Adding more gouramis for my pearl

[dman]

I have a 50 gallon planted tank with the fish listed in my signature. I bought 3 pearls (ended up with 1 male and 2 females) about 5 months ago and one male and one female ended up dying within the first month. The other female is doing just fine. I am wondering if it will be ok to add another 2 pearls or if that might bother the one that is in there. Or will there be some other gouramis or similar fish that might do better?

[CassieLEO]

The pearls are somewhat docile compared to the other gouramis, but they are still gouramis, and will still pick on eachother. They are better being alone than in groups...

[Gisela]

I have two female Pearl Gouramis in my 55 gallon. I bought as a "couple", but it turned out they were both girls! At the beginning one was more dominant and putting the other one in a corner, but now they swim and eat together in harmony.

[dman]

I actually bought the 3 to begin with at the same time per the advice of people on the forums. They just said to make sure not to get more than one male, and they seemed to get along fine. I am just wondering if it will be a problem since I already have this one and would be adding more.

[CassieLEO]

Its hard to find female Gouramis. Do you know how to sex them?
Its your tank, but believe me when I say, 3 is one too many...

[Lab_Rat]

Pearls are pretty docile, so I would think a trio would be fine in that size tank. One thing I would do is temporarily remove the existing female when you are ready to introduce the new ones, then add her back after the new ones are in the tank. You may even re-arrange some decor/territory right before introducing the new guys.

[Dave66]

Its hard to find female Gouramis. Do you know how to sex them?
Its your tank, but believe me when I say, 3 is one too many...

In pearl gouramis, it's easy. Females are larger bodied and visibly lighter colored than the male. She also doesn't develop the fin extensions males do.

Dave

[dman]

Yeah I actually had trouble sexing them when I got them, but then when I got them home and could take a closer look at them, I could tell the male had more red under him and the longer fin. So I kind of lucked out as it was hard to tell right away. I was thinking of getting one to start with but that might be a bad idea to do them one at a time. Does 3 work better than 2?