Dwarf Gourami Care Guide - Amazing Aquarium Fish 

*If you haven't seen it, check out Cory's list of top 5 peaceful gouramis: **ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-SVoq0sXlZjk.html*

I had a male dwarf gourami(normal one) , my first gourami . And he made me fall in love with gouramis . He had a ton of character . I kept him with angels , danios , mollys , platys , cory cats etc. He used to get along with everyone . But when he was 3 years old he passed away unfortunately 😔 . After that I never kept gouramis ... But I think I'll get them sooner or later in the future . Because he made me a gourami fan boy .

I used to have a male dwarf gourami, a powder blue one. His name was Bob, he grew almost 4.5 inches long, and was exceptionally large according to my local fish store. His aggressiveness knew no bounds. in the tank he chased everything around, even ripping the fins of one Otocinclus, which led to its unfortunate demise, and bullying the female dwarf gouramis relentlessly, making them hide 24/7 in a small rock cave where Bob wouldnt go. He even used his feeler fins at night to locate something to bully and try to rip apart. I rearranged the tank several times, and removed him from it for weeks so the other fish would feel at home first, adding him after couple of weeks to see if he mellowed out. I ended up removing him from the community tank to his own one in the end to give my other fish some peace. But unfortunately Bob discovered his own reflection and kept ramming his head against the glass, mangling his mouth to the point where he couldnt eat, and he started to fear his own reflection. I might have poorly closed the lid to his tank one night and I guess he jumped out to escape his reflection. I tried and tried for a very long time with Bob, but in the end he fell victim to his own actions. Edit - spelling and small details

Love this review - personable, honest and funny. Thank you for sharing your experiences and knowledge in such a watchable way!

I'm catching back up with my fish channels after many months, not seen Irene before but she's cool and I look forward to seeing more videos with her in. We saw Corey when he came to Germany last year and we still have his poster. My son loves looking at it. Lots of love guys, keep up the good work. xx

I just got a fire-red dwarf gourami yesterday for one of my tanks thanks to this info. This was very helpful.

When I first started keeping fish, a fire dwarf was my first focal fish and he developed a lesion near his head and eventually died no matter what I tried. I haven't been able to bring myself to keep them again despite how awesome they are.

Loved this video. Thanks guys.

As a kid i had blue and yellow gouramis in tank,and there was no problem at all,they hanged around vallisnerias,and someimes blue ones colors intensified but i dont remember them being aggressive,no torn fins or damaged fishes,so i have been very surprised that gouramis have such a negative reputation,on top of that they seemed to be bullet proof fish

My two male flame gouramis are always together like best friends in a 60 gallon tank with 7 tetra glo fish and 4 octos, everyone gets along great

I bought 4 to help control the hydras that took over my 37 gal. tank and wow! They got rid of the hydra like lightening! They spend the whole day looking for them. Almost hydra-free. So far they seem to all get along🤞🏻

I once kept a male Dwarf Gourami in a 10-gallon with Zebra Danios. I never saw any aggression from the Gourami, but the Zebra Danios were constantly chasing and attacking each other. ..... The only problem I've had with this species is that like Bettas they just don't live long for me, although I couldn't say for sure if this is due to the hardness of my water or some other factor.

WOOHOOOO new video time!!!

One of my first fish I got when I started the hobby this past April was a powder blue DG. Then a couple days ago my LFS had some females. I picked up 3 females and they are in quarantine now. I’m going to do a 29G DG centerpiece with the 3 females and 1 male. Can’t wait.

New to this, I just bought my first one today! Great review, well done. Subsribed

I got a red dwarf gourami a few months ago. I named him Flameheart. He started out as a replacement for my betta that died in my 14 gallon cube. He started out fine but then became a bully, causing one of my platys and two of my neon tetras to jump out of the tank. Luckily I had just started my first live planted 40 gallon aquarium a couple weeks before that. I had been putting beneficial bacteria in the tank and had it running with a used canister filter with established media. He was the first one in the tank and quickly fell in love with it, like it was his very own mansion. When I started adding more fish he started getting territorial but after a while he mellowed out but still has a very outgoing personality. He’s been healthy ever since I got him, I feed the tank flakes and frozen brine shrimp and he loves it. Hopefully he stays healthy for a long time.

