My Experiences Keeping Gourami 

Had two pearl gouramis (male and female) in a 20 gallon with eight cardinal tetras, six zebra danios, and two Hypancistrus zebra (L046). The pearl gouramis were very stately as they cruised around the tank, which was situated on our very long kitchen peninsula. After about two months the zebra plecos (L046) were coming out during the day, too. Sadly, my husband got a new job in another state a year later, and I had to re-home all my fish. The young man who came to collect the two zebra plecos was thrilled, and went home with copious written instructions and supplies. 🙂

gouramis are probably one of my all time favourite families of fish. someday i dream of having a giant gourami. someday 😍

Before I knew better, I had 2 Gouramis with 2 Angel fish. Eventually (well over a year!) my male Angel started attacking everyone in the tank! I gave him to my LFS and was worried that my female would miss him. NOPE. She's happier than ever and gets along fine with my Gouramis. Again, this was by accident; but all seems fine for now. She really is an Angel!

Take this for what it’s worth... I have found that I see a lot less aggression in my tanks when I have a few plants that go from the bottom of the water column all the way to the top. I’m not saying it’s a cure-all, but it helps.

The only time i've had aggression with opaline gouramis is when I kept them in crowded tanks. They chase and harass tetras to death. I moved all the same fish into a larger tank and the aggression disappeared immediately, never to return. They really value personal space.

I have a 3 spot gourami and an altum angel and they get along very well and are right next to each other a lot

Great looking tank Dan. Nice. Nice. Looking gourami I have seven different kind of gouramis in my tank. 65 gallon.. They do a lot of chasing each other on the tank. Otherwise, I'm I had no trouble. Thanks.

I have 4 Gouramis in a 20 gallon tank, Two 3 sports and 2 gold gouramis, I used to have them in a 29 gallon tank, but given how old that tank was, it started leaking, and all I could find at the pet supermarket was a 20 gallon which is about the same dimensions as the 29 gallon.

They are a lot like cichlids in many ways, and I've found that using similar tactics to diffuse cichlid aggression works pretty well for the 3 spot gourami. Having an adequately sized tank is the most important (I wouldn't recommend anything smaller than a 3ft tank). The other thing that seems to have really helped for me is to house them with really active schooling fish (I.e. rainbowfish or various barbs). I think all the activity breaks their focus and keeps them from relentlessly picking on each other.

Oh yeah, the curious trials and ongoing tribulations of gourami keeping. I'm still learning the ins and outs til this very day. Yes, my lone blue gourami keeps my 3 angels "in check" on the left side of my 55😡. Well, I've gone through so many of these beloved critters, but I can't help but keep trying. They're just too damn irresistible. Thank You, Dan, I really needed this upload; it was a tremendous help to my beleaguered gourami keeping attempts.

I know this video is really old but thank you for it. The holier than thou attitude is rampet I feel like now. And making mistakes seems so shamed on. I'm waiting for my dwarf blue gourami for my 20gal high community tank. It's not super heavily planted and needs some grow out, and only has a bristle nose, 4 cherry barb(2 more on the way!) 6 neon tetra and soon to be a rabbit snail. I wanna add some lemon tetra and more neon variants slowly with the gourami present. This is my first community tank I'm doing on my own! I'm nervous and excited but so far so good :) thank you for this

this tank looks great! I currently have a dwarf gourami and he seems pretty chill with my other small fishes, great video thanks for sharing:)

I have four gold three spot gouramis and one skin in a 55 gallon tank and they get along absolutely fine

I've been very successful in keeping all kinds of gouramis in the same tank, I currently have a pearl, gold, opaline, three spot, platinum, neon dwarf, flame dwarf, powder blue dwarf, and a normal dwarf gourami. On top of that I have 3 chocolate gouramis, a chuna gold and red. Currently I'm in the process of acquiring a snakeskin which will get delivered to my LFS next week and continuing my search for a lavender gourami. I keep all of these beautiful gouramis in 1 tank with 0 issues, none of my different gouramis ever chase one another which makes me wonder how in the hell I accomplished such a thing.

Got a blue opal gourami last week. I have a planted 150 gallon six foot long community tank. I was really doing my homework before I pulled the trigger . I hope to put it in the main display in 3 more weeks . Fingers crossed it doesn’t cause havoc. I have an explanation of baby endlers that I’m hoping it keeps in check.

