My Honest Review of 5 Centerpiece Fish for Nano Tanks 

*Should I try another centerpiece fish for the 20-gallon Back-to-Basics planted tank? It has to get along with the platies and should be another color besides red or orange.*

I cracked up when she said, "It actually has a name!" Indeed!! I felt guilty not "naming" my 5 glowlight tetras, but I just couldn't be bothered. So I compromised with myself and call them, "The Jackson 5".

My honey gourami, Applesauce, has never been shy. He's been gentle with my platys and corys. Such a great and pretty fish.

I was quite relieved when my Betta actually turned out to be a mellow fellow for the community tank. I still have backup housing for him if that changes, though.

I bought one Honey Gourami today as a centerpiece fish to go into my heavily planted 12 gallon tank with Ember Tetra's and Dwarf Rasbora's and this fish is a gem! Totally peaceful and within one hour of being introduced into the tank it was making a tiny bubble nest!! I can see why you like the Honey Gourami so much! I live in England and Honey Gourami's luckily for us here are very much stocked in a lot of fish retailers.

For you question of the day: How about adding a blue female betta to the tank? I have a blue crowntail as my center piece in my 29 gallon. I love her!

Oh dang it Sonic! I hope he gets better soon. I really love how honey gouramis look with their sunny yellow to orange gradient, and how gentle they seem to be. And awesome to hear that they’re hardy and great as beginner fish!

Try out an apistogramma for a center piece. A panduro would look cool in there or even an agassizii alemara red tail they both get a really cool blue body

I’ve been researching on what good centerpiece I want for my 55 gallon community tank, and Pikachu and Apollo sold me on the honey gouramis. Absolutely adorable

I've tried countless times with Dwarf Gourami they always turn into a menace in my community. Honeys are awesome though. Bolivian Rams are a better alternative to the Blue Rams in my experience.

I love the tank with gourami, albino cory and neon tetra. The contrast between them and the tank vibe is just so astetically clean and pleasing.

I recently got a little honey gourami and I love her so much! At first she was really shy in my Molly tank but once we introduced some of our older molly fry into the main tank she started coming out more and more, I think the presence of small fish helped her feel safer since she is a bit smaller than all of my adult mollies 💛

I have a Pearl Gourami and he is so peaceful. He’s in a tank with corys and a female honey gourami. There has not been any aggression from anyone in the tank and his spots are almost iridescent. I would definitely recommend one. 🤎🤗

I love your videos! I'm currently setting up 60 gallon with a school of tiger barbs, and my centerpiece will be the bottom dwelling rainbow shark. If you only keep one and give them plenty of territory (the entire bottom plus caves is just for the rainbow shark) then they do great with other fish who stay out of the way, or can handle a bit of aggression. And, well, tiger barbs, haha

I love this video, thank you so much! As a kid I always had a 10 gallon tank with fancy goldfish and a betta plus some other random fresh water fish (it was the 80's and it worked, I don't know how}. I'm so intrigued by the personalities you show in these fish, my pet store tells me some guramis are milder in temperament and I'd love to add one to my tank so thanks for this

My first Honey Gourami fry just hatched this morning. the last two weeks was the best time since I got the tank the breeding behaviors are super entertaining.

Dwarf gourami was my first fish when I seriously got into fish keeping! I think I was like, 12. But Blue was such a wonderful fish ❤

A comment on Betta fish as community fish: There has been some really cool research looking into the genetics of Betta fish. Because of how they have been bred, Longer finned Bettas along with Red or Yellow Bettas are more aggressive because they come from the lines which have been bred for the last 400 years or so as F1ghting fish. Shorter tailed Bettas or the blue/blacks are less aggressive because they are closer in genetic structure to their wild counterparts and haven't had the extra aggression bred into them. Might be why Sonic was so aggressive whereas Darth Vader and Soundwave weren't!

Hello! How cool. I just set up my first planted tank yesterday!!

Hello Irene .. thank you for sharing and the advice you gave on many topics of fish talk . Ever since i subscibed to your channel , it is a morning habit in anticipation to view the latest or past videos . Find them entertaining & informative . Keep up the good work 👍 I love the little colorful active Tiger Barbs . Would appreciate at your convenience to have videos/commentaries on it . Thank you .

I totally agree with what you said about dwarf gourami! I got a pair and the male did nothing but chase and bully everyone else in the tank. The female was in hiding throughout the time I kept them as the male would immediately start attacking her non-stop when ever she came out of hiding! Returned both after the male's high speed chases destroyed about 25% of the plants in the tank within 24 hours! However, they are extremely beautiful and I do hope give another try in the future in a much larger aquarium with several females!