We just got honey gouramis a couple days ago, avoided dwarfs because of your advice! I do agree they're best kept in groups of 4+ since they really spend time next to each other. As with other shoalers though, they will be ok alone

I love gouramis. They’ve been may favorite since I found out about them. Had a powder blue named Gilbert 😂. He constantly collected floating plant debris and made bubble nests. Miss that little guy.

Be aware that Dwarf Gourami Iridovirus only appears after 6 to 12 months and occurs in around 50% of the fish. I assume this is why Aquarium Co-op had so few problems with the fish because they sell them, rather than keeping the fish for that period of time. Irene literally just had her Dwarf Gourami die without any obvious symptoms. So while correlation does not imply causation, I would still be cautious with keeping this fish.

I just recently got gouramis for the first time and they're lovely little fish. I have a powder blue dwarf amd a pearl, but I wouldn't mind having more in their own dedicated tanks.

I was amazed at your picture showing male and female dwarf gouramis. I didn't know there was a strain in which the females were colored with stripes instead of a plain silvery color. I know the powdery blue males and females are almost colored the same.

its so true that it comes down to the personality of the fish ! I've had a few dwarf gouramis in my lifetime - some that ignored all other fish, some that occasionally get feisty over food. I had a trio that lived together peacefully and happily for years, but i had one that had to be relegated to a tank just for him because he was bloodthirsty for everyone and everything

Good exiting Irene!

I have 2 female pearl gourami in a heavily planted 60 gallon and they get along amazing. They are always swimming together, I haven’t seen any aggressive behavior at all! They are in with 2 emerald Cory’s 7 ottos and 5 harlequin rasbora.

Super dope video ❤❤⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Just got my first ever gouramis ever,a trio of pearl gouramis in part a 'wholesale' trade last weekend... they've already started building their nest... I hope to see some babies soon... right now, I'm overflowing with fry & and eggs, though... need more tanks...! Thanks for another great one...! Keep it up

I love fish they're so beautiful and fascinating

I have gourami’s in my community tank, along with blue rams angel fish and a few female bettas

I love all your videos.. just boight the only dwarf powder blue they had at Petsmart.. and bought some albino corys 😃and a rose tail betta. the beta looked like he needed a home

I've had dwarf males that wouldn't hurt a fly, I've had dwarf females that try to bully fish 3x their size...I've also had plenty of both that get along great! It really is about territory management and each fish's personality! I can say tho...I've never had one go after a cory lol

I am still a beginner keeper and I gravitated to the dwarf gourami to be my centerpiece in my 20 gallon. I have it with some harlequins, neons, Cory’s and shrimp. Occasionally it will chase off something that’s around him, but fortunately he never continues to harass them after they get out of his way.

Huh, I just acquired a dwarf gourami yesterday, what a coincidence that this gets uploaded a day later

Good video

I had 2 in a 10gallon. Had to separate the tank in half. Made me get a 22g long and they didn’t fight.

I got what I thought was a male & was sold on the name Gillbert, a replacement centerpiece fish after my betta passed- turns out it's a very, very chunky female that must have gotten mixed in with the batch lol. Can't say if she has a milder temperment or not- she's super sassy and personable and keeps stealing food from my poor bumblebee catfish xd I'm keeping the name though.

Outstanding

I just picked up a single male dwarf gourami, had to. His colors were super stand out in the store and I’ve really wanted a betta but I have 12 hatchet fish. So he is honestly perfect he creates a really nice looking divide where the hatchets stay out of his like 1/3 of the tank😂 and he is one of those that just like to attack fish like you said lol.

Back in 70s we never had any probs. Had 35 tanks had bettas, Dwarf Gouramis, Angels, zebras, neon tetras, Cory dorys, several strains of guppies and angels

I just got 4 baby gouramis and they were called Honey Gourami but they do not look like any of the photos I found on the internet. Until I saw the one at 2:24 They look like mine! Thanks god now I see how they gonna look like.

My red flame is chill. Large variety of community fish in the tank and he doesn't bother them. And he's absolutely gorgeous.

I’ve got 3 dwarf gouramis in my community tank with red panda barbs, neon tetras, cherry barbs, and otocinclus, and there super chill lol. They seem more shy then all the others,

I have 4 honey fire gouramis and they are very beautiful. Great fish!

