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Anyone keep Giant Gouramis (C. fasciatus)? My local PetSmart started carrying them and they are stunning. The males are drop dead gorgeous and have a more pleasing (to my eye anyway) shape than blue/gold gouramis - maybe more of a pearl gourami shape. The females while less bright were attractive too.

What are these puppies like compared to other more commonly kept gouramis? Any special requirements? Are they hardy?

Thanks,

Eric

As I understand them, they don't really have any special needs. They're apparently much nicer than blues, although at breeding time they'll get territorial.

On a different note, where do you live? My local PetSmart just started carrying them last week too. I live in central PA, just southwest of Harrisburg. Maybe it's the same PetSmart.

i have had 2 pairs, they were very much like other gouramies, undemanding.

Really they are like most gouramies and they remind me very much of snake skin, very passive.

Again they dont need anything special.

Cool guys. Thanks for the info.

BTW - I live in Kansas City.

Eric

Note to me to drop by petsmart.

Why did these things ever get called giant gouramis? They aren't big and they don't even look similar. I understand the name banded gourami but giant gourami just seems like someone was being stupid and everyone ran with it.

Anyway they are fairly peaceful and of average hardiness for gouramis. You can keep more than one to a tank and probably won't run into any issues unless you get several males and only 1 female. If you want to breed them the setup is pretty standard. You can go off the 3 spot or dwarf if you want examples since there's plenty to be found on spawning and raising those.

My understanding is that they are "giant" when compared to the other Colisa species...

The real giant is Osphronemus goramy
Gourami this giant grows to 2 feet in length.

That is what had me concerned at first they require HUGE tanks on their own.

Have a look in [link=My Profile] http://www.fishprofiles.com/forums/member.aspx?id=1935[/link] for my tank info

Look here for my
Betta 11Gal Desktop & Placidity 5ft Community Tank Photos

Keith

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What's funny Keith is that C. fasciata was the giant gourami for 70+ years before the true goramy was called that (it hadn't entered the hobby at all).

I think the confusion on with the Giant Gourami name is only about 10 years old.

Eric

Decided I was fed up with CA cichlids in a 33 gallon tank (the cichlids always felt the entire tank was theirs) and having worked with dwarf SA cichlids and Tanganyikans long enough I decided to jump back into the labyrinth fish world...so now I'm the proud owner of two Colisa fasciata.

I have no clue yet if I have a pair because they've been in hiding since last night when I brought them home - I have lots of nice plants and driftwood to hid behind. They are hanging out together, but I've read they're often that social even if they're not a male/female pair.

What I find interesting is that they're hiding out down bottom despite a topful of floating plants they could hide in up top or the tangles of java fern on the top parts of driftwood. They look healthy, and I read last night others experiencing this same bottom clinging behavior. I hope they become more social (they were out all the time at the LFS), because they're really pretty and a nice, peaceful change from those rough-housing CA cichlids!

Eric