# dwarf gourami advice please?



## finnfinnfriend (Feb 3, 2012)

I have recently taken an interest in dwarf gouramis. Can someone tell me a little about them? Any special requirements? Are they bigger than bettas?


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## lilnaugrim (Mar 27, 2013)

Dwarf's usually stay around 2 inches at most, although some will get up to 2.5 inches total. So yes, that's bigger than Betta's slightly.

They are cousins to the Betta and possess a labyrinth organ as well for air breathing. They eat basically the same diet as Betta's and will take both flake and pellet, and will love frozen/live foods when given, they are omnivores.

Many times this gourami won't live very long due to the fact of too much inbreeding causes the gourami to have it's own illness; Dwarf Gourami Disease (so original I know haaha), and will usually live to about 5-8 months because of this. Of course not all will be subjected to this and will live longer, especially if you buy from a good breeder and not from the petstore. Many of them, with good care will live up to just about four years on average. Many times they inject females with male hormones to make them males since males will sell better than females. So where most of the same ways of sexing; rounded anal fin, duller colors, and of course ovaries are sort of null and void with these guys unless again; you buy from a good breeder. In which case those rules do apply as normal.

Gourami's all around like stones and hides like Betta's, they also like a dimmer environment so they like floating plants and ones they can swim in and hide in. And like Betta's you cannot put two males together and one male and one female are still very risky unless you have enough space. I wouldn't put two males together except in a tank about 30 gallons or more to allow them both to have their own territories and then it's advised to clearly split the tank with some sort of dividing decoration in the middle so they don't see each other all the time.

You can put one male and at least 3 females or more together, the more females the better so that not just one female will get picked on, but again it's still risky to do this unless you have plenty of hiding spaces and I do mean a lot of spaces!

And that's about all I've got now, they do like softer waters and pH ranges of 6.0-7.5 and temps up at 78-80 as a normal ^_^


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## finnfinnfriend (Feb 3, 2012)

Thank you for all the detailed info.


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## finnfinnfriend (Feb 3, 2012)

I have a very high pH (8.2+). If I were to get a DG, should I get some pH down stuff?


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## lilnaugrim (Mar 27, 2013)

Ehhh, I'm cautious about chemicals, I would rather the pH be stable than fluctuating from chemicals. DG's are pretty adaptable like Betta's so it really shouldn't be much of an issue if you acclimate well enough


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## finnfinnfriend (Feb 3, 2012)

lilnaugrim said:


> Ehhh, I'm cautious about chemicals, I would rather the pH be stable than fluctuating from chemicals. DG's are pretty adaptable like Betta's so it really shouldn't be much of an issue if you acclimate well enough


Okay cool. My betta does fine in my water without adjustment so that is a good sign . 

Do you keep DGs?


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## lilnaugrim (Mar 27, 2013)

I used to have a DG, he passed from too much stress along with the dwarf gourami disease unfortunately. I had him during our Nemo Blizzard here and I took him and the Silver Tip Tetras (never get them, they're literally evil) along with my only Betta at that time; Rembrandt. I took them to my aunt's house to keep warm because we lost power so between being extremely stressed out and that disease, he passed the poor thing.

I've been debating centrepiece fish for a tank that will be going up at my mom's house that I'll be caring for, it's between them, a Gold Gourami and perhaps some other large fish depending on the size of the tank I can get :-D


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## jaysee (Dec 9, 2009)

Female dwarf gouramis are generally extremely hard to find. There are not a lot of accounts of keeping them together, because of their scarcity. I've read a few where the females were killed.


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## finnfinnfriend (Feb 3, 2012)

Thats fine with me because I want a male in a single specimen tank


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## finnfinnfriend (Feb 3, 2012)

Do schooling fish stress them out?


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## lilnaugrim (Mar 27, 2013)

Not usually, as long as they aren't nippy they'll be fine  also you should have a school that's big enough so they don't get nippy within themselves because that could stress them out as well. Also depends on how decorated/planted your tank is.


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## finnfinnfriend (Feb 3, 2012)

I just set up a ten gallon and right now I have a school of 6 neon tetras in there and I want to add a dwarf gourami at some point...So are neons okay?


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## Micho (Aug 22, 2011)

finnfinnfriend said:


> I just set up a ten gallon and right now I have a school of 6 neon tetras in there and I want to add a dwarf gourami at some point...So are neons okay?


Maybe something smaller like Ember Tetras. 

Neons are a bit too big and I feel like they belong in a tank with a bigger base footprint. 

But IME, my DG sometimes chases the tetras, it could be that his temperament isn't great. You will see some chasing but tetras should easily outswim him, just provide a lot of cover in the form of decor/live plants to break the line of sight.


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## finnfinnfriend (Feb 3, 2012)

Micho said:


> Maybe something smaller like Ember Tetras.
> 
> Neons are a bit too big and I feel like they belong in a tank with a bigger base footprint.
> 
> But IME, my DG sometimes chases the tetras, it could be that his temperament isn't great. You will see some chasing but tetras should easily outswim him, just provide a lot of cover in the form of decor/live plants to break the line of sight.


Gotcha . There are lots (5) fake plants and a couple of ornaments as well...so hopefully enough retreats...


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