Dwarf Gourami | My Experience Keeping
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 30 มิ.ย. 2024
- Care guide from my experience keeping Dwarf Gouramis. A species that I have previously kept is Dwarf Gouramis so I wanted to provide a care guide while discussing my experience. They are a fish known for being peaceful and seen as a beginner fish that is common sold at chain stores such as Petsmart & Petco. There are many reports of them not behaving as peacefully as suggested. This video goes through my thoughts after a year of keeping one on tank size, growth, aggressiveness, tank mates, water parameters, and other recommendations for someone thinking about getting Dwarf Gouramis.
If you are interested in additional information about Dwarf Gouramis I recommend checking out my website that includes a care sheet at aquariumapi.com/wp/dwarf-gour...
- Food I'd recommend for Dwarf Gouramis -
Vibra Bites - amzn.to/3mUmS3V
Freeze Dried Blood Worms - amzn.to/3eu4Ym9
TetraMin Flakes - amzn.to/31n24vC
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- Studies Mentioned -
DGIV Found in Platy - pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/26452...
DGIV Found in 22% Imported - pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/16697...
#gourami #dwarfgourami #aquariums
- Video Sections -
00:00 - Intro
00:18 - My Store Keeping Dwarf Gouramis
01:44 - Growth & Size
02:55 - Tank Size & Setup
04:55 - Water Parameters
06:04 - Aggression & Tank Mates
09:08 - Dwarf Gourami Disease (DGD / DGIV)
11:08 - Should you get a Dwarf Gourami?
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Thank you for checking out the video. Below are timestamps to different sections of the video if you want to skip around. If you enjoy the video please give it a like and consider subscribing to my channel. It is a big help if you can! Also if there are any questions I can help answer for you let me know.
00:18 - My Store Keeping Dwarf Gouramis
01:44 - Growth & Size
02:55 - Tank Size & Setup
04:55 - Water Parameters
06:04 - Aggression & Tank Mates
09:08 - Dwarf Gourami Disease (DGD / DGIV)
11:08 - Should you get a Dwarf Gourami?
I was debating on getting a flame dwarf gourami or a honey for my 20 gallon tank. Very informative. Everywhere else they were all over the place.
Glad it was helpful. Best of luck on your gourami!
Dwarf gouramis are really interesting fish and seem more inquisitive than honey gourami. They are definitely more territorial and need 20gallons or above to have the best chance of peacefully co existing with other fish.A good tank mate is the harlequin rasbora, .They keep themselves to themselves and the dwarf gourami and other feisty fish like betta fish seem to recognise this. My dwarf gourami does really explore and interact with his environment and comes to the front at feeding times.I can well see that with bigger fish in the tank he wouldn't be so confident.I think a decent amount of space and calm tank mates are the best way to ensure their happiness....any stress and they will react aggressively or become ill themselves.When happy they are great fish.
Good to know about a honey gourami. They are a fish I was to try in the future and since I've have dwarfs before.
my powder blue does wonderfully with my group of gold dust mollies! i love how much personality is in the tank. definitely one of my favorites so far in the hobby!
Absolutely the very best guide I have come across online or anywhere actually on the majestic Dwarf Gourami. You touch on every aspect from housing to breeding. The graphics are great too and add a lot visually. As an older fish keeper, I am a true enthusiast. I have kept everything from the aggressive African Cichlids to now the very docile Dwarf Gourami. I’ve had the experience with saltwater reef aquariums also. I love the tranquil aspect of keeping theses little colorful gems. Be it orange/red to powder blue, these fish are very easy to maintain. From experience, I very much agree with you about overstocking and over feeding. That aspect along with a few live plants really help to keep my 15G planted species tank at the correct water parameters. These fish are definitely a fun and beautiful species that are also pretty hardy.
With sincerest thanks,
David
Thank you and it's cool to hear that you've explored all of those areas of the hobby. Different types of tanks are definitely on my bucket list
I've been considering whether to get a dwarf gourami as a centerpiece fish for my tetra tank. This video was informative and helpful. Thank you.
Glad to hear it was helpful!
Same as me, did you end up getting the dwarf gourami?
@@lukeborg9523 Actually, no. I ended up getting an electric blue acara.
Great video ! There is limited info / videos on dwarf gouramis so I def appreciate this video and your exp with them . Cheers
Thank you! I'm glad to hear it was helpful.