My male GBR Franklin is my favorite centerpiece fish I own! He’s been with me for about 8 months now

My 3 honey gourami do amazing in my community tank, they sometimes bicker but it's wonderful to watch them interact

When working with Bettas always have a back up plan if it doesn't work out!

German Blue ram was my favorite but they were harder to keep, especially in my early fish keeping life. I will revisit another day

Thank you for all you do, your videos are always so informative and well thought-out!

I have a 10 gallon which I've kept both Bettas and a Dwarf Gourami (DG) in as a centerpiece fish. The bettas were both female koi plakat breed bettas and were completely passive to anything else that was in the tank. At worst, they'd curiously poke at my otocinclus fish but that's all they ever did. My DG is a powder blue male named Pancake and he's about the same. 10 gallon is a bit small for him but he's doing alright and has a very energetic and excited personality. He's actually been spooked a few times because the otos rammed into him at high speed and startled him, which was amusing to see. Also very nice to interact with because he likes to poke at my hands with his feelers and, on one occasion, even held onto my finger with both feelers for several seconds. I have a new 40 gallon that is currently cycling and I plan to add honey gourami to it when it's ready. I just can't get enough of those feelers! They're adorable and hilarious and I wish every fish had em.

0:23 loool so true, none of my shrimps have a name loool

Angel fish are great. You can keep just 1 of them in a 20 gallon. I used to have platies and other community fish with 1 angelfish. They are cheap, beautiful and great.

That’s so interesting! My dwarf flame gourami is the most passive fish in my tank. Almost always hiding in corners and by themselves even tho he has another gourami friend!

My dwarf gouramis were great community fish. I had two of them in the tank and they got along just fine. 😊

Dwarf gourami would work in a community tank with panda garras or hillstream loaches. During feeding, those type of bottom feeders are more boisterous and assertive, making the dwarf gourami less prone to bully them. Cory cats seem to work better with ram cichlids though.

Love those green neons!

This video convinced me to get a Honey Gourami. I've looked into them and they seem like the perfect fit for my Ember tetra aquarium (same pH, hardness, likes lots of plants and slow moving water). I'll be getting one tomorrow!

Just got a honey gourami as an alternative to betta to keep with harlequin rasboras. He's still pretty shy. I didnt have room for 2. At least the rasboras and gourami seem peaceful to each other.

I have a 10g, started with a female betta . 3 kuhli loaches, 2 Hill Streams, 5 neons.. later no Regrets! I have been thinking of 2 honeys but the betta has so much personality.

I had both a blue powder and a flame gourami, they got along well but my powder gourami got sick and passed sadly. My flame gourami lives in a larger tank now and does great.

Ugh I really want to experiment one day and do a honey gourami centerpiece tank with maybe some neon tetras for that color contrast. I think they’re so pretty. I’m a sucker for anabantoids I guess bc I love bettas. I also have a mustard gas halfmoon named Woodstock (like the bird from Peanuts!)

Super helpful! Thank you!

That light is almost invincible on the top.It blend with the tank so good.

I have a male/2 female Dwarf Gourami in with glowlight tetras and panda cats. Yeah the male likes to throw his weight around but he seems to like the panda Cory's, the female dwarfs genuinely love them, follow them around as they graze and try to cuddle up with them. And yeah Gouramis go everywhere and have even seemingly learned to graze a tiny bit from the corys. Also they love floating plants, the male loves to just swim slowly through the roots and feel them on his face

Its a myth that dwarf gouramis sit in the upper half, they swim everywhere unless you have a heavily planted tank, I have a Male and female powder blue in with tiger barbs and they do well,I think they are best for semi aggresive community

I have a full size blue 3 spotted gourami in my 36 gallon community and this stunning orange gourami in my 20 gallon community. They’re both around 6 inches. Both males and they both live peacefully with all the other fish in the tanks.

I LOVE my red betta Hannibal!! Hes my buddy and gets so excited whenever he sees me. I spoil him first and foremost. I enjoy my other fish but Hanny is the KING. 🥰

I also kept a flame gourami with a green neon tetras! He was fine with the GNT but he was merciless cherry shrimp. Eventually drowned when he got stuck in a crack between two rocks. (probably chasing shrimp.)

