Lonely Gourami

MDollaBabe

Hi. I have a gourami that just lost his Platy tankmate.

I would like good suggestions for new tankmates. My tank is a 10 gallon, planted. Gourami seems pretty happy!

Also - I'd like advice on the feeding of the gourami - I've read they need a varied diet. Thanks!

Yogi

I would recommend the smaller fish as a tankmate 10 gallons isn't a lot of room. As far as food for your Gourami they like a variety of foods I feed mine tropical fish flakes, blood worms, brine shrimp, and lightly boiled peas (make sure you take the skin off) depending on the day of the week.

thekoimaiden

A 10 gal really isn't that large of a tank. You have room for some substrate fish like smaller species of cory cat, but that's about it. Smaller fish (depending on the species of gourami--which would be helpful) can be seen as food.

As for food, gourami are omnivores so they need both animal and plant matter. They will graze the surface film all day long. Mine get a mix of everything that I feed my tank including New Life Spectrum pellets, sinking shrimp pellets, and algae wafers.

MDollaBabe

So sorry! He's a Dwarf Gourami. I'd say he's full grown now, about 3". I figured with a 10 gallon tank, that'd leave me with about 4-5" of fish I could stock, but it'd be fully stocked then.

I was wondering about two male guppies, but they're small. A substrate eater would be neat. If I got anything that grew up to 2", like the Platy I lost, obviously I'd only get one. So schooling fish is a no.

I appreciate you guys' ideas! I don't mind keeping just my gourami, as he seems decently happy swimming through the plants and such, but I really didn't know if he'd get bored/lonely. Ha.

Yogi

Have you ever thought of the idea of doing 2 African Dwarf frogs with the Gourami? I say 2 because they are social animals.

thekoimaiden

Gourami are naturally solitary fish, so he would be just fine by himself.

Sadly, the gallon per inch of fish rule isn't really a good rule to stock by. You also have to asses the activity level as well as the social needs of the fish. So if you wanted to have substrate fish (most of which are schooling) you would need to get 5-6 regardless of whether it went over the "gallon per inch" rule. Not to mention that the rule assumes fish grow in one dimension instead of 3.

If you're really not too set on any more fish, then I'd just leave the gourami alone.