Mine's doing great with platy and swordtails in the same tank.. im new in keeping gourami.. this video is helpful in many ways.. thank you
You're welcome, glad to hear they are doing well!
I have a pet gourami, yeah he was a bit aggressive at first but then his aggresive behaviors has decreased so they learn to peacful over time.
I used to have American flag fish & when I brought my fish recently having set up my new tank, I thought I'd gotten 2 flag fish due to the coulers of the dwalf gouami s!! I also went back to the shop & got a pale blue one 💙 which I new was like the others only grew much larger & is beautiful. Only recently have I realised their all gouamis!!
Their in a community tank & I ve not had any problems with them even with fry about them. I'm amazed by the beauty of them & how tame they have become, esp feeding time when I hold bloodworm for them. Their really good allowing smaller fish to nibble on the bloodworm & other frozen foods I feed them.. Normally I find out what fish I have in order to learn all I need to no to keep them happy & healthy. But on the last occasion I was in such a rush to buy all 36 fish 🐟 & get them home. Luckily your videos & many on utube have given me invaluable insight.
Thank you soooo much.
You're welcome and I appreciate you checking out the video. It's always great to hear the history of viewers fish keeping journeys. Patience is key though but I think every fish keeper rushes at some point!
Thinking about getting 1-2 for a 55 gallon community tank with the only semi aggressive fish in the tank being danios. Working to get it to be heavily planted to further more help if there’s any aggression towards each other. It’s hard to find much about dwarf gouramis and I think you gave excellent information good work on the video!!
danios aren't aggressive or territorial if they're showing signs of those behaviors you need to look into why because it's not natural I have two pearls in my 55 with 16 danios and 5 barbs and nobody ever shows any signs of aggression and gouramis are territorial not aggressive so if you set the tank up for them properly they won't show signs of agreesive behavior either
I'm late on this but, wow what a beautiful tank ! Thanks for this info. I am thinking of trying some of these dudes
I appreciate that!
So helpful--thanks!
You're welcome! I appreciate you checking out the video
thank you for the great content, greetings from egypt
Thank you! Greetings!
Great video, we have a Flame Dwarf Gouarmi in a 29 gallon planted tank with floaters to mimic his natural southeast asian habitat. Tank is lightly stocked with 4 harlequin Rasboras 2 Black Neon Tetra "the last of a school taken out by ICK", 2 feeder guppy "they have survived two of our Beta tanks" and the roomba of the tank Japanese trap door snails . They get along well and the rag tag mixture of Rasbora, Black Neons and the guppy have formed a school, mostly the Gourami keeps to himself "except at feeding time". Diet consist of Beta pellets and flake and live water fleas "we keep a few colonies for our Betas'"
Noticed you mentioned something other normally miss the jumping, but I thought you should have mentioned that much like the Archer Fish Dwarf Gourami are also known to hang out at the surface and spit water upwards to knock down flying insects. Ours has gotten very good at this and will put on a good show at feeding time or any time he thinks he wants a live snack. Thank you & Keep up the good work!
Thank you for the compliments and checking out the video! I knew that they eat bugs at the surface but did not know about the spitting. Sounds like a cool thing to watch. I don't have any Gourami's currently but trying a Dwarf or Honey in the future is likely so I'll keep this in mind to give a try!
Thank you so much! I have my first tank and this is so helpful!
I'm glad it was helpful! Best of luck on your first tank! What type(s) of fish are you keeping or planning to keep?
@@TheAquaticCoder I have a five gallon tank. Started out with two gouramis and 3 neon tetras. But after learning stuff, I traded them all in for 5 platys. They seem a lot happier in my tank.
Hope everything is going well in your tank now 3 months later. Want to share a pic?, u can post it on instagram and others.
@@dcime1 all my platys died! So I had to start over. I have a 5 gallon tank, did a ton more research and am going to get a Better and 5 neon tetras.
