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hi all, just looking 4 some help.
i have just started in the hobby and have 2 coral blue dwarf gourami, i am wondering if it is possible to add a different dwarf gourami eg(flame dwarf), will they get along or will they fight?

in lfs they seem to be in different tanks, is this just for sales reasons ?

how many is maximum amount in a 2ft tank?

any help will be great thankyou....

Hello, and welcome to the site

Many dwarf gouramis are best kept with their own species. For some odd reason, a lot of different gouramis like to fight with colour morphs of each other.

I'd say you're almost good with the gouramis you have now, seems you have a good balance going, wouldn't want to see it ruined.

Do you have males or females or a mix?

hi Fallout,
thanks for the help.
i believe they are both males that i have does this change anything ?

I would have suggested adding a female, but that'd be bad for her, because the males would constantly harass her, stressing her out and probably dooming her.

What size is the tank (besides 2ft, that can mean a lot of different sizes) and what other fish are in there? How long has the tank been set up?

The tank measures height 20inch height, 24inch length, 12inch width.

Tank has been running for around 8 weeks now.

Have currently in the tank :

4x 1inch bristle nose
2x 2 inch clown loach
4x harlequin Rasbora
10x neon tetras
3x guppies + 6 fry
2x coral blue dwarf Gourami

tank is live planted as well...

any advice on the tank stocking would be appreciated if i have room left or to much now...

Thanks Fallout for the advice.

As for stocking, you're pretty much stocked/slightly overstocked as of right now, so you probably don't want to get any other fish.

In the long run, the clown loaches will outgrow your current tank, and need alternate housing, as they are a larger fish. These fish tend to grow slowly, so you've got time to upgrade or find someone who can take them.

Sounds like a pretty tank tho

Thanks Fallout for your help.

my personal opinion... u prob dont need 4 bristle nose in that tank, 2 is probably plenty, and yes, the clowns will become a problem too in the long run, maybe u can get rid of the clowns and 2 of the BN, so you can get say... 8 more dwarfs

Gourami males may fight irrelevant of colour although certain colours may be thought of as provocation to fight, and obviously a colour morph doesnt have a great deal of choice about this. Aggression in gouramis is mostly down to territorial aggression and wanting to keep a monopoly on females. 1 male to 3 females is a good balance since a male will gladly make a bubble nest for sveral females in captive conditions, not just the alpha female, although obviously she will get first shout. If you give each male gourami 1-2 cubic feet of space you will get borderline scuffles but appreciable territories that they will seperate into and police accordingly.

I kept 3 males in with 9 females in a 4 foot tank (it was tall too, about 45 uk gals) and they seperated the space into exact thirds with a nest at either end and one in the middle. This was made possible because the mass of floating plants in the aquarium prevented nests from drifting into different parts of the aquarium , thusly preventing incursions onto territorial space. Any given male gourami cant really handle the attentions of more than 3 females , nor generally build nests that are policeable that would be big enough to handle the eggs of more than three females when competition is present.

The males themselves would occasionally nip over to other nests to steal building materials ( I have to say it was totally funny watching all thee males all pinching building materials from each others nests in synchronisation, often ferrying huge floats and bundles of plant material across the tank, only to get back to their own nest to find it devastated and return to a frenzy of repair work.) , or to attempt to pick apart others, but because that left their nest open to attack from the remaining unoccupied male gourami they would soon realise what they were doing was counterproductive and and uneasy kind of truce became the norm, and each gourami settled down to just policing its own nest.Females then were at liberty to lead their own lives free from persistent batterings from the males , and each female pretty much contributed to every nest, with the dominant male gourami (the biggest) getting just that bit more attention.

So basically I would say that as a stimulus for attack, colour is less important to dwarf gourami's than territorial space- the reason they are violent with each other is when the males dont have enough room to set up a nest and a have at least a cubic foot surrounding it that it can defend .

So if in doubt, add some more space, failing that a bit more space, and then add a bit more space, just to be sure. Then add many females

Dwarf gouramis because of being relatively small, and having the ol' labyrinth organ can survive in pretty small tanks alone, but in groups they can be astoundingly territorial and need size. Its a shame most shops neglect to mention that important fact.Some people use overcrowding principles to reduce aggression in fish, but I dont think it really works on gourami's and its not really the way forward.

In answer to your original question. That would be one male then. Maybe a couple of females, but they might still get beaten up, especially if they arent impressed with his potential as a breeding male and just live lives more interested in food. I think a choice of males and females tends to stop this sort of thing from happening, not to mention that the opportunities for escape are much better in a larger tank, especially as in a tall tank a female can drop way below the territorial boundary of the nest, a distance the male will be loathe to follow her through as it will leave his nest vulnerable to attack from other males. I certainly observed the males tend to occupy to top areas of the tank and the females the lower,only violating this rule to make a grab at food thought worth the effort , or to check on a nest and the condition of the male, or to deposit eggs.



Last edited by longhairedgit at 10-Oct-2005 08:52

8 more dwarfs? That is is too much for any tank. The tank is around 30 gallons I think. The 2 dwarfs you have is plenty for that size tank.

20 Gallon Long:
Aquaclear 300
2 Bolivian Rams, Mikrogeophagus altispinosus: Gumby and Pokey

yeah sorry, i wasnt thinking, i thought i saw 4 ft tank rather than 2 ft. yeah, just get rid of the clowns, and keep 1 BN, u should be alright...

Thanks everyone for your help, greatly appreciated.