6:14 my honey gourami was hiding for almost a year but since I introduced a group of silvertip tetras the gourami is out and chasing them on every opportunity.

I agree on the honey gourami! They are just amazing!

ooooh two new Irene videos in as many days! gotta love it

love your content.. i learn so much. my gourami is mildly aggressive. he doesn’t mind the albino corys tho. He’s brand new, so we’ll see how he is once he acclimates.. I did want a female, but they were really hard to find they would cost at least $50

We had a sunset gourami that terrorized the mystery snails.

thank you for the info on German Blue Ram. I can't wait to have em' in my 10.5 gallon.

I had a betta in with neon tetras and an albino cory. They got along peacefully. But my betta was super laid back personality wise.

Great information and clearly presented. You are a wealth of knowledge and I thank you for passing your learning on. I sooooooooooooo want a gourami!!!

Hope you make a Playlist of centerpiece and possible community tankmates.. always love your thoughts about these

I very much agree that bettas can vary quite a bit in personality and aggression levels. I've had several bettas that were content to do their own thing. However, I also had a betta that was fine with smaller fish like guppies and white clouds, but hated super real plecos. He would flare at them, and chase the plecos around the tank. The plecos were fast enough that they didn't get injured. My theory is that the aggression was due to the betta and plecos being of similar size.

i always use angels an my center piece! your tank may be a little small, but they are the best eye catch-er's out there!

I enjoy balloon Guarmis as well as acouple of dwarfs. I ended up getting some clown loaches to be the center pieces as they grow over time mixed in with a variety of algae eaters and glasscleaners, cories, shrimp, snails and a few different guarmis. Oh yeah almost forgot I did pick up a few super small chamelieon fish at 1cm that love swimming in and around the plants. The tank is 73L and is always buzzing with activity.

My dwarf gourami was constantly nipping the 2 honey gouramis and 2 kuhli loaches when I introduce them into his tank so I gave him a big timeout until I got my other 3 femal dwarf gourami. Now they are all doing fine and it seems no problems for weeks

Great video. I’m putting together a 20L which will be my 1st planted tank so I enjoy videos like this a lot. I can tell you and I are approximately the same age based on your fish names. 80’s cartoons were the best!!

Hi Irene. Maybe you can try sparkling gourami?

Please do a tank featuring with bumble bee gobies. There are very few fishtubers that talk about them and would love to see someone landscape a dedicated tank.

thank you so much for the advice now I love PEACOCK GUDGEON GOBY

IRENE! Honey Gouramis are awesome! So peaceful.

I had a buddy keep peacock gudeons with shrimp and didn’t have a problem. Tank was heavily planted.

Having such a hard time getting nano fish. Can only get hold of Galaxy Rasbora. (Fish by mail is illegal in Denmark)

totally random, but i think for schooling fish it is REALLY important that you like how they swim. some are very chill (though not necessarily stationary) and others are spastic (which can feel stressful). i like fish that glide versus jerky darting motions. this is almost more important than a centerpiece fish or anything else.

Irene, I like all your content but this video in particular was especially interesting. Thanks you!

I agree with your opinion of dwarf gourami. My male flame variety bullies the cories. I also tried honey gouramies but it turns out the "red" type sold to me was actually a thick-lipped gourami, and not so peaceful.

You should try golden wonder killifish they are amazing and not as aggressive as people think I have one in a community tank also the males get 4 inches long and have bright greens and yellows and have red on the fins

I've had dwarf gouramis that got along great with their guppy minions. My centerpiece choice is a bristlenose 😛

I’m late to the party but I got a Dwarf Gourami about a month ago and he’s been great! He plays nice, doesn’t bother anyone, and mingles with the swordtails. This might not be the case for most dwarf gouramis though, perhaps I just got lucky.

I have a dwarf powder blue gourami with shrimp and coridoras and he doesn’t touch or mess with them to my observation! He was being bullied by other males in the store when I got him!

I love the powder blue dwarf gouramis. I've never had one that attacked any of my fish .

I have 2 female powder blue gouramis in my 32 gal community tank and I love them. They don't show any aggression toward anything else, the only issue is they eat so much :P

I did ok with a dwarf gourami and about 8 neon tetras and a few nerve snails and some shrimp. I do think he ate half a tetra once, but that was after they all got fin rot and the gourami was dead the next day. They all lived a year before things started to go bad.

I keep my Dwarf Gourami in my 10 gallon with a school of Chili Rasboras. Good grouping

I would recommend the Pygmy sunfish they are so beautiful and so under rated

Love your videos, so knowledgeable. Keep it up.

