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As suggested, thick-lipped gouramis would fit your requirements. They grow to about 3 inches long and are fairly easy to sex... unlike other gouramis. The throat area on the male is turquoise while the female is silver.

If you want a lil' bigger, then the Pearl gouramis might be of some interest. Peaceful, about 4 inches long. Hard to sex though. Females said to have silvery throat. I would go for the thick lipped as suggested IF you plan on having Angels in there.

By the way, Angels are territorial fish, so no matter what kind of fish you bring in, if there are Angels in there, they will defend their territory. But NOT to the point of destroying a fairly large fish, such as a gourami. Angels are cichlids so...

If you can not stand ANY form of aggression, I suggest you change your whole tank and get some fancy gold fish. Very active, no aggression whatsoever. Unfortunately, they are quite messy and you may not stock more than 2 or 3 in your 29gal. And forget about live plants also. They will eat them.

If it can be of any help to you, here's the description of one of my "extreme" tanks :

35 gal. Fluval 304 + Aqua-Clear 200 + 9 Watts UV sterilizer.

Fish : - 2 Mabled Angels, long finned
- 2 Silver ( Moonlight ) gouramis
- 2 Blue gouramis
- 2 Pearl gouramis
- 5 Clown Loaches ( 1 to 1½ inch )

A bit crowded you might say but it works fine and I have no problems with this tank. All the gouramis are about 3 inches long so far. The angels are about the same size. Well planted tank. Requires maintenance every two weeks.

Good luck !

Sponge

meh, i wont get tetras, i would prolly get a small angel and dwarf gourami and either 3 pencils or two cherry barbs(full grown,cause they get almost 2", and if the angel is still a baby and grows up in the tank with them as tank mates and is able to have its own space in the tank, they should leave eachother well enough alone.

but, i still am hoping to find a male and female pair of gourami, and fill in with pencil fish or cherry barbs

As long as you got a small angel, you shouldn't have problem with it eating tetras, except maybe for neons. They are natural prey for angels, but some people have successfully kept them together, as long as the neons are bigger and the angel is small.
If you got the angel and tetras, just make sure to get bigger bodied tetras. Then you wouldn't have anything to worry about.

*Kristin*

yeah, im hoping i can find a thick lipped or dwarf gourami male female pair so i dont have to deal with the mails bickering all the time.

i will leave the angel out untill it gets bigger, the only exception will be if i cannot find female gourami. if i cannot find a female gourami i will get a angel fish and perhaps some pencil fish, nothing too small like guppies or tetras that will become snacks for the angelfish.

i am hoping that i can find the female gourami somewhere around here though.

I have never seen female dwarf gouramis at any LFS's around me. Only the males. Like said before, don't get 2 male dwarf gouramis, they will most likely be aggressive toward each other. I had 2 in a 10g and one was bullied to the point of death. Pearl gouramis are very pretty. I have never kept them though.
About the angelfish, I have one in my 55g (bigger tank I know) with 2 schools of tetras, cories, loaches, a BN and a female german ram. I have never seen the angel act aggressively toward the other fish, even the ram. She does not seem to have a territory because she swims all over the tank. She is perfectly peaceful. This is the only angel I have had though so I don't know if I just got lucky. It may be better since the tank is only 29g, to leave the angel out. Just giving you my experience in case you wanted the angel.
Good luck!:%)

*Kristin*

Yep sexing gouramis is easy heres how, and I will supplement with photos of my fish:
In Dwarf gouramis- male is red and blue, female is pink or silver and may entirely lack stripes. The male has a pointed dorsal fin (ends in a point) females have a more rounded dorsal (does not in a point). Dwarf gouramis are the very easiest gourami to sex. However, You may find it difficult because, most pet stores and fish stores do not even bother to order females. In fact, some suppliers do not even offer females to stores at all. Often dwarf gouramis are treated as fry with hormones to ensure all are male and no females exist.

Male Dwarf Gourami:


Female Dwarf Gourami:



In Pearl Gouramis, Males have a red chest. Mature specimens are gorgeous. Easy way to determine when too young to be colored- males dorsal fin is pointed, females is not. The male anal fin may demonstrate the long bits prior to the male developing color too.

Same goes with the larger gouramis, blues, golds, opalines, moonlights, snakeskins. Males dorsal fins are pointed from a very very young age. Females are not. One look at two differing dorsals and you will know the difference.
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Even I have an example for that.

Dwarf Gouramis (Colisa lalia) males are blue in color (or red depending on color variations) and the females are silver in color.

Just one example of an easy to sex gourami...

Last edited by Tetra Fan at 18-Dec-2005 07:27

Sneaky : I am very intrigued by your statement about sexing gouramis being easy. Seems like all LFS can't tell the difference since they rarely sell "mature" specimens. Maybe you'd be willing to enlighten us with your experience and tricks to make sexing easy ?

Cheers,

Sponge

If you do go with the pencilfish, try to get a trio.
Then you will tons of action from them.
They are super nice little fish.
Swim like little submarines or hummingbirds,
fins never stop moving lol


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well, i looked at their profiles and did some research. they are supposedly very timid as well. timid is not a problem, i would prefer a pair of timid small fish that tend to hide a bit more than a large school of rowdy fish.

its kinda like my bumblebee cat, reclusive, but when you do see him and watch him feed or prowl around, its a treat

so, i might get the pencil fish, it really depends on what i can find in my area. i will be looking over the next couple of weeks for them, as one of my friends wont be able to take my barbs untill then, im "sort of" selling my barbs.

if i give her my school, i get to go to a well kept pet store she used to work at where she gets a discount to pick out whatever fish i want (within a reasonable pricerange,lol).

so, i think the male and female gourami then a pair of quieter smaller fish to fill in teh space between the small gouramis and the corys.

thanks again for all your help everyone!!!