I actually raised seven or eight different gourami species inside my 55 gallon tank both males and females mixed groups. Several of the three spots species. And you're right they are absolutely more aggressive than all of the rest. They pick on the dwarfs and we'll rip their fins up pretty badly. What I finally did lower the amount of aggression was to find something like a cherry barb or a hybridized cherry Odessa Barb which are extraordinarily active continuously in a group of four or more something brightly-coloured they're so fast and so all over the place that I can fuses gourami and they don't pick on the other fish is bad distracted by four to five of The Barb swimming everywhere.

I love gouramis but i too have had no end of trouble with them. Recently ive bought a full grown three spot natural form and an almost full grown gold. They seem to get on relatively well so far although the natural form does occasionally chase the gold. Deffinately not going to be adding any more gouramis to the tank as their compatibility issues are an enigma i can never seem to solve and i dont want to risk it again.

Thanks for posting this. I enjoyed watching your gouramis.

I have a tank as ig as yours with 4 gouramis (1 gold gourami male and 2 spot females gourami and 1 gold gourami female), the male is very chill,very calm, is not aggresive at all, however two of the females are aggresive,but over time the females divided the tank in 3 each with its territory and now all stay in their territory only the male can stay in any.

Nice tank my man, I got a dwarf species gourami tank and they all get along, 1 flame, 2 chocolate, 3 honey, 1 croaking (which was sold as a sparkling and came with the other 2) and 2 sparkling. the most aggression I've noticed while watching has been the 2 female honeys at each other over the male honey which is really not what I would've expected

I've had Angelfish and Gouramis together in the same tank, Still do, and in my experience it really does depend on your specific fish' personalities. It's really a hit or miss at first, but my big angelfish named King is fine with my pearl and opaline gouramis, but my marbled angelfish is just plain mean to the gouramis. Or any fish, in that matter.

Wow, would you look at the *length* of those feelers! Perfect tank to show max potential for gourami growth, at least for the feelers, haha. 8:30 Yay, gold one finally came out!

Very honest opinion I had similar results when I introduced them in my tank. Thanks

I have four different types of dwarf gourami, they all get along, they dance and Almost a matting ritual. And cuddle together eating, Chase and nudge a bit , but no fin damages. Going to add two more , one male one female. Different types.

really love this tank every time I see a update I always find something new.i truly agree with u on gouramis they are very territorial with other gourami and three spot are the most agressive but I have the same thing happened to me with the females I just switched them around too to reduce agression

I used to have a Blue Gourami that bullied smaller fish (Zebra Danios and Cory Catfish). Later, I moved out the smaller fish and added Giant Danios. His entire personality seemed to change overnight from aggressive to mild manner and shy (although I never saw the Giant Danios bother him).

I've seen plenty of videos of very advanced aquarium keepers and they always say they can't keep gourami's together. Me an amateur who has 2 living together of different sizes.

I've been lucky with mine. I have 2 male blue, 2 male sun and 1 female sun, 1 female tiger striped sun and they all get along really well. But my tank is 80 gallons. They seem to claim their own little zones and chill there until feeding time.

I had two three spot gouramis and they were peaceful and just really skittish, but just recently I had two gold gouramis and one turned out to be male and it viciously attacked and beat up not only the other two gouramis ( one female gold and a pearl gourami) but both of my angelfish. My male angelfish was beat up so badly that it looked like had some disease where the scales were falling off and he lost all of his color except the black in him. Needless to say I removed the male gourami and put it into it's own tank temporarily and did a mass water change and started medications. I couldn't believe that the gold gouramis that I put into my 55 gal tank would grow up and the male would be so aggressive cause my two blue "three spot" gouramis were in the tank with my angelfish and they didn't have an issue at all. I'm going to get rid of my gouramis and try to get some other fish.

I have found if you watch them in the store and grabbed the ones that are chilling with each other is the best. They normally get along. I just got 4 of them. They are in my 40 breeder.

I have 3 in the same tank with gold fish and 3 box turtles no issues. Those guys get alone just fine close to six months now !! I normally keep my water temp around 70-75

I have three 3 spot that are super peaceful with other fish and a two dwarf yellow gourami absolutely no issues tank is 20 gallon 4 corydora catfish, 8 rummynose, 4 roberti tetras

Hey nice video! Do you think my new blue powdered gourami will like sharing his 10 gallon with about 3 Hillstream Loaches and 2 Khuli loaches as well as 5 Celestial Pearl Danios with maybe a dwarf frog too i know they can all live in the same pH and at 76°f comfortably but i just don't want it to be too heavily stocked you think the Gourami wouldn't mind the extra company? Thanks for the thought!

i have 6 dwarfs and 4 3 spots in a 29gal that been with each other for over 6 months now

I have a gold and opaline, females. The opaline is aggressive and chases the gold to her corner, but doesn't bother with my two angels or any other fish.