@@TheAquaticCoder all my platys died! So after doing a ton more research (a ton), I am going to get a Betta and maybe some neon tetras
Dwarf gourami are definitely a pretty great fish, but I'd put them more on the lower end of intermediate than beginner. You definitely have to have the basics of fishkeeping down, and have a decent working knowledge of fish diets and interspecies relationships before you attempt them. If you were to keep one in a 10 gallon tank, I 100% agree that the stocking should be low. I currently have mine in with some ghost shrimp and a couple snails, and at most I'd consider adding one or two small fish to the mix and stopping there. Even then, I haven't done that because I do feel it would make the tank feel rather crowded. Bigger is ALWAYS better, and with gourami especially longer tanks seem to be preferred over tall ones. They're often listed as top to mid level swimmers, but honestly I usually see mine spend 45% of his time at the top and around that much on the bottom, and really not hanging in the middle too much by comparison. It's especially worth considering their poor genetics in many individuals in the hobby, largely due to excessive inbreeding. They have simple requirements, but they're a little different than those of many "beginner" fish, and dwarf gourami will suffer if you get them wrong.
your stripe fish back there is oppressed by the other fish that keeps lecturing him.
My dwarf gourami is by himself, with smaller fishes, he seems to love the guppy more, maybe because they grew up together?. &The guppy is always with the gourami. Gouramis are good fish and they know their owners. They are also not afraid to express, I bought 4 new small fishes and he became jealous, will not attack the fish at all, but I notice he will no longer come to window for me as usual as if he is angry w me, and will not eat either, now he eats again and comes to glass, they last a pretty long time upset tho. At owner only.
thank you
Thanks for the info. I’ve purchased 4 DG from two different aquarium stores. Lost two to DGIV and now, just a couple of months later, my other two are showing clear DGIV signs.
Pearl and flame DG
Given how much more expensive they are here in Australia to other fish, with no guarantee they will be free of the disease, I sadly won’t be getting any more. Which is a shame as they are stunningly beautiful centrepieces in a community tank.
I agree with that. They are pretty cheap over here in the US so that is the only difference. But I love them for a community tank for the reason you said as well. I'm very hesitant to get another as I don't enjoy seeing fish I keep end up in bad health.
Yes your correct, even Thu they are very tempting to have in an aquarium. The rainbow and redtail sharks plus the black ghost knife fish, are very unpopular in aquariums for attacking many othe fish.
From stressing or killing other fish, when there large enough.
for the love of god get your clown loach in a proper set up. I was raging watching the parrot cichlid beat the crap out of him . In regards to the dwarf's I somehow ended up with a fire red guy in my 75 gal heavily planted high tech tank that has pretty high flow. he wasnt very shy but i could tell the current wasn't suiting him. he was hiding in places to get out of the current. plus being the only one of his kind was making me lonely i think, so i moved him into a 20 gal and got three more of type. its been a few months now and he is much more active and they all just chill together. I dont have much decor in that 20 gal , but i have a sponge filter so there its nice and slow moving water. The one odd thing is I also have two honey gourami which stay fairly small, and they are in the big 75 gal still, they love the high current and play in the stream all the time lol. I basically set up the 20 gal just so the one dwarf didnt die from being lonely and now i have 4 healthy guys, however, I would never get them again. as still water set ups arn't my thing.
My powder blue seems pretty chill. I’ve seen him swimming with the Cory cats.
In the aquarium hobby, Gouramis are my favorite.
i have 2 dwarf gourami and 1 three spot gourami on my 10 gallon tank they were pretty much a bit aggressive on each other but working well so far
I have 3 gouramis (2 pearl and 1 dwarf) in my 50 gallon tank and they are living harmoniously with my glofish, cardinals, danios, kohaku, ember and corydoras. I observed that a well planted aquarium plus a larger tank did help to manage any aggression since they are quite an explorer.
I just got two dwarf gouramis (both male... I had 2 different store managers from different stores suggest keeping two together and I wish I'd done my research outside of their advice...). They are actually schooling together though in their 10 gallon tank with no problem! No nipping, etc, so I'm hoping they'll be okay. It's heavily planted so I think those breaks in line of sight help a lot. I wish I'd known about the dwarf gourami disease though... so sad to know they won't live as long as my past fish :(
That's unfortunate that they recommended that. Hopefully they stay peaceful, lots of plants is your best bet!
@@TheAquaticCoder Thanks! I just moved them into my twenty gallon long today for more space and plants so fingers crossed!
Hi Thanks for the guide, was thinking of adding only 1 male to my community tank, do they eat aquatic plants ? don't want them to eat my beautiful plants ! :(
Your clown loach, though large and healthy looking, is not happy. Also dwarf gourami require gulping air to push air through gills, it's not occasionally. Also I have 3 dwarf, finding out later they were all males and get along well. At most they have their own territories but in my 60 gallon they're happy. Mine are with 5 juvenile clown loaches, 25 neons, 20ish ghost shrimp and 1 ramshorn snail. I think the key is spending time watching tanks before picking your fish out.