Normal dwarf gouramis are delicacy, so I bought a kilograms of dwarf gourami. Among all the dead or nearly dead fishes I found 6 to be lively enough to survive. So I put them in a quarantine tank and 4 survived . Now they're in my 55 gallon tank with angelfish, yoyo loaches, badis badis, molly , danios and severum . I think all three are male because they're almost 4 inches long ( 1 died ) , all three chases each other a bit but stays close to each other . They moves in group making a little distance among each other and feeds in group too . They're not the docile but they know how to hold ground against as big as severum and angelfish. Absolutely no problem keeping them at all, no temperament issue or anything. I'm happy to have them .

I have 7 they get along well

thank you for sharing your experience. i like shrimp tanks but i think they might be higher maintenance than fish tanks just cause shrimp are such sloppy eaters that rarely completely finish their food

Nice

I currently have a 15 gallon community with 2 in it and it definitely can be done but you need to be extremely heavily. Also thay are both male and get along great with Cory’s and loaches

I had a jerk honey gourami named Porkchop. I had him in a community 29 gallon tank with green neon tetras and some corydoras. I had to rehome him and the other fish are always out now. Previously they would all hide in one corner to avoid him. I did add a betta and everyone is getting along fine.

My dwarf flame Gourami has so much character, eats out of my hand and most of all I just love how handsome he is. Also he has this odd habit of spitting water at me when he’s hungry 😅

I have one male in a ten gallon with a Molly and two guppy’s he is supper calm I think you just got a crazy one lol.

Bought 2 males, put them in a community tank with, minnows, shiners, mollys, guppies, couple platys and Rasboras. About 40 fish in total. They are absolutely fine. Very peaceful with no issues.

I had a flame dwarf gourami who was the best. Such great personality and loved to come kiss my fingers. Sadly he got the imfamous iridovirus and passed quickly as is common in dwarf gouramis. I know have a school of 4 pearl gourami. 3 females and a big male. They never fight in fact swim together all the time and they are the best gourami in my opinion. So pretty and also have wonderful personalities. They only chased like the first day or so but now have never shown any aggression and are super chill

I had 6 electric blue dwarf gouramies in a 20 gallon for few months. WIth raspboras and platies. Never any issues. I just moved them to a 55 gallon because they got too big. They are one of the most peacuf fish I ever had.

Love how it’s the male guarding the nest :)

Went to the local pet store to get some more fish. She recommended the gourami and said I could get a few. I wasn't sure as I'm new to the hobby. I only took two but they are both males. So far, it seems ok. I'm keeping a watchful eye. I wish I had watched this video first. The local pet stores often mislead customers or they lack knowledge.

i have a dwarf gourami on a 29g community tank with a bolivian ram they are not aggressive they even sit on the same corner sometimes. and my neon tetras hangout with them sometimes.

