Are gourami's hardy or not

[Juannie]

Well I've had a pearl gourami for about 4 or 5 months now, I went home yesterday and it was having trouble - it kept floating to the top and swimming on it's side, about 10mins later it was dead. I have a beautiful gold gourami who seems lost now his friend has gone as they hung around together. i've checked my water and the pH had dropped to about 6.4 - this always happens within a week or so from 7 (I'm getting carbonate hardness tabs), so I did a water change, it was the first sign that I knew it was sick as in the morning it was feeding and swimming around, does anyone know whether they're susceptible to illness or anything, I've only ever had the opaline & blue's before and they survived for years. I really love them as fish but aren't having any luck.:help:

[Severus]

In my experience dwarf gouramis are not at all hardy. On the other hand, full size ones like blues, gold, etc.. seem quite hardy. My blue jumped from a bucket on my counter to the floor and instinctevly i picked him up and threw him in the bucket. I was worried for him, but he acted like nothing ever happened. This was six months ago. I would say dwarf gouramis are not nearly as hardy as larger gouramis

[crackatinny]

I agree with severus, aparently dwarf guami are suseptable to many diseases, we have only ever had 1 pair and lost 1 to dropsy (very sad to watch) and I think the other seemed to fret losing its mate, dont know if thats possible in fish, but it was healthy and showed no other signs.

[Abbeys_Mom]

Dwarf gouramis are hardy enough, but need extremely well established tanks. They do not handle the ups and downs of a new tank. They are prone to parasites and fungus, but all fish are. I think there are only a few fish that are "picky" about water conditions (like discus), but once you have a stable tank, most fish are fine.

[coachfraley]

I've also had bad luck with the dwarf gouramis. They are very prone to head tumors. I have also noticed that a lot of them seem sick at the LFS's

[Juannie]

Thanks everyone, looks like I'll stick to the blues & yellows.

[Severus]

Good idea unless you come across some great looking healthy dwarfs at an LFS.