Gold Gourami

[gouramilove]

I'm brand new to this website so let me tell my story...
My boyfriend got me a gold gourami a few months ago when my flame dwarf gourami died. With the gold gourami he also gave me an opaline gourami that I think might have been a female because of the rounded dorsal fin. I had told him after he gave them to me that I couldn't really keep both of them because I knew a 5 gallon tank was too small for two. After one day of having them in the same tank the gold gourami had established dominance and the poor opaline was scared to death so I decided to take it back to the pet shop.
I was wondering is it possible to keep two gold gourami in the same tank? The dorm I'm about to move into only allows 10 gallon tanks so that's all I have to work with. I'm getting the ten gallon within the next week or so.
I tried to talk to a woman at feeders supply about this, but she gave me a flat out no and I know that it has to be possible because I've seen a post on here about three spot gourami living together in a ten gallon tank and the gold gourami is just a color variation of that.
If this isn't possible can someone give me examples of other fish that can live with my gold? I don't really want to get small schooling fish I just want one that's around the same size as a gold that wont attack or be attacked by the gourami.

Thanks!

 

[Hacker]

Gold and Opaline gourami's are the same. Just different color strains of the Blue Gourami. My freind bob aka big54bob got a blue gourami and he said it was Hell in his 20gal. He wiped out both of his female platies and a male betta while he was cleaning the betta's bowl. And he is trying to get rid of the Blue Gourami last i heard of it. IMO take it back. Golds shoud be kept in 29gals to maintain peace between all of the fish.

 

[Big Vine]

Welcome to MFT.

I tried to talk to a woman at feeders supply about this, but she gave me a flat out no

She was right...don't try it.
I've made various attempts at housing opalines and golds together in a 20 gallon tank in the past (using various combinations of male/female, adding more gouramies in the hopes of distributing aggression more evenly, you name it...), and nothing worked. I created lots of blocked lines of sight (i.e. 'territories') using thickets of plants too, but that didn't work either, and the gouramies killed each other.

I would highly suggest that you just hang onto the one gourami for your 10 gal. tank. In reality it is a bit small for him, but on his own he should be okay. I wouldn't house him with anything else in a tank that size other than perhaps some bottom-dwellers (cories, for example).

BV

 

[MissFishy]

In my opinion a 10 gallon is too small for the gourami, let alone a five gallon. Gouramis are like bettas, you wouldn't keep two in the same tank, don't try it. You could consider getting some other smaller fish, snails, and shrimp to put in there, but be careful not to overstock.

 

[tom91970]

Gold gouramis can not and should not be kept together. I can speak from personal experience on this. I had two together in a 30g for a short time (they came with the tank that I bought).

Golds can be kept with pictus cats, cories, etc. My gold hangs out in a log with my two pictus cats all day long.

 

[gouramilove]

Can you tell me more about pictus cats?

 

[tom91970]

Can you tell me more about pictus cats?

http://www.myfishtank.net/reviews/showproduct.php/product/167/sort/7/cat/2/page/2

 

[IDunnoWhy]

I'm not 100% sure but I do believe a Pictus will be too large for the 10g, don't Pictus grow to 5-6"?

I would suggest Cories as well, in particular the Pygmy Cory, very cute, stays smaller than most cories, and adds very little to the tanks Bio-Load. Do keep in mind though, that virtually any tankmate may find living with a particularly boisterous Gourami difficult, especially in such close quarters.

Here's a link to look at those Pygmy Cories:
PlanetCatfish::Cat-eLog::Callichthyidae::Corydoras pygmaeus