Uhm.. have a group of young adults gouramis in 200l tank. 3 males and 1 female. One spot, 2 opaline and a golden female. The spot male started building a bubble nest a couple of days ago and pushes away every now and then the curious other ones who like to hang around supierwising. But nothing more that fluffing up the feathers I didn't see. They otherwise the peaceful fishes, harmless to all others and only are pushed off by Angels sometimes who are on the top of the hierarki in the tank :)

I have 2 dwarf gouramis in with my 6 Angel fish and 4 silver dollars and an assortment of tetras. They do okay. My blue gouramis had to go to their own tank though

this tank is super nice a tank i would like to have you can see that this tank has been working its ass to get to this point :) Great Dan !

Hi, I am pretty new to this wonderful hobby. I have a 20gal tall and it has been set up for 7 months. I've learned a lot so far but still not enough. Currently, there is 1 Flame Gourami. He's been in the tank for 7 months. I also have a Rosy Barb. He's been in there for 5 months; 2 Guppies that's been in there for about 3 or 4 months. And I just added a Golden Gourami about 1.5 months ago. The tank is well kept, I do 25% water changes every 10 days. It has two bamboo plants, a large fern, a rock formation in the middle with an air stone in the back. It also has a few other decorations but it is definitely not overcrowded. The Flame Gourami and the Rosy Barb get along great. The 2 Guppies just mind their own business; however, the Flame Gourami has recently started chasing around the Golden Gourami, and the Golden Gourami has started chasing the Rosy Barb. It isn't a constant thing, only when the fish get really close. They don't ever actually come into contact though. And when I feed them once a day, all 3 of them come to the surface and each gets their fair share of food. The Guppies catch whatever the other 3 miss. Now, I really would hate to get rid of either Gourami because they are so beautiful. As I type this I am putting a blanket over the tank and cutting off the lights, hoping this disorientates them and in result calms them down. If that doesn't work I'll try to move around all the decorations and hope this forces them to establish a new territory. Now finally for my question, if none of this works and they keep going at it, what would my best option be? Either find a new home for the Rosy Barb and Flame or find a new home for the Gold Gourami? I was thinking option 1 would be better because I been hearing that the Rosy Barb should be kept in a larger tank because he rapidly swims around the tank in circles like he is trying to escape. So if that is true I would prefer to give him a better home and also give the Flame a better home. If anyone could give me another option where I could keep all 3 that would ultimately be what I would want. Thank-you.

Good honest discussion on the three spot (or opalines) T.t. Your comments fully jive with what I have observed concerning their aggression towards their own kind. The males' aggression is relentless. And when breeding, it's aggression is even more magnified. I recently lost a female after breeding, when the father fish killed her (I was late at removing her). Luckily, I have a few fry that are now juveniles, so their mother's death wasn't in vain, but still... these breeders were fry that I bred and raised, so I was invested and it was a good lesson learned. I've had good experiences with about nine adults (4 males/ 5 females) ranging from 3-1/2 to 4 inches, all mixed in a 50 gallon outdoor tub, with lots of tree branches and leaves. I'd check on these every week or so, and no nipped fins. So now, I'm thinking, I either house singly or in definite crowds. But numbers such as 3 to 4 (even all females) and with free and open space didn't work out for me. How the heck some sources classify gouramis as peaceful is beyond me. I still like them though, for the unique personalities, long lives, movements, shape. I view mine from the top because I raise them in outdoor tubs, therefore I think of them as "mini-arowanas". I currently have nine, plus some juveniles coming up.

i got 2 gourami and 2 pleco in the same tank, the fight each other due to territory but in 4 days i will receive a larger tank. I hope they can survive until that day.

my 2 dwarves are very docile since I introd them to my tank with red platys glofish etc

boy what a show the tank put on sure you didnt stage all that with the fish nice show they did lol

I tried to put a pearl in with my 3 spot and immediately she harrassed him, so I had to take him out. She is normally very laid back so it really showed me how difficult it is to keep them together. The most she ever does is any new fish that goes in the tank she has to "feel" with her pelvic fins. It's really funny watching her chase a fish just to feel them and then she never bothers them again.lol Btw that clown is getting so big!!

I have a single 3 spot. He was doing well with a community of 4 silver hatchets, 2 blushing tetra. They were all murdered. Now he's turning his aggression toward my 3 Otocinclus. Even pecks the snails. Help lol

Good video. I have 2 opaline gourami with 3 australian rainbows that seem to be doing well together.

I've got a male and female dwarfs blue Gourami, my first fish. The male chases to female not much so have decided not to introduce another female as I don't want to upset the boat.

