dwarfs gouramis and betas were they males are colorful and pretty while the females are less desirable, its near impossible to find female dwarfs in stores unless special ordering them

[Jambot]

After reading everyone's experience here I think it's safe to say that what you can say about bettas you can say about gouramis too, that is, each fish has its own personality and you can't pin down an exact behavior before you purchase one. So many here are saying how peaceful their dwarf gouramis are towards their other fish while mine is the big bully of the tank.

[Lab_Rat]

Opaline, blue, gold, platinum, three spot, and lavender are all color variants of Trichogaster trichopterus so you could get any of those in any combination you want, just make sure you get a 1m/2-3f ratio. Pearl gourami are a different species (Trichogaster leeri). Pearls are more peaceful and make beautiful centerpiece fish. I would not keep pearl gourami with the trichopterus species. Moonlight gourami (Trichogaster microlepis) would also be a beautiful option, they tend to get larger than the other two species I mentioned.

[C-Dub]

Opaline, blue, gold, platinum, three spot, and lavender are all color variants of Trichogaster trichopterus so you could get any of those in any combination you want, just make sure you get a 1m/2-3f ratio. Pearl gourami are a different species (Trichogaster leeri). Pearls are more peaceful and make beautiful centerpiece fish. I would not keep pearl gourami with the trichopterus species. Moonlight gourami (Trichogaster microlepis) would also be a beautiful option, they tend to get larger than the other two species I mentioned.

Thank you very much for spending time helping me out everyone.

So just to update you all I just got back from the lfs and picked up 2 Pearl Gourami, 1 M and 1 F. I couldn't get more F's because i took the only 2 pearls they had. Will I be ok with just the M and F for a little while or should I rush to get 1-2 more F as soon as possible?(my plan is to eventually add 1 or 2 more Female's)<-----Thats where you guys chime in and advise me, lol....Thanks again to all

[ILuvMyGoldBarb]

I'd say you should be fine for now. Now, we want pics. LOL

[C-Dub]

I'd say you should be fine for now. Now, we want pics. LOL


I need help in my picture taking skills. It's very hard to get a good pic with my digital camera, even tho the darn thing cost me a small fortune.
Here's the most recent pic i took;
[Only Registered Users Can See Links.]

...I know, it stinks....Any advice? Maybe i'll start a new thread

[fins_n_fur]

Taking pictures of fish is challenging and can be frustrating as you can take 100 photos and only have 1 or two that are reasonable. It takes a lot of time and patience. One suggestion is to take the pictures at night or when the room is very dark without flash (with the tank lights on obviously LOL). If you don't have steady hands, try a tripod or rest your hands or camera on something steady.

[C-Dub]

My female pearl is swimming sideways, like horizontally, and doing a lot of twists through the water like she's dizzy or something, any ideas?

[GouramiGal]

I am also bad at sexing them...but here's my two cents:

My pearl gourami is a sweetie. The opaline I had was a terror. If calm and serene is what you're going for, stay with blue,gold or pearl.

But like others have said here, it's all about male/female ratios.
Good luck!