Dwarf Gourami for a 55 gallon

[Bellie816]

How many dwarf gouramis can I keep in a friendly community 55 gallon? I really like the dwarf ones, but am not against keeping the larger ones, either. I just don't want them to be aggressive or unhappy. What is their general temperament?

[VoidParadigm]

For a 55 I would only recommend 2 male Dwarfs. IF you have access to females, though (they look silver or grey, not red or blue) you could have have 8, but still only 2 of those as males. Without a harem to herd around many male Dwarfs focus solely on what they believe is a competiting male, out to steal all the broads that could appear in the area.

Go with Pearls instead. They're generally a lot calmer and laidback, but a bit bigger.

[annageckos]

I have two pearls in my 30 that do fine. You may be able to get away with two male dwarfs if you have a good amount of floating plants and other things to help define territories. They can be very territorial. I wouldn't recommend mixing males and females. When they breed the males will become very nasty and try to kill everything to protect the eggs/young.

[EmmanuelJB]

I would only recomend 1. In my 46 gallon I was determined to have more than one dwarf gourami and it never worked. I tried and I tried and only 1 ever worked. You would maybe try 2 like previously suggested but I wouldn't recomend it.

[VoidParadigm]

True, if you try it my way you usually have to scoop out the bubblenests.

[Gramazing]

If you get dwarfs, look out for dwarf gourami disease. Ask your LFS where they got them from.

[VoidParadigm]

I've never heard of a "Dwarf Gourami disease."
If you mean Iridovirus, that's contractable by all Gourami species.
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[Bellie816]

Okay so two Pearl Gouramis would be fine? They aren't territorial or aggressive if spawning? I don't want them to kill my other fish :)

[VoidParadigm]

I think you could do at least 3 Pearls in a 55, but otherwise they should be very peaceful, even to the point of shyness at the beginning.

[Bellie816]

Ok thanks! Now one last question.....are they compatible (the pearls) with Tiger Barbs? The barbs are the only semi-aggressive fish I am thinking about keeping. I looked up the pearls and they are just beautiful!

[VoidParadigm]

I would not keep Barbs with Pearls. The former can get too nippy for the mellowed-out Pearls.

Though many people do disagree, I personally never recommend keeping Tiger Barbs in any form of community tank.

[Bellie816]

Well I think I would rather keep the pearls than the barbs! :ssmile:

The other fish I am thinking about keeping are neon or cardinal tetras, cherry barbs, harlequin rasboras, zebra danios and cory catfish. These will all work with a few pearls, right?

Thanks for all of your help!

[VoidParadigm]

If it was my tank and I wanted those fish here's the stocking plan I would do;

3xPearl Gourami
6xCherry Barb
6xHarlequin Rasbora
6xDanio
6xCory if it's a larger one like the Peppered or the Sterbai, but 10x if it's a smaller species like the Pygmy or Panda.
10xCardinal Tetra, because I think they're more interesting in a bit bigger schools.

With those numbers I think you'd be 100% stocked, so, remember to do a decent water change every two weeks or so. =)

Good luck, whatever you choose to do. thumbs2:

[Bellie816]

If it was my tank and I wanted those fish here's the stocking plan I would do;

3xPearl Gourami
6xCherry Barb
6xHarlequin Rasbora
6xDanio
6xCory if it's a larger one like the Peppered or the Sterbai, but 10x if it's a smaller species like the Pygmy or Panda.
10xCardinal Tetra, because I think they're more interesting in a bit bigger schools.

With those numbers I think you'd be 100% stocked, so, remember to do a decent water change every two weeks or so. =)

Good luck, whatever you choose to do. thumbs2:


Thanks for the suggestion! It sounds like it's right around what I'm thinking of doing. I will continue to post in my 55 gal journal as things start progressing.