This is exactly why I won't keep male dwarf gouramies let alone any male gourami. When I ran the fish dept at the local pet store we specifically ordered female gouramis when we could.

My honey gourami were similar in my experience, hat a male and 3 females, 2 months later over time I had only the male left. Also on sidenote of sparkling gourami, wouldn't say they're quite that specialist, mine have all done well in a PH of 7.3, have a small group of them holding strong since i got them. Have heard how finicky chocolate gourami are however. Love the giants you have in that tank though, wish I had a tank for some bigger species, gourami are my favourites!

I’m not sure which kind I got recently, but it’s smaller with bright blue reflective eyes. Some color on the fins. Not as big as a pearl.

Great video

I really wanted the opalines because of how stunning their colors are but I think I'll just go with pearls. From my research Pearls are much less aggressive.

I actually have a dwarf fire male gourami and male Betts fish living in my 20 long. They do get along. No chasing, no fin nipping, no flaring. They get along. In fact Isaac my gourami loves to feel up my Betta thantos. They are never far from each other. I know what aggression is. I know it's not ("playing"). Some ppl get to break the rules.

In response to the comment about...that you wouldn't suggest putting any gouramis with any Angelfish, well I've personally had 1 moonlight gourami with 1 Angelfish together for 2 years now. They are for the most part peaceful still to this day with oneanother. So...maybe thier both males but I don't know the sex of them, and you're right though about diffrent specie of gourami...they don't get along most of the time.

I have 2 dwarf neon gouramis with 1 angel fish and the dwarf gouramis are only aggressive toward each other, usually at feeding time if they are within a few inches of each other(both male). I have them in a tank with 3 pea puffers and 4 platys no issues with any of them dying and its been a couple months now.

I know this is an old video, just stumbled across it. Its funny your opaline hated your dwarf, I had the same problem but the roles switched with a much smaller dwarf constantly chasing around my opaline.

Great vid Dan. I love gouramis and want to add 2 dwarf gourami to my aquarium. In terms of maintaining the peace, would it be better to have 2 males or a male and female? Or even a single gourami? Do you have any experience of this? The tank is 200litres and is well planted. Thxs for any advice you have.

I have 2 gouramis with 4 cichlids and a angel haven't had any issues but I did have a dwarf in there also and it was getting bullied had to move him to another tank

I know this was years ago but what ever happened to the Golden Gourami? I think it’s just beautiful but you can barely see it because of the dominance of the others.

I am having two opaline Gouramis ( male & female) and a female golden gourami . In first, the male was aggressive towards the other female opaline, so to lower the anger I added another female golden Gourami, but now, the golden Gourami is chasing both opalines. Please help

Some ten years back I bred several pairs of my blue three-spot, opaline gouramis with several hundred babies ending up as adult specimens! One of the easiest species to breed & raise. I am from Dhaka, Bangladesh.

Hi Dan I contacted you yesterday about my female gourami chasing around my male now they switched and the male in kindof aggressive

I did the chocolates, they are quite sensitive fish. I had a species only tank for them for about a year or so then lost the couple I had left. They were very interesting to watch tho. The sparkling ones are pretty darn easy I had several in a nano cube tank then got tired of the tank in bedroom so took down.

Spoted Gurami male is to aggressive and always chasing other guramis u r right bro.

Thanks for this info. I got 3 Gouramis for my 7 yr old; a 3 spot (blue), a gold and a stripy 1 (think it's a snakeskin). The 3 spot is a bigger and constantly terrorize the other 2, especially the gold, who is the smallest. I was starting to think it's possessed (lol). I think I will remove it and put in a separate tank before he kills the others. I tried adding more fake plants so the others can hide, but the 3 spot keeps wiggling its way to them. It's been over a month and the 3 spot has gotten bigger and more aggressive each day. 0.0

I have gouramis Male and female with Pseudotropheus Johanni...the gouramis have the Pseudotropheus Johanni on one side of the tank. They are beautiful together although. But both r mean and territorial. I didnt want them together but I tried they haven't fought yet but they just have their side of the tank.

I have 4 yellow gouramis 1 blue gourami and 1 redtailshark Bro

My powder blue and my angel fish get along but they are distracted Bynum the giant danios. All in a 29 gallon.

man i love your fish all of them look so beautiful

These are dwarf gouramis your talking about?

Im getting a Dwarf pair. And im sacrificing my African Cichlids for them. No aggressive tankmates for them.

