Can you mix different-sized gouramis in one tank?

[SilverArowanaBoi]

What the title says ^ I'm going to the fish store this weekend and I want another gourami, and I was wondering if it would be safe to do so in a 55 gallon? I was thinking something like a moonlight gourami with a dwarf gourami or two.

Thanks in advance!

 

[Deadeye]

The bigger ones can be a fair bit meaner than the dwarf gouramis. When my 3-spot was small, he killed the one I got it with in a 55 gallon tank. Best to stick with dwarf types.

 

[Fishman Dave]

Moonlight are one of the bigger “large type” too so a 55 is on the edge of not big enough in my mind. Id stick with the dwarfs if you can find healthy ones.

 

[Midwater]

I would stay away from two. Especially if the introduced one is smaller. Extra-especially in a small tank.

 

[phreeflow]

Wow…you guys are making these gouramis sound like killers. I’ve only ever had giant gourami so I had no idea about these little ones.

I’m surprised to hear that a 55 gallon is on the brink of being acceptable for one 6” moonlight or that if he chooses dwarves, he should only keep a single one due to aggression.

 

[Redshark1]

I only keep these singly. Its not peaceful to watch when they are chasing each other incessantly. There always seemed to be one with a mean streak.

I had some female only dwarf gouramies that were of a strain in which the females were a nice metallic blue instead of the normally drab colour. They seemed to coexist much better. However, even this was unsuccessful as they appeared to have the irodovirus and did not live long.

 

[SilverArowanaBoi]

Wow…you guys are making these gouramis sound like killers. I’ve only ever had giant gourami so I had no idea about these little ones.

I’m surprised to hear that a 55 gallon is on the brink of being acceptable for one 6” moonlight or that if he chooses dwarves, he should only keep a single one due to aggression.

I have to agree with phreeflow@ on this, most gouramis except for kissing, snakeskin and giant (among a few others) would fit perfectly fine in a 55 gallon, moonlight being one of them. They don't get that big...heck the discus are larger than the moonlight.

 

[Fishman Dave]

I tend to find in these conversations we are usually talking US 55g which I then find out is uk 45g.
Which equates to less than the volume of a 2ft x 2ft x 2ft cube fish tank. Tell me which full grown discus or moonlight gourami you would keep happily in a 2ft cube tank!?
Ok - change it to a 4 ft tank by 2ft tall and 1 ft wide and you have a tank that’s long enough and tall enough for discuss or large gourami but then not wide enough (but is still 61USG).
Go to 4x 1.25 x 1.5 and your on the brink (as I wrote) but who keeps gourami or discuss singularly?
We’re not talking about a single moonlight gourami alone in a 55usg tank, we are talking about it with other fish too (at least another gourami and now with at least one discuss)
If I keep either I’m looking at pairs (for breeding) which a 55would be fine for on a temporary basis or groups of six to stop the aggression, and then a 55usg doesn’t come close.

 

[Redshark1]

I believe they are called centrepiece fish when keeping a single gourami or angel in a community tank of smaller fish.

This has worked well for me. These fish seem to be OK temperament wise when they are the unchallenged boss of the aquarium that has smaller fish. Especially if all the fish have grown up together, or at least the centrepiece has grown with them from being a small youngster. Their general behaviour and also interaction with their keeper is most interesting and satisfying.

I have yet to keep Moonlight Gourami or Snakeskin Gourami. But I have kept most other small species including Honey, Dwarf, Pearl, several forms of the Three Spot and also the larger Kissing Gourami which I rate highly.

I most recently had a female of the Gold variety of Three Spot Gourami Trichopodus trichopterus and she was a beauty, having good coulour and snakeskin pattern, measuring 4.75 inches (12 cms), living for four years and being trouble free.

 

[Cal Amari]

A bit late to the discussion if you went over the weekend, and it's been years since I had any gourami but when I was young I tried a honey and a dwarf in a 35 gallon community tank with a few cherry barbs and neon tetras. The 2 harrassed each other non stop, not outight aggression like cichlids fighting, but always tattered fins and constant chasing. In restrospect the tank was probably overstocked, and poorly done, it was my first...