I should give you credit though. Though some info is based on personal experiences and cant be considered completely true you have been very thorough and I can tell you are passionate about the hobby
@@Jerm-Digs Thank you and yeah my largest clown loach lost most of their family from a bacteria bloom that was very unfortunate. I got a new batch of smaller loaches to keep the group the same size but I can tell she still isn't the same as before. Hopefully over time it will improve. Once I move again I'll upgrade to a 125g and can make the loach group larger. Hopefully that and more space will help. Any advice on that is welcome though.
@@TheAquaticCoder I only have 2 loaches. Originally I had 5 but 3 starved themselves and I still dont know why. I almost got more loaches but instead bought 20 neons. Small schooling fish provide comfort that no predators are near. Before I had them my loaches just hid. Now they never hide, plus now I dont need to buy an insanely large tank to support as many loaches
Honey gouramis are the most peaceful fish if you keeping in community tank
I have three male dwarf gourami in a 29 with a few swordtails. No aggression whatsoever from the gouramis so far. They all have their own little hiding spot. Maybe that’s why?
thanks for the vid bro im a very beginer setting up my new tank had it running for months now got 2 dwarf guramis apart from one having a infection adn me fixing it ive had no issues with them lucky male and female but they r super friendly same with all my if including my black widows recently added a red tayled shark and super passive to
I just got an opaline guorami and a cobalt dwarf guorami both male. They are young so ihave them in a 10 gallon with a plan to get them in a 36 once they mature. Should i keep the dwarf seperate in the 10 permanently?
I put 1 dwarf gourami in my 5.5 gallon. Is that will be allright? I am new to the fish .
I’ve seen that it’s more a fish try’s to mess with them and for a lil they submit but the other fish will keep messing w it so then it finally gets aggravated when I put the fish that was attacking my groumi (who was smaller) in jail they both chilled out
I’ve had mine for around 6 months and dgd got him a few days ago very sad Edward was a good tank mate he started being very still and just floating at the top on his side or at the bottom and Al eventually he passed RIP
Everyone else in the tank has had no issues and are growing a lot and same with plants
Yeah that's about how long I had mine for. Sorry to hear that the gourami didn't work out for you. I'm happy the rest of your tank is doing great!
Mine is in a 10 gal for now...... we are moving I Am getting a bigger tank, but yes a 10 will do for the dwarf only the other kind do grow bigger...... I thought mine was a wrong brand and would keep growing but nope it stopped growing, I did have to take out caved, and leave live plants only, because they tend to hide and never want to come out... I did not want a depressed fish.
I appeciate the info in this wish I had seen it before I had made my intial purchase. I have 2 female flames, 2 powder blue males, 1 flame male, & 1 male gourami in my planted 45 tall. I'll admit there's been slight agression mainly during feeding but there's biggest concerns are with my juvenile blood parrots. They are the tank bosses I will expand them to a bigger tank when I can as well as with the juvenile rainbow shark. So far they get along pretty well only during feeding do I see aggression from the blood parrots. What would you advise feeding juvenile parrots and dwarfs cause I struggle at the anxiety that the parrots eat so much of what I put in that the other fish do not eat enough?
I ended up purchasing multiple Dwarf Gourami males as well before seeing that mixing them can be problematic. Having the females will hopefully help you. For feeding Blood Parrots I find they prefer pellets. Mine do well on the Hikari Blood Parrot+ food in mini size. If you can get your Blood Parrots eating those or another pellet then I'd suggest feeding flakes at the same time to you Gourami's. I know Blood Parrots can be feisty when they eat so sprinkling the food in different sections could potentially help too. But it is mostly trial and error to see if you can get your parrots to eat from one area while your Gourami's eat from another.
How you grown their fries ???
Dwarf gouramis are gluttons. I wouldn't keep them with any corydoras species. They can get aggressive with them. Best bottom feeders tankmates for them personally are panda garras or hillstream loaches. They're fast moving and much less timid than any Cory's. The dwarf gourami will less likely be less aggressive towards them also.
