What kind of Gouramis?

[artemisblossom]

I have a 55 gal tank that right now has 5 platys, 1 guppy, 2 SAE, 7 bronze corys and a small snowball pleco. I would like to add a gouramis as my centerpiece fish..........what kind would you suggest? and should I just have one or try to get a pair?? I am a beginner and have only had this tank for a few months

[duce]

i reckon u could ahave a couple of dwarf gouramis.

[artemisblossom]

are teh dwarf ones the blue and orange ones? I think my lfs only has males would they get alone together? Should I get 2?

[duce]

i ve had them a few years ago and they were ok ,dont hold me to it though

[Pearl Trade]

males gouramis are territorial and will sometimes fight with each other

[Tolley]

You shouldn't keep two males together get only one male.

If you find femeales you can add more than one of them though.

[Jacko]

A 55 gallon is plenty big enough for a pair/trio of larger gouramies such as three spot or pearls. I love gold gouramies, wonderful fish and great fun to watch. It is easier to get males and females of these than it is with dwarf gouramies and more often than not the only dwarves the stores sell are males and I wouldn't try more than 2 in a 55 gallon tank.

[artemisblossom]

Thank you for your replies, I will see what my lfs has. walmart always has gouramis but I don't know how to tell the females from the males

[Ryuu]

The females tend to be more drab in color if there dwarf gouramis, however, if they are larger version ones such as the blue or honey gourami, I dont think there is a difference, exept the top fin seems to protrude out more.

[Jacko]

Female dwarf gouramies are practically silver/gray and very, very different looking from the males. The one place I know of that has them on and off is walmart.

For the larger Trichogaster species the females are a bit less colorfull and a bit heavier looking as well as a round dorsal while males have an elongated pointed dorsal.

[artemisblossom]

the petsmart in my area is not selling fish, they have had signs posted for the last few months that their fish are not for sale (they do have some very nice looking ones though). My mom and pop lfs will not bring any females in unless I specal order and pay several times the price of the males (and they are not even sure they can get them) and then there is walmart who seems to lave a large stock of gold and what they call powder blue gourmais, they also have flame gourmais.......all of them are in the same tank, and they have no idea what i male or female. If I bought a couple of those would I be better of with two of the same kind , like 2 gold or would it be better to get one gold and one blue? Are these fish peaceful or will they terrorize my community tank and eat the smaller fish??

[Jacko]

Powder Blue and Flame gouramies are most likely dwarf gouramies, Colisa lalia.
For these the females will be a silver gray color, same shape and size as the others though.

Gold Gourami is more than likely Trichogaster trichopterus, the gold version and they get 5 inches, they will eat small/baby fish if they get the oppurtunity, but they aren't too swift and most fish are fast enough to avoid them.

I would only get one of a kind, avoid mixing them. I prefer gold gouramies, having had better luck keeping them and finding them less risky than the dwarves and with dwarves all too often being in poor shape when you get them and with weak genetics.

[GouramiGal]

I would not mix dwarfs and the larger size. I would stick to one size or another. I have had a blue and gold together with a pearl gourami for quite some time. I also had some blue dwarfs with a red coral dwarf without problem.

I think they are all females, so that makes a difference. Mixing males and females can be tricky.