# Male Betta and Dwarf Gourami?



## brownaly (Jul 9, 2018)

I currently have a 20 gallon tank with four platies who are very active and tend to stay towards the top and middle of the tank, four cherry barbs which like to stay in the plants and aren’t very active (I had six but two passed away because I didn’t have a foam piece over my filter which I now have, lesson learned), a male betta who isn’t very active and stays towards the bottom, and I just bought a dwarf gourami who seems to like staying on the bottom as well and hasn’t been that active. I plan on getting two more cherry barbs, two albino catfish, and some ghost shrimp. My betta has a tank that is currently taking much longer to cycle than I thought, so I’ve been keeping him in my 20 gallon. I’m starting to think that he could be a permanent addition to my tank because he has no aggression at all towards any of my fish and never nips or chases them, even when it’s feeding time or when they are in his way, he is surprisingly calm and gentle with the other fish. He doesn’t mind the other fish getting near him and mostly likes to stay in his hiding spots. Just in case he does become aggressive or is being bullied, I have decided to always keep his tank running. Just today, I decided on getting a dwarf gourami. The other fish don’t seem to like being around it, they swim away from it despite it not being very fast and making only the slightest efforts to chase them if they get close. The DG immediately saw the betta when I put him in the tank and sort of just stared at each other and the DG followed him for a couple of seconds and then left him alone to look around and they have had a couple of stare downs since but no nipping or chasing. I’m worried that the arrangement won’t work out and my betta or other fish will get harmed. I do have another 20 gallon and a 55 gallon but the 55 has a very aggressive rainbow shark and the 20 is pretty much stocked with guppies. If it comes down to having to move them in different tanks I’d rather not put the betta in another tank, because forums say that bettas can mistake guppies for other bettas and harm them. I wouldn’t worry much about my betta being a bully to them but the guppies have bullied other fish, specifically one platy that is now in a different tank because his top fin was completely chewed through and his tail was halfway gone as well, and he had a lot of trouble swimming. And the rainbow shark in the 55 gallon has been known to kill his tank mates if they are smaller than him or sit on the bottom. I would be able to put the DG in the 55 but the shark does make it risky and I would like some advice on any signs that show if the DG and the betta aren’t going to get along and how I should proceed if they don’t.


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## ErnestTheBetta (Jul 13, 2018)

*Nope!*

A dwarf gourami and a betta will NOT get along in any way. Gouramis will also fight with other gouramis, and since bettas and gouramis both have bright colors, they will mistake the other for one of their own species, and they will fight, likely until one dies.


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