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New to this and reading up on what to put in my new 5footer.
Id like to have some gouramis, never had them b4. But cant decide on which type to get. so why not a few of each?

Im tossing between a community tank or ..Is it possible to have multiple types of gouramis together. for example
say a pair of
Dwarf flame,
Dwarf blue,
dwarf coral
Or would they end up in a fight.


others expected to inhabit the tank
larger tetras
kuhli and clown loaches
SAEs
and maybe my pair of kribs.

ok back to square one.
id like a school of something like rummy noses
then my bottom feeders, loachs n SAEs etc
and then some colour, enter the dwarfs.
it will have a fair amount of plants in it and lots of rocks n wood to hide in.

My 5footer
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2379/2242540621_1a81dcb3c8.jpg

The males might fight no matter the colour, but sometimes they don't it just depends on the temperament of each fish. Normally a colisa male needs 40 cm for his territory. Considering that you will have a lot of plants, this territory can be smaller.
I also think that if you put many of them together the agressivity will be divided, but I am not sure, I never tried this with colisa but I did it with vaillantis chocolates and it somehow worked.

Hmmm, all the Dwarf ones you listed I'm pretty sure are the same species, just various color morphs. I haven't actually kept Dwarf gourami but I think they're relatively chill compared to some of the tougher Trichogaster.

Personally I'd vary by species, not by color morph. Since you have a 5 foot tank you have a lot of room to play with; I too am stocking a big tank (6 foot) so have been thinking about what Gourami to get. The Snakeskin might be the largest gourami you can get; some say they get a foot long, but I have actually never seen one that large. Hmmm... Moonlights are much smaller by comparison, but are still an impressive fish. Very graceful. Most of the rest of the common gourami are of quite manageable size in your aquarium, but I don't know about territory.

IME Moonlight Gourami are rather peaceful and won't bother other gourami, though I do believe I had a female. Pearls are also rather peaceful, and are VERY attractive, not to mention their colors are natural, not artifically selected like dwarf gourami. Three-spot gourami and variations (blue, opaline, platinum, cosby, gold) are a little more territorial and may chase other gourami around, but IME my three-spot never actually damaged other fish; on the other hand, I never had members of the same species. I'm not sure how territorial two males of the same species would be together, but when I had gourami my male three-spot would chase the pearl around sometimes, but never really did much harm. He'd chase around the moonlight which was about twice his size too, but I think it was because he didn't have any females of his own species to go after, lol.

Dwarfs are not bad, though, I just haven't any experience with them.

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The aquarist is one who must learn the ways of the biologist, the chemist, and the veterinarian.

Visually, your powder blue dwarf gourami will stand out the best in the tank, particularly at night.
I have 6 dw gourami in a 3ft tank and 2 pearls. They do have a bit of a spar with each other (they sort of slap each other with their tails) but no one seems to get damaged and in the bigger tank it seems to be only one on one spats. No ganging up on just one fish. I have also noticed my blues are less agressive than the reds and corals.
I did have just one moonlight gourami who decided the whole tank should be his. When he started belting cories on the bottom, I sold him.

Mews . Gourami's ....where do you start....

Opaline / Blue and the morphs the males can get a little bossy but they rarely do much damage .
I find the Platinium very beautifull , but golds are very nice as well .
Kissers ... The boys can get aggressive to one another and then they Kiss and make up
But they do get very big
Dwarfs ... Beautifull fish .. I have 5 males ( 2 Blue / 3 Flame) and 2 females they seem to get on
ok ...only a litte chasing .. no damage though .
Pearls ... glorious fish very serene and calm .. but like all Gouramis males will chase one another .
Moonlights .. Same as Pearls
Honey/Gold Dwarfs ... very beautifull fish ...don't get very big ... Don't let the look of the original
Honeys in the LFS put you off .. they colour up amazingly.
Chocalate... have a reputation as being delicate .
Liquorice ... another small gourami that is pretty peacefull .
Croaking ...same again

So lots of choices , I've had most combinations of these guys in the same tank and whilst from time
to time there can be a few scuffles , as long as you have some good plant cover that grows to the
surface you should be ok.

The only word of caution is that individuals will vary in temperment ... observe them in the LFS and
don't buy the bullys .

On your question on how many ...that will depend on your filtration ...maintaince etc .. and the
numbers of other species in the tank... but in a well filtered and maintained 5 footer I would get at
least 12 and I would mix them up as far as species go ...more fun that way IMHO.

Heres a photo of a platinum I recently got .

Good Luck , have fun choosing .

Garry


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