Ik nobody will see this & it is a long read, but I hope it's worth the effort I put into writing it. 😁 I tried to make this as readable as possible, but reguardless let me apologize in advance for all the typos. I used to dedicate hours to researching fish & other animals & I just fell inlove w gouramis. So I had been planning for 5+ years now to get one, but I was waiting until I was thuroly experienced in the hobby of fish keeping. My trip to petsmart started out as looking for a fountian filter that was similar as the one I got off amazon & ended in me impulse buying a fish 😂 as usual. Unfortunately, I couldn't find anything besides the crappy topfin filters. 😠 I *HATE* thoes ones bc they get so SO dirty SO *SO* fast. Plus, the filter cardridges that u have to buy monthly is just a get rich quick scheme. I was a little annoyed so I walked over to the fish section. I was suprised bc they had so many gourami breeds for sale. Usually when I go there all the fish I want are completely sold out. Anways, I've always wanted to get a pearl gourami, but I don't have the propper set-up for a 6in fish. 😢 They did have a like 2 strains of the dwarf gouramis so I got a podwer blue instead. Got him all acclimated in my 20 gal & put him in my tank. The feeding hole in my tank is on the left & right has many hiding spots. His tank mates are 5 blue-green doble sword guppies that I bred. After I observed him for a little bit I knoticed that he'd spend all of his time hiding in the corner and when he did decide to come to the surface I would try to feed him.. but then instead of eating he would dart around nervously & hyperventilate in the grass floor, then he'd go back into hiding. _(was probally tramatized from being at petsmart)_ 🙄 I had the same issue in the past w getting extremely timmid guppies & corys from petsmart/petco so idk what I was even thinking attempting purchasing yet another fish from them.... 🤦‍♀️ Moving on. In short, I had him for abt 2 days & he wouldn't eat bc he was scared by every little movement. I was getting worried that he might die from starvation so I had the idea to go to my local fish store (Aquatek) that actually secializes in fish products to look for a more confident & outgoing gourami that could act as an emotional suport animal. Did some research b4 & saw that the females (as usual 😂) are less agressive. Only problem is that I didn't remember the sex of the one I already had.. so I assumed it was a female & got a male. Now I have 2 males. 😂 A Podwer blue & Neon blue. First day, I watched the tank making sure they didn't fight or eat any of the guppies. Neither minded the guppies at all. No agressive bullying like, fighting, scale pulling, or eye sucking. Though I did witness Podwer blue did mildly chase Neon blue few times then imitatly lose intrest 5 seconds into the pursuit. I would've moved them to seprate tanks just to be safe, but I didn't have one set up yet bc the plants were still growing. But now that I do have another tank set up, I don't think I can even seprate them. They're buddies now. My plan ended up working out exceptionally well. His personally has completely changed. Neon blue has really got Podwer blue to come out of his she'll. Podwer swims through the grass & plants, is happy for food time, and he's turned a vibrant blue color and isn't greyish anymore. He's got much more confidence now. It's so crazy that he used to be an intorvert w extreme social anxiety is now more of an ambivert. It really just shows that even in wild animals, every introvert needs an extrovert best friend. 😊

I miss my powder blue Dwarf Gourami. They are so cool with their little ‘arms’ and obvious pretty.

My favorite fish

They are beautiful but very sensitive to bloat, I suggest do not feed them red worms, this I find encourages bloat

Hey can you do a hoplo catfish care guide?? i'd appreciate it so much

I have 2 male dwarf gouramis in a 75 gallon tank and ive seen no major issues, occasionally theyll chase eachother aroundbut nothing super violent and they dont bother the other fish

I tired a Blue Powder Dwarf Gourami and a Pearl Gourami (not at the same time) and they both where aggressive to my community tank fish and I had to take them back.

I got 2 yesterday, but my 3 spotted gourami was chasing them since they are smaller, so I moved them to a 10gal by their self. I wanna get maybe 2 more fish to put with them

wooooooooooooooooooooo gourami gang

mine attacked bronze cories and neon tetras. Then he got iridovirus. Now I have a pearl; much more friendly LOL

I jave a dwarf gourami with 3 yellow lab cichlids and the dwarf gets a little tail fin tear once in a while but holds his own in the tank will legit go directly into the male labs rock cave just to get a chase. All in all its only been 3 weeks so that may change but things are going well.

My honey gourami slaps around my german blue rams with his whiskers LMAO

I can't believe you made a pancake for that one line 😂

I decided to conduct an experiment on my Gourami and built a 'flotaion device' out of some small pieces of balsa wood. I removed fins with very sharp scalpel and glued device onto the subject. When I placed the subject into isolation tank it immediately went crazy, it didn't seem to want to interact with the flotation aid and I think it soon rejected the enhancement, I am wondering how I can help minimise the risk of rejection when conducting such experiments?

I had a bad experience with a dwarf Guorami. The person at the pet store said as long as the Gourami was the biggest fish in the community tank they should co exist easily. I had him in a glofish tank that were all glofish danios and tetras. Danios are slender and rectangular. which are slim. I had 2 glofish tetras which are wider but still way more smaller than the Gourami. One of the tetra died suddenly. So I removed it and I saw the other tetra hiding behind a plant right before I was going to turn of the lights. I saw the Guourami swim to him and bop the tetra in the head. The Tetra went to another hiding spot. So I'm thinking I would have to re home the Gourami. The next morning I woke up and the Tetra had died still hiding from stress. So I figured well he's not gonna pick on others because they were all skinny fish. One of the tank mates was a Platy that got pregnant and swelled up and he began to bully her but she was quick enough to avoid him. But eventually she died by getting stuck in the filter line which might be from being chased at night when the lights go off. So this may sound funny, but from my experience, if you add other fish with a dwarf Gourami, they would have to be smaller and thinner fish as a wider fish proved to be a threat to them.