True, I was thankfully lucky with the two I got and they were pretty peaceful. I know many others have not been that lucky. I agree though that fast fish are probably the best tank mates with them
@@TheAquaticCoder Cory's are super peaceful fish and tend to be timid during feeding time. Panda garras and hillstream loaches are very boisterous and like to "play tag" during feeding. Dwarf gouramis have a hard time bullying them not only because of their less timid nature but because of their size as well. Panda garras are around 3.5 inches adult size and hillstream loach about 3 inch.
can i keep a single red dwarf gourami in a 25 gallon planted tank with no other fish?
Yes you can, I see no issue with that
Pets mart really let me walk in and buy two males and I asked if they would be fine with my other fish and amongst each other the guy assured me lol well two days later and old boys terrorizing my tank
Yeah unfortunately they are labeled as peaceful at Petsmart and kept in the same tank together there. So unless you get an employee who is very knowledgeable about fish keeping they wouldn't know. I wish Petsmart would at least mark them as semi-aggressive and put a warning for employees to read that only one DG should be kept in a tank.
I have found over the years, they don't live very long. DGD seems to be very common. Good thing they are cheap having to replace every 10-12...…..
it's only common in poorly set up or cared for tanks so..
@@natehood9226 sure.........
Loach is getting harassed in the background 😂
I'm interested in starting a 20 long. For some female Bettas.
Would the get along w/Bettas?
I'd say that it might not work. If you get lucky and get a peaceful gourami it'll probably work. If they are more aggressive they'll likely hurt youe bettas fins often.
@@TheAquaticCoder thanks! Good to know. I have a small community tank. And a 5gal.betta tank for one male. I thought a larger community tank would be best for the tetras..and thought I'd "throw in" some females
Any good with betta or guppy
Betta probably won't be a good idea. Guppys shouldn't be an issue unless you get unlucky and get a very aggressive gourami
you need to look at specific breeds if you're gonna look for size and stuff dwarf gourami Is a general term for a lot of species I have 2 pearls there about 3 inches now but they'll get up to 5.5 and you shouldn't keep them in any small aquarium with other fish because there territorial but not aggressive there doing amazing with my 16 danios ( giants zebras and longfin blues) and they never hide anymore plus I have 5 gold barbs and a snowball pleco in my 55 with them if your gourami is showing aggression it's your fault sadly not there's also they don't like bright lights that can cause stress. aggressive and territorial are not the same you need to be specific if you are educating opinions aren't reliable information also giving them alot of meat based foods is bad they are primarily vegetarian and will easily get constipated and stressed if you feed things like blood worms and shrimp it adds to the possibility of DGD good luck with your future endeavors tho but don't pass around false information based on opinions also that clown loach needs friends it's clearly stressed out and lonely
Meanwhile the clown loach is being bullied in the background but owner seems to think it's fine or he'd have done something about it...
Does help if you don’t read it sounds robotic. Make it come from experience from your heart not reading. Just an idea as an outsider watching
Fair point, I'll try to improve at that.
Dwarf gourami is an intermediate fish not a beginners fish
Why?
I’m trying to find a female groumi
Your clown loach is getting chased by that big red fish through the whole video pretty much
Yeah once my Blood Parrots paired up to mate they decided to chase my largest loach around and overall be more aggressive. I moved them to my 55 actually due to this.
So, he saw that tank and went, a small gourami would be good...
Wow they were bullied by a rainbow shark who would of thought
wish id seen this video before i bought 8 dwarf gouramis that will now likely all be male.. they are already fighting and tearing scales off each other..
That poor clown fish 😢
Horrible setup behind you though.
Poor clown loach... :(
That clown roach cannot get bitten by that false parrot yet!...
If you place a simple cylinder (PVC whatever) noticing your clown roach loves that left corner: place that cylinder there. It can hide ☺️
The constant ramming will sooner or later hurt both fish.
That clown loach is running the glass. It isn't to say nocturnal yet needs a comfort spot. Sooner or later that clown loach cannot take the hits on the gills and stop breathing or,! The false parrot with its genetic deformed moth will not be able to suck in food because of the compression blows against the other fish.
That clown fish is almost 3 years old or older at that age.
It's very hard to take fish advice from a guy that is keeping such a magnificent clown loach and angel with possibly the most aggressive, a-hole Blood Parrot I've ever seen. Hopefully you've moved him out of there. Your tanks do look nice but keeping fish with an aggressor such as the Blood Parrot is downright negligent.