Spongebob- most species of gouramis are very easy to sex. Pearl Gouramis are probably the very easiest of all.

Reun, that stocking sounds great.
Have you looked at Pencilfish though?
I just have to drop my token Beckfords pencilfish
comment in, maybe a few of these would better suit your requirements than the shy and reclusive cherry barbs.
They are gorgeous little fish, demonstrate amazing courtship rituals, would get along excellent with your other fish, and are very peaceful and never nippy.
Heres a pic of one:

-from azgardens.com
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well, i figured it out...the full setup for my tank when completed will be :


1 male thick lipped gourami
1 female thick lipped gourami

2 cherry barbs

7 assorted corys

1 BN pleco temporarily till she is too big, then she will given to a friend who has a larger tank.

well, i might look into just a set of thick lipped gouramis then, since you can sex them easily.i am still un sure about the angel fish. agression is no problem, its to be expected from a larger fish in smaller quarters, but, at the same time i dont want bloodied and beaten fish that have to go in the hospital tank every couple weeks.

so, i guess a male female pair of thick lipped Gourami, and i will call it good, i dunno that i wanna add an angel in there...it might be ok if i had a 40+ gallon, but prolly not such a good idea for my tanks setup.

if i want to add some more fish later on i can always add some smaller fish that wont agress or be agressed by the gouramis.

thanks for all the help!!!!

well, i asked in another post and didnt get an answer, so lets try rephrasing the title.

I will be selling my school of 8 barbs,and i would like some fairly hardy fish, ones with a fair amount of personality, and not messy. the barbs got old fast, not because of the coloring, they just have no personality. not to mention they just sit hovering by the glass all day and whenever the lights are on waiting for food (i have tried feeding them as much as 4 times a day, all they want to do is eat,lol).

I know I am going to get flamed, but I want something I can form a "attachment" to, even if it isnt as "pretty" as the barbs. i dont want a large school, i would prefer asmall school of only 3.

something lower maintanence and more interesting. water peramiters need to be around 7.0ph and 10-20ppm hardness.

back to the drawing board...pretty much every veteran on this site has advised me not to keep an angel and 2 gouramis....they say fights will erupt with all of them...2 gouramis will apperantly fight eachother unless you get a male and female.

everyone also says there is no room for larger fish. i am being told by everyone to get a school of tetras...sigh.

i dont want a school...thats one of the reasons i am getting rid of the barbs...i just want a couple of fish.

can anyone think of anything that WILL NOT attack eachother or the corys and are between 2-4 inches that will be satisfied in a 29 gallon?

Ok well,
then yes that would make sense to choose the middle and top water fish.
1 angel and 2 of any smaller gourami would work.
Thick Lipped Gouramis are nice
Dwarfs are nice, but I havent had much luck with them.
Blues Golds Opaline and Moonlights would all be too big.


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as i posted up at the top, 7 corys, and 1 south american bumblebee catfish, and untill she gets bigger a bristlenose pleco.

thats why i am thinking just two gouramis and a single angel, especially if i get them small. i am thinking if they are little they will grow up together and hopefully wont pick too many fights, also, by the time they get big and require more space, the BN pleco will be in a new home, and only occupants will be bottom feeders.

will this over crowd? if they are purchased you and put into a tank with nothing to take up the upper levels of the tank and have lots of vegitation and such to hide in and play around, will that load be ok???


EDITED: please note, this IS NOT an Asian Bumblebee Catfish, they are HUGE!!!! this is a South American Bumblebee cat, completely differant. reclusive,nocturnal, mostly non agressive. it only grows to 3", will not bother anything really. body mass and waste produced is nearly the same as a cory, so for stocking purpouses and what not, lets call it 8 corys, even though the bumblecat roams the whole tank at night, not just the bottom. during the day when most tank mates are awake he is hiding in one of 3 caves, the corys(all 7 of them) sleep with him.


Last edited by reun at 16-Dec-2005 20:41

Yes very easy to sex dwarf gouramis.
If they are bright and colorful, they are male.
If they are larger, plumper, and colored plain
pink, or pinkish silver with barely noticeable trace of stripes, they are female in stores. Usually they only order the more colorful males.
It can sometimes be very difficult to find a female.
I did not realize you had an asian bumbleecat and corys.
What fish are already in the tank?

Last edited by So_Very_Sneaky at 16-Dec-2005 19:40

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Sexing Gouramis.... good luck my friend !

Dwarf Gouramis or full size Gouramis and Angels will aggress one and another. I have a tank of them. Not that bad but there is action in there.

I find dwarf gouramis to be very "fragile" and subject to diseases. I had some for a while and I sold them for that reason. They spent too much time in the Hospital tank for my taste. I'd go with a pair of full size Blue or Silver. The Silvers are awesome... almost like chrome plated !

My 2¢.

Sponge

I will take your advice but leave out the chichlids, my corys and bumblebee catfish occupy the bottom to middle of the tank already, and i have heard chichlids can be abit territorial, so i will leave that space open.

so, i will look at a single pair of gouramis and a single angelfish.

which species of gourami are good for beginners? which ones are the most accepting of other fish? also, is there a bullet proof way to sex the dwarf gouramis, seems like most pet stores cant tell the differance.

Last edited by reun at 16-Dec-2005 18:25