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I am considering adding a single Honey Sunset Gourami to my 20 gal tank. I currently have four Panda Cories and a small school of Harlequin Rasboras. I've been reading up on the Honey Gouramis and they seem to be one of the smaller and more peaceful varieties, which is what I want -- nothing aggressive.

In reading about them, though, I see that they don't like to have a current in the tank. I have a Whisper 20 HOB filter that puts the water back in with a little "waterfall". My Harlies love to play in it, but it makes me wonder if that counts as a current, since it does move the water around in the tank. Does anyone have experience with this?

Also, if I just get a single Honey Gourami, will it build a bubble nest (assuming it's male) even if there is no female present? And if so, will it get aggressive with other fish who venture by, even if there are no eggs in it?

Thanks for any info you can provide. And if you have any other experience with them or suggestions that you'd like to share, I'd really appreciate that, too.

Kathy

I don't think that the small waterfall effect from your whisper filter will bother him. My dwarf gourami was never bothered by the one from my AquaClear, and they are basically the same fish in different colors. I'd make sure you get a peaceful pair though, you don't want them picking on your little harlies.

I've kept blue/opaline and dwarf gouramis, and have never seen them build a bubble nest in a community tank. *shrug* That seems like a betta thing really, unless you have a spawning pair I wouldn't expect to see a nest, but I'm not 100% sure.

Now I'm not sure which fish you're interested in, because you kinda combined two common names for different gouramis, but both have almost the same care and requirements.

It's important to remember that with any gourami, there shouldn't be multiple males in a tank, as they will fight to be the dominant one. (Remind you of another labyrinth fish? )

This is especially true for dwarf gouramis; alone they are peaceful as anything and wont harm a thing in a community tank, but with another male...well, you know the rest.

Visit the site profile for Trichogaster chuna by clicking this link.

Visit the site profile for Colisa lalia by click this link.

I haven't seen you around before, welcome to FishProfiles

EDIT: This doesn't have to do with your question, but I'd bump your panda cory schoal up to 6. They like to be in groups, safety in numbers. Plus, the more pandas you add, the more entertaining they get.

Do you mind clarifying which gourami you wanted?

Last edited by Ferretfish at 25-Jan-2005 11:38

-Formerly known as the Ferretfish

Thanks for the info, and for the welcome.

The one I was thinking of was "Colisa chuna", the Honey Gourami, because it seemed the most peaceful kind. My LFS has them listed as "Honey Sunset Gourami", but from the profiles, I can see what you mean about that refering to two different types. Hmm. Fortunately, they are a good fish store (specializing in fish, not a general chain), so I'll have to ask them which one it is. But I guessing it's a Honey, since they also had Dwarf Blues in another tank, labeled appropriately.

But if anyone has suggestions for another type that would be peaceful alone (I'm only considering getting one, not a pair), I'm interested in all opinions.

As for my cories, I started out with four, figuring that if they seemed stressed or shy, I could always add two more. But fortunately, that hasn't been an issue -- they seem to be having a ball together, always rolling over each other and leapfrogging and basically just scampering all over the tank. I find them totally delightful.

Thanks again,

Kathy

Increasing the number of cories always reduces stress, and keeps them bouncing all over the place. Being shoaling fish they def. deserve a group of 6, but they won't be TOO unhappy with just 4. I'd still bump it up 2 if you can.

I'm positive the dwarf gourami will be okay solo as a centerpiece fish in your tank, as I kept a very similar set up.

I'm not sure about the honey gourami as I've never kept one, but I'm sure someone else will stumble on this thread and clarify for us. I *think* they'd be okay but I don't want to lead you wrong.

-Formerly known as the Ferretfish

I've got two honey gouramis in my 20 gallon tank with 2 aquaclear minis. They are not bothered by the current these filters put out at all. As for the bubblenest building, they have built them, and I'm 99% they are both male. They don't bother each other--they seem to get along great and are very civil with each other and other tankmates (I keep them with male guppies).

I'd suggest making sure you have some floating plants in your tank because honey gouramis can be a bit shy.

HTH

i have 4 gold gouramis in my 75g and i have a whole lot of filtration going. with 2 pengiun 330 HOB filters and a eheim 2222 canister filter i have over 10x turnover. its really not how much current you have in the tank its more about placement. as long as there is other areas with out a whole lot of current they are more then happy. if you run a spray bar across the center of the entire tank and then push 15x filtration through it...then you got a problem heheh.

best thing to do is supply some plants aroudn the tank to rest in and if you only run one filter just place it closer to one side. this will limit the current on the other side giving him a place to rest if he needs to.

Ooo, good info, thanks! I'm getting excited.

So a regular Dwarf Gourami might be OK, huh? Hmm, the LFS had those, too. I'll have to take another look to see what my options are. My main concern is that they not mess with my Harlequins.

But about plants ... I have all artificial plants in my tank, 7 of them in total. 2 taller ones, one in each back corner, then 5 medium height plants arranged in front of the left side tall one. (The waterfall from the filter spills out above the medium plants and that's where my Harlies like to play in the flow.) The center of the tank has two big pieces of fake driftwood, stacked to make a cave for the cories to climb on/hang out under. The front of the tank is open for free swimming.

What changes, if any, would I need to make to get a Dwarf/Honey Gourami? Do I need to have real plants? Or more of them? What kind of "floating plants" do they need? Can I get artificial ones of those? (And how does one anchor them so they don't float around the tank ...) Any other planting stuff I should be aware of?

Thank you!

Kathy

Kathy--

When I got my honey gouramis, I went out and got some java moss. Java moss can be grown in very low light (mine is actually less than 1 WPG). You don't need to do anything special for this plant. Another plant to consider is hornwort which is ideal for low light tanks (and requires no real work either). Put the floating plant on the side of the tank so that it won't be caught up in all the flow of the water.

I have a set up almost identical to yours! I have a 33 gal tank with 3 Honey Gouramis, 5 harlequin Rasboras, and 7 Panda Cories. It is a very active tank- especially at feeding time! So far I have not seen any agression from the gouramis towards the other fish or each other. They are very curious about the cories and spend a lot of time investigating what the others are doing. My tank is planted and I have a "water sprite" that is probably the gouramis favorite plant. I don't have much light but it has grown out of control and the gouramies love swimming through it.

Thanks, everyone! I'm going to head up to my favorite FS later this week and see what they have by way of plants and Gouramis. I only have a 15w light on the tank (in a 20 gal), so I would definitely need low-light plants. Luckily, this store specializes in fish (not a full pet chain) and the guys that work there all seem very knowledgeable (and probably happy to have someone who not only asks their advice, but listens to it. ) So I'll ask them about plants while I'm there.

Oh, and I've decide to get some more Panda Cories after all ... you've convinced me. I really get so much pleasure out of watching them, and I want to make them as happy as possible. The only question now is, do I move them up to 6 or 8?

Thanks for all the advice,

Kathy