Your take on gouramis??

[Gemstone]

Hi guys...we are a bit scarce what with the moving and all... We have sold off all the cichlid babies that were occupying one of our tank...approx 150ish litres..

The tank is now just circulating etc...and we want to get a few gouramis...dwarf guaramis..actually just messing about with the idea the place we sold our fish to will order anything we want ..

We have no gourami experience as such, but do know that some can get quite large...which is a no-no for this particular tank, and that they make bubble nests and are top-breathers...much like bettas. The tank setup would be purely for aesthetic value as we don't intend to do any breeding on purpose (of course if there were babies we would not mind).

Do you guys have any views regarding which type/quantity etc??

Thanks

Gemma

[toddnbecka]

Best to keep either a single or a pair in that size tank. There are some eye-catching color variants, but from what I've been reading lately you'd be better off with some wild-color dwarfs. It seems there's some sort of health problems with the selectively-bred varieties.
Basically think of them the same way you would bettas. Two males will fight over territory, one male may be a bit rough on a female if there isn't anywhere for her to take cover or escape.
You might want to check into the pygmy (aka sparkling/croaking) gourami. They only grow to about 1.5".

[gm72]

I have had bad luck with dwarf gouramis. They don't seem to last very long for me yet I have no trouble with any of the other fish I keep. Maybe bad luck, maybe poor specimens, not sure.

Your tank is about 30 gallons or so. You could have a single specimen larger gourami in such a tank. Think about gold, blue, snakeskin, pearl, or opaline. You could then have a pair of dwarf, then some bottom dwellers to round out the tank. The golds, blues, etc. will get to about 4".

[CAllain]

I've heard there are some problems with weak imported dwarf gouramis... Also, females can be hard to get hold of in the US (from all the other people I've talked to)

However, I've currently got a male/female pair of dwarf gouramis in my 60L tank and I love them. The male's building bubble nests (though he does rip up plants for this, so be prepared) and so far everything's fairly peaceful. In a tank your size it may be an idea to have two females though, as sometimes the male will decide to chase a female round the tank, so an extra female may help spread out the harrassment.

[Tolley]

I have 2 honey thick-lipped gouramis. 3 inches long. and they're aweosme ever so peaceful.

[gourami*girl]

If you're interested in female dwarf gourami(s) for your tank, you may be able to have your LFS special order them for you. From my expierence, fish stores tend to only carry the males because they have interesting coloring while the females are more plain. Both of the fish stores I have been dealing with have told me that they could order female dwarfs if I wanted them, and they would cost no more than the males.

[Gemstone]

thanks for the advice..so if I read it it would basically be one male dwarf and females?..would a few khuli loaches be ok to go with that?..

[toddnbecka]

You could keep a trio (1m/2f) of dwarfs, shouldn't have any problems with whatever bottom dwellers you choose.

[Sounguru]

Well since you will be setting this tank up in the Laundry room......:hmm3grin2orange:

I would go for a pair of dwarfs myself .....

[Gemstone]

Well since you will be setting this tank up in the Laundry room......:hmm3grin2orange:

I would go for a pair of dwarfs myself .....

lol...nooooooooo....the laundry room is reserved for the bettas...tsk...only the best for those babies....:18:

[Dubie]

I keep a pair of Male dwarf Gouramies. I wanted one red and one blue one. After the inital pecking order was established, they left each other alone, and the different colours look nice with each other.

[terrapin24h]

dubie--
I just tried that same thing this weekend, and my blue(the incumbent) kicked the snot out of the freshman for over an hour before i moved the new guy to our 6gal ADF tank. How long was the whooping period for you?

--chris