Dwarf Gouramis in a group?

[Garrett]

I keep reading that gouramis are actually a shoaling fish, but most people don't really have the room to let them be themselves, and as they do okay on their own, it's not a big deal.

I was curious, though, if one wanted to keep a shoal, and could get ahold of females-I can't imagine five or six males would be a good way to go-what would be the tank requirements? I've got two largish males now, but I know most of the color morphs of dwarfs are generally smaller and are the same species. Where would one even get females? Would you go with a livebearer ratio, 4f2m? Or 3f3m?

I've been reconsidering my plan to get a pair of bolivian rams, mostly because I don't think my water temp is going to be warm enough for them-I normally run around 74-and as a result have some room to play with in my tank. I'm really just idea spinning at the moment, but I certainly like my two goofballs and could see going that direction to round out the tank, along with a couple more ottos. Especially as I lost my betta, I don't really have anything other than the pleco that's over two inches long in the tank.

[VoidParadigm]

Ten gallons per male as a starter territory, five gallons per additional female. Other small, non-nippy schoolers could be added without more gallons needed. My opinion. :shrug:
The more females the better. Males will feel less need to fight for territory if they have a larger harem.
You'd have to watch for the males attacking their harem if they spawned, though.

[Garrett]

Okay, so I've got the tank space if I went with a group of 6. Again, got small shoals of little guys, don't really see any aggression. I know with the womens involved things could well change, but they pretty much ignore each other and live a few feet away from each other 95% of the time now.

It's a thought. Of course, I'd need to find four females.

[Red]

in a 55 I would do 1 male per 3 females.

[jaysee]

Pearls are the closest to schooling that I've ever seen. And sparklings.

[lahlumdi]

I had a male and two females. The two females were inseperable. I thought they were very pretty and would have loved to get 5 or 6 of them.

I also had 2 pearls and I believe they were both males. They got along quite well. Only saw them fuss at each other once.

[Garrett]

I went to one of the specialty stores here on LI yesterday to ask if they even could get them. Guy seemed a little odd, but it seems I could get the females no problem if this is the way I decide to go. So, we'll see, my wife's been asking about Christmas and this might be a nice inexpensive way thing for her to get.