I love the Gouramis' they are so delicate looking and just freely swim around. What type of gouramis do you have (scientific name if you can)?

i have a harlequin rasabora and he "nips" the bottom part of a few fish. the skirt tetra rarely. the Chinese, siamese algae eater a lot. is it a matting thing? it kinda looks lije what your angels do but they are completely different fish. he folliws closely to the fish too.

great job on the video I always enjoy learning from your experience thanks!!!

Nice to see this, love gouramis always have. I'm thinking of redoing my 40b, it needs it! I'd love to have gourami in there. At one time I had sparkling gourami but I love the pearl. Can pearl be together?

Is this aggression towards other Gourami? Because I want to add a dwarf male to my tank with white skirts and Cory’s but I don’t want the gourami attacking them.

Would really appreciate any input. I wanted pearl gouramis, but is it possible to keep one happy, single in a 75 community tank? Do they really need more of their own kind, and can they/it be happy at 70F? The other potential tankmates are 3 dojo loaches, 7 panda cories, 9+ odessa barbs, and maybe green neon tetras. PS: would 12+ tetras be okay in this same particular setup? Thanks!

I know you can keep 3 dwarf Gouramis in a 10 gallon and they were all good 2 males and 1 female raised since young and the males are fine since they grew up together they are like brother, I was wondering if I could put 5 dwarf Gouramis in a 20 gallon long with 4-6 zebra danios? maybe 1-3 bottom dwellers

well gouramis are in the same family as bettas and we know about their conspecific aggression. I've found Pearls and Dwarfs can live with Angels. Would never keep Angels with Blue (3spot), Kissers, Moonlight or Snakeskins. Other ones your were talking about, Chocolates, Sparklings and even some of the mouthbrooding bettas are best in a species only planted tank. Here in NY the Giant species is very popular with monster fish keepers.

Terrestrial moss and bamboo works good to but the bamboo may get knocked out of the substrate

I agree about your gourami and angelfish. I have had the same experience.

I have 3 Pearls, 1 blue, 5 Sparkling and 12 Glow light tetras in a 40 . The Peals and the blue hang out all the time no real issues. They all ignore the sparkling and the tetras. I think if the Blue ends up to big to live comfortably he will get his own 20 long to himself.

I'm about to set up my first tank ever, a heavily planted 54 litre (13 gallon or so) small community tank. I was thinking about getting a group of 3 or 4 Sparkling or Dwarf Gourami but I am changing my mind because of videos such as this one. Is it too cruel to keep just one male of any of those species or should I just stick to a Betta, which was my original idea? Thanks for all the useful information, btw.

I have two dwarf gurami in a 55 gallon with african cichlids

can you do your experiences with angelfish next?

I have five in a heavily planted 55. Two gold, a pearl and two dwarf. The three large gouramis lived with two angelfish for years with no problems. I want to add more but maybe I'll avoid the three spot. Perhaps a honey, licorice or a paradise. They do love to nibble on fresh roots.

Is the back of your tank painted black? Or is it black paper?

I know this video is over a year old now, but I'm wondering what the floating plant in the top left corner is. I'd like to get something like that for my tank. My tank has 3 pearl, 3 honey, and 5 sparkling gourami in it. So far there is no fighting amongst them. I'd like to get more, but I'm worried about getting one with an aggressive personality as you mentioned in the video. Are these species peaceful enough to get more of, or should I not take my chances since they're doing fine so far?

When the male pygmy gourami literally took the head off that adult amano in Floo the Flowerhorn, he claimed "it was just a prank bro" But the jury was not convinced. You know, a leopard is tiny compared to an elephant, but the elephant still don't tolerate it. Why? Because the leopard is an opportunistic predator that might threaten a calf, and so are the gouramis. Good thing to see you have the folding knife there to defend yourself.

Gouramis are great fish! Much like cichlids! They are intelligent and can be good or bad.

Can I keep pearl and moonlight gourami's together? I heard they are the most peaceful gourami's out there.

I bought a 48 gallon tank with guppies and mollies , neon tetras. My 2 dwarf powder blue grami went on a killing spree.

What kind is your Leppard tigerish looking one called.?

It probably depend on which species of gourami and what tank mates you have. I had Trichopodus trichopterus and they killed all of their conspecifics. I have Trichopodus leerii and Pterophyllum scalare in a large comunity and they dont bother anyone.

Nice Aquarium 👌😊

i agree with you, i tried it it didnt work,gourami was chasing angel fish

My angelicus groom's my other fish too.

My opaline Gourami hides a lot is that normal and how can I get him to come out more often

some guy chucked a convict cichlid with his gourami and it made the gourami more docile

this is one of my favourite fish but unfortunately I can't keep any all that I had were extremely aggressive