Mosaic (Pearl?) Gourami(Trichopodus leerii) are one of the calmest around, if anyone wants to have them in a school you should definiately chose them. Never go for many Three-Dot Gouramis (trichpodus trichopterus), in my opinion they're one of the fiercest when they grow up and it's very easy to mix them up cause there's quite alot color versions (golden,blue, even green, and classic with highly visible dots).

I have them with a red tail shark Cooley loaches and Coreys need a 75 gallon

Don't get me wrong I love dwarf gouramis but I bought 7 over the summer to go with some tetras in my 55g. Anyway, one impaled it's self into something, a few of them found the little open area by one of the lids and jumped out, the rest had I think a swim blatter problem. Would I keep them again? Yes, that was just my luck of the draw.

We got 2 rainbow gourami fish and when we got them, we made it clear they were for the same tank. Long story short, ones a mature male and the other is a baby male and the big one keeps chasing so we’re gonna get another tank. Oh well. They have hides and space but big gourami doesn’t care

I'm from Bangladesh and gouramis are pretty common here people eat these fish and I got one from a fisherman he's pretty colorful

They also take hydra. 👍

Dwarf gourami disease affects nearly 25% of captive bred dwarf gouramis. For this matter alone I don’t consider these a beginner fish. Most people new to fishkeeping may think it was something they did that caused their fish to die when in reality it was born destined to die.

can you put shrimp in a tank with them?

Will the standard red stripe dwarf gourami sown with a powder blue dwarf gourami?

My powder blue dg is sick and the only one in my tank staying at the top or bottom breathing heavy any help on what to do I see a red spot on him so I’m treating for external parasites

Hey there great video. Could I Krupp 1 as a center piece in a cichlid tank I'm concerned about the ph 8.2-8.8 is my tap water plus aragonite sub

i ove her

Every dwarf gourami I have had got bloat, blew up, then died. Though my pearl gourami is going strong for 2 years now.

Mine had the swollen stomach disease. Swell up and I had to put him down with clove oil….sad😢

Thanks, Irene 😁 I have a few different types of gourami and enjoy them quite a lot. Oh yes, in my experience, the males will become territorial. I have had to move a few to different tanks over time to help keep the peace.

I inherited 4 dwarf gourami from my daughter. We got them in a ten gallon tank but have moved them up to a 20 gallon. They were raised together and all get a long. Is it ok to leave them in the 20 gal if not what would be a better size tank?

I have 2 females but they keep nipping at each other. My flame has a injured fin because of it. Any tips on how to make them stop?

Hi Thanks for the guide, was thinking of adding only 1 male to my community tank, do they eat aquatic plants ? don't want them to eat my beautiful plants ! :(

Just got one yesterday. Its in my heavily planted breeder tank with 2 female bettas, an angel fish, 9 tetras, a platy, a pleco and 2 African dwarf frogs. It seems happy so far and likes to nibble on one of the plants, which is fine with me. Maybe I won't have to prune it back so much now 😂

My flame gouramis lives In a 10gal with all male guppies and they are perfectly fine together been few months so yaaaa idk what to say that's just my experience

My only favourite fish all gourami ❤

Can we keep gourami fishes and betta fish in a single tank?

Love my honey dwarf guorami. My lfs said like 2 female 1 male. 300L heavily planted

I've never had a problem except jumping... they jump

For some reason I can't keep them alive for more than a year. But perel and spot geramies I can keep alive for a few years?

You did a dwarf gourami care guide right after your gourami died? 😢 kinda harsh. But love your videos as always.

What absolutely kills me is no one in my area sells FEMALE powder blue gouramis! The females are absolute angels and haven’t been able to find them in many years!

Can we kept guppy fish with dwarf gourami if may not then which kind of guppy can I keep with gourami

I lost 3 Endlers to my first dwarf gourami because I made the mistake of listening to the "advice" that they were good community fish.