Dwarf Gourami - how many?

[BikBok]

I'm wanting a dwarf gourami or two to liven/brighten up my tank a bit. It will be the biggest fish in the tank as my fish are all small species with the exception of planned single rainbow shark . (I'll buy the smallest I can find to let him grow)

I was looking at them in a LFS and the sign said "best kept in pairs" but it looked like all the fish were males. I asked about keeping two males together and they said that was fine. But is it really? Will two males be aggressive towards each other?

My tank is an AR850 so about 150-160L , with a few plants, pieces of driftwood, mountain cave thingee, and a tunnel.

other fish in the tank are: kuhli loaches, 1 female fighter, a few guppy, 1 platy, 2 otos, 1 small whiptail, and a planned rainbow shark.

I would like two dwarf gourami (males) if it's workable.

[breakaway]

I used to have four blue dwarf gourami in a 54L (600x300x300) tank and there were no problems at all.

There was no aggression, however all but 3 of them died between 1-2months after I got them. Put this down to bad water parameters.

[BikBok]

thanks breakaway. That sounds promising. Anybody else have experiences to share with more than one male dwarf gourami?

I take it they are sensitive fish?

I've found the hardest fish to keep has actually been my guppys!! especially shop bought males. Guppys are supposed to be one of the hardiest but mine always seem to have some sort of issue.

I am very offput by shop bought guppys now but finding nice ones privately has proved difficult too.

[Caryl]

I seem to remember reading people were having major problems with dwarf gouramis dying for the past few years.

[phoenix44]

they are as peaceful as it gets. I'm going to get some of the blue ones myself.

[BikBok]

I seem to remember reading people were having major problems with dwarf gouramis dying for the past few years.

really! Hope they're sorted by now. Are they an import fish or bred here?

they are as peaceful as it gets. I'm going to get some of the blue ones myself.

that's good to know phoenix44 , I'm just going to get the std stripey ones I think, and I'll get two of them.

[firefish]

I've kept 4 male dwarf gouramis in a 100 litre tank with no agression problems

[Caryl]

I believe they are hard to breed as ony males are usually imported. They are more colourful. :roll:

[ryanjury]

Yeah there have been alot of issues in the past with these things not lasting long after being imported. Alot of the time they get ulcers on them or dropsy like symptoms it just seems to be the fish are quite weak etc. Of course you cannot guarantee that every one will be like that as one importer may get some good ones in you just never know. Females aren't usually imported because apparently they get egg bound quite easily in quarantine and die resulting in extra fees and hassle for importers, plus as Caryl has said they aren't very colourful. There would be a good market for nice healthy NZ bred dwarf gouramis

[BikBok]

hmm

well if anyone has some dwarf gourami they need to sell.. let me know! at least I'll know i'm getting tank proven ones!

Maybe I should quarantine any I get from a LFS just to be on the safe side. A month should be long enough but would they cope in my 20L Q tank? Perhaps a month is too long or should i put them straight into their new home and see how they go.

[caserole]

There are some females around.

And if I don't stuff up the spawning I have of them this time, there will be quite a few more.