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Hi!

I have a 29 gallon tank, and I already have six Tiger Barbs. I want to have two Dwarf Gourami and one Clown Pleco, and I was wondering if I could have them all in my tank together, would it overstress the tank? Thanks, this is a huge help!

Stocking wise the tank would be able to handle it, but the gouramis would either 1) Fight 2) The male would harass the female in such a small space 3) Get ripped up by the tiger barbs.

I'd suggest against it, sorry

The Gourami's would get nipped by the Barbs.


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Dwarf gouramis are pretty tough. I'd worry about pearls or ultra-dwarves but I think that a gourami would easily handle the barbs. Just do little things to insure dominanace over the barbs such as (A) buying alot of barbs so that they fight amongst themselves instead of the gourami and (B) but a big gourami and little barbs, that way the barbs grow up knowing who's boss.

I did suggest a Jewel cichlid for a centrepiece fish because the gourami would get ripped to shreds by the barbs. The Jewel shouldnt grow bigger than 6 inches, is moderately aggressive, and would be able to keep the barbs in check. Just make sure that both are relatively equal in size when introducing the Jewel. It is capable of eating the barbs if they are bite sized.

Dwarf gouramis might be ok with Tiger barbs, though it depends on the individual fish. Maybe add some more tiger barbs (about 4) so you have 10. The more you have, the less likely they are to bother other fish. You could have:
10 tiger barbs
2 dwarf gouramis
1 clown pleco (OR 2 if you want)

You could also try blue gouramis, they get a lot bigger (12cm) but are tougher and more dominant. You could have the same set up with two blue gouramis instead of the dwarf, and still have room for more fish.

Personally I think dwarf gouramies are well capable of handling themselves, particularly when bubble nesting starts. A barb might fin nip a gourami but it will probably get its butt kicked for it. The female dwarf gouramis are a bit smaller and more fragile. It depends on the age and size of your specimens really. Ironically I think the worry is more biased towards a large adult male dwarf persecuting tiger barbs than the other way round. In small tanks dg's can be so territorial they actually cut the tank space available to other fish practically in half. A while back I had a four foot with three nests in, and a shoal of barbs, and the barbs didnt even dare go within 6 inches of the nests.

Ive seen some very weak and pathetic dwarf gouramis that have been selectively bred to heighten the blue side of their colouration, and they look so weak and abnormally small that they could fall to tiger barbs, but the normal coloured ones, and even the ones that have been hybridised with indian gouramis ( and therefore much larger than normal) are tough, and fairly aggressive fish.

I would reccomend against it. Barbs are semi-aggressive, and Dwarf Gourami are peaceful. How about a paradise fish? They are tough, and would be able to fend for themselves