went to my lfs today in hopes of getting a pair of honey gouramis for my community tank..the only ones they had were two dwarfs..really small probably less than an inch and when i first put them in the tank my dalmation mollies were chasing them around..they seem to hide on the back corners of the tank now theres nothing really big or threatning to them in the tank tho biggest fish are a coulpe of mollies and a smaller rainbow fish..do i need to worry about them?and can i have some info on them..how big do they get?will they become agressive?is there any other gouramis that can be compatible with them?
I have yet to own my own gourami, but plan on getting a dwarf gourami this week, so I have done lots of research and picked the brains of some of the knowledgable people here at TFK and here is what I have learned regarding your questions...
1- Not sure if you need to worry about them with the rainbow as I have never kept one of those before. As for the mollies, good to know since I was considering mollies in with my future Dwarf Gourami and was thinking it would be fine. I can tell you that gourami like slow swimming fish that are calm, and that they will naturally tend to be shy. They like somewhere to hide, lots of plants, and maybe a floating plant for dimmer light.
2- Aggression...from what I understand, they are generally pretty peaceful with other calm community fish (rasbora being the top rated tankmate I have heard of for them). But they can get aggressive with each other. I have heard that a sexed pair of dwarf gourami will swim together, and have also heard that it is possible to keep 1 male and 2 females together with few issues, and on the other side of things, I have heard stories when one gourami will eventually kill the other gourami.
3-Size...Dwarf Gourami are generally like 2 inches full grown, and I have heard of the honey sunsets getting to 3 inches, but again, no personal experiance, yet.
4- Other gourami compatability...from what I understand is that gourami are aggressive with other gourami, especially males, and larger gourami will kill smaller in due time I am sure.
Dwarfs are less aggressive than the others from what I understand.
I plan on using my gourami as centerpiece fish. I am trying to figure out if I want just one, or a sexed pair, or 1 male and 2 females.
I think there is a dwarf gourami fish profile on here in the Tropical Fish Profiles, and that can give you more detailed information.
Good Luck with your new dwarf gourami, and I hope they work out well for you.
Did a search around the internet real quick and found the following. The Dwarf Honey Gourami is expected to grow to 2" and should be paired with peaceful tank mates of similar size or smaller. They can go in a tank as small as 10 gallons and well planted. They are peaceful omnivores that become territorial during spawning, but are otherwise peaceful. I know the molly's are bigger, growing up to 4.5". Does this behavior still occur? Sometimes the top dogs marks their spot when there is an intruder. Also I read up on dalmation molly, same source, which said that the molly may pursue their young or other fish's young. I would consider your <1" gourami to be young. So be cautious and observant. Maybe some more plants to divide the territory and quell any aggression.
thanks for the info guys.. one seems to be hidding up high in the little space between the breeder net and the wall and the other is hidding underneath the bighouse/waterwheel setup...i do want to get a few more but maybe not right away because these two are so small but if i do will regualr honey gouramis be agresive towards them?or what about pearls?ive researched that pearls and honeys are not really agressive at all
The best advice I can give you from what I have been told is that when it comes to gourami, keep them at the same size if you do multiples. If your dwarfs are only going to be 2 inches, then any other gourami you add should stay close to the same size to avoid issues with aggression.
I was at one of our local aquarium store yesterday and was watching their gourami, and they were about 3-4 inches max and the smaller one was headbutting the larger one across the tank. I had never seem gourami in aggression, but glad I did. Now I know what could happen.
the honeys are my favorite!! I loved mine [sadly he was aten] There nto usally with mollys beause mollys are nippy fish and some might nip the whiskers right off! and you dont want that at all there okay with dwarf gromanis never put them with severms! EVER oraclown knife :[ they stay pretty small there whole lifes around 2 inches there good fish not aggresive or mean or anything I seen them as the perfect fish they get along with anyone I never bred mine so I wouldn't know to much about that area.
It is generally not advisable to mix gourami from the larger-fish species in the genera Trichopodus or Trichogaster. Males as others have noted are territorial and this can lead to real aggression and the death of any fish they consider a threat or rival.
No mention is made of your tank size; someone mentioned our profiles, and yes, all the common gourami species are included. Profile section is accessed from the second tab from the left in the blue bar across the top of the page, and all gourami are under the Anabantids section there. Minimum tank sizes and numbers of each species will be given in the information, and suitable tankmates.
Glourami, in spite of their aggressiveness, are still shy, retiring fish that do not like bright lighting (floating plants prevent this), active fish, or strong filter flow. Again, all this is explained in the respective profiles.
Byron.
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