Your fishes have great names!

Great topic and great content -- thanks!

I have a 25 gal tank with cherry shrimp, a school of harlequin rasboras and the centerpiece fish is 4 clown killifish. Even though they are small, they stand out and look really good.would reccommend

I have 2 german blue rams in a tank thats usually 80F and they are doing fantastic!

The only time I named one of my schooling fish was with my ember tetras, the most aggressive one of the group that tended to be a bully. I noticed one of my fish had a swollen eye and assumed it was the bully's fault. I named the bully "wifebeater". The rest were just called "my lovelies." I just added a sparkling gourami (currently called Bullet) to the group, so far he seems to ignore the tetras, though I did see Wifebeater aggressively approach it a couple of times and Bullet ain't having none of that and chased it away.

Very nice video. Thanks for sharing.

watching your past videos actually made me decide to get a honey gourami too! They are very peaceful (I have 2 males because I thought having only 1 would make him sad), as long as the tank is big enough so each one can 'claim' a territory.(mostly behind plants)

If you wanna go back to Rams, an Electric Blue would fit that tank. The contrast with the platies will be beautiful.

My honey gourami & my powder blue gouramis were sweet hearts. My flame gourami was a complete prick allll the time 🤦🏽‍♀️ the most stressful first i had kept so far lol

I love my dwarf gourami, he's in a 54 litre tank with harlequin rasboras,honey gouramis,( hubby was sold them,not sure they could co habit peacefully together) but too far too take them back ,and they seem to all be ok,and a kind of ginger tetra not sure their exact name.and 3 nerite snails.

My dwarf flame gourami got threw in with cichlids due to aggression and has no issues holding his own.

I found that choosing the subdominant Dwarf Gourami male at the pet store worked to lower aggression. Make sure to pick a less coloured up fish who is still swimming and eating properly though

I like Bettas as a centrepiece fish. Personally I’ve had better luck using a female; if you look for the right one they can be equally as stunning as a male and in my opinion seem a little bit more passive.

I had bettas who liked to relentlessly attack their tank mates. I put them in a breeder box for a day or two, and eventually they stopped trying. I think once they got used to seeing them, and not being able to get even close, they assumed some kind of magic was involved and gave up.

I have a Male dwarf flame gourami in my 29g planted community tank. His name is Einstein and he gets along great. No aggression. He's my little gardener lol likes to tend to the roots of the frogbit

My Gourami’s are really nice to all my other fish and always come up to the tank to say hi 😂

Hi! Your vids are always great and fun to watch! I would just like to ask, how and what did you feed your betta in the community tank? My Betta is not eating the fish food I am giving my mollies and guppies (crumble fish food). This would really help me a lot. Thanks in advance, and more power to your channel!

I have two gouramis, one honey and one red and blue dwarf. Pretty sure they are both male. They get along perfectly fine with each other and their tank mates. It’s a community tank with giant danios, fancy guppy’s, ghost shrimp and peppered corys. They are incredibly fun to look at and watch them swim around. I named the red dwarf gourami Nova (Short for super nova) and my sister named the honey gourami Buttercup. (I preferred Flare (short for solar flare) for the name but my parents got angry at me :/. Would have been better to stick with the space theme.) Although they are a bit skittish (Nova is more skittish then Buttercup) they are getting used to people coming up to the tank. And if your wondering I have a 45 gallon tall.

I’ve had good experiences with bettas… and bad ones. My previous betta, Mr B, got along fantastic with everyone… my newest, now named Hannibal, has decided,after a few months of being fine, that all tank mates besides corries and neocardinia shrimp must die. So he is now getting his own tank 🙄 they all have their own personalities

"Soundwave" is an awesome name for a Betta. You have me wanting to get a purple-ish colored Betta. "Shockwave" will be his name.

Thanks for correctly pronouncing "Betta" instead of "beta". That, plus your knowledge, your onscreen personality, your pleasant voice, etc got you my subscription!

After a particularly negative experience, I no longer have a center piece fish with my community fish. At one point, I had a betta with 7 neon tetras, a few dozen cherry shrimp, and snails. The betta killed all the shrimp and snails. The neons nonstop bit the bettas fins. The neons, shrimp, and betta only lived together for 2 weeks but still managed to do a lot of damage to each other. The betta is now in a 10 gallon tank alone. The neons are living with cherry shrimp in a 20 gal tank. The only things I add into the tanks now are plants