Gouramis (cont. MO and Caps?)

[VirgoWolf]

OK, Mo and Caps, I called you guys in because you know the whole deal from my other post (anyone else is welcome to post, if you would like to know more, my other Gourami post is just a little ways down the page).

OK So after talking with a few other people on here and another forum, and also just going over this in my head over and over again, I have done some more revising to my re-re-revised list LOL.

4 Yoyo Loaches 16"
3 Kuhli Loaches 14"
1 Flash Pleco (L204) 5"
11 Longfin Rosie Barbs 22"
4 Powder Blue Dwarf Gouramis 8"
2 Fire Dwarfs Gouramis 4"
4 Opalines Gouramis 16"
3 Gold Gouramis 12"

I took out the moonlight gouramis because I heard they are too timid and I needed something to share the neon's tank anyway, so I swapped them over to there. I took out the tiger barbs because I figured with mixing the gouramis like this, I have enough potential problems, I didn't want to have to worry about them nipping everyone's fins. And I am considering them for another tank I'm considering doing. I also decided the cherry shrimp will do better in a different tank, although not sure which yet.

Someone suggested to keep all the gouramis in 1.1 pairs, but would it be better to have 1.1/2.2 per type or 1.1/1.3 per type?

(sorry for the cross post here, but I didn't get any responses in the old thread)
I may just be curious here, but if I get male and female gouramis, can/will they breed in this type of environment? Can they crossbreed? If they do crossbreed, would they have viable eggs/fry? I am assuming the opalines and golds could interbreed, what would the frys genetics be?

 

[VirgoWolf]

Anyone know anything about the gender ratio or breeding?

 

[MOsborne05]

I don't know for sure but I would think that the ratio would be similar to livebearers because males are territorial. So I think a ratio of 1/2 would be good, or even 1/3. With dwarf gourami's though, the females are rather dull so you might want to stick with 1/3, if you can find them. I wasn't able to find any females, and Pet Supplies Plus could only order them if I bought 10 I think you would want the fewest number of males possible, unless you are trying to breed them. I don't know anything about breeding them though.

BTW, nice choice with the lf rosy barbs, they are gorgeous, and I'm not a fan of tiger barbs so good swap

 

[VirgoWolf]

Thanks, Yeah, I love the tigers, but I decided I would just give them there own tank and up the number of the rosies to avoid any more potential problems, LOL I am already asking for it with what I have now.

I woulden't mind if they breed, I was thinking of setting up a breeding tank to seperate them out to for breeding, I just don't want them to breed and have it all ruined by the other fish.

 

[CAPSLOCK]

I would be inclined to think that females are less aggressive, but with the number of gouramis it probably doesn't matter anyways. They aren't going to pester each other like livebearers. I haven't seen any dwarf females anywhere except walmart, and I'd never buy fish from walmart with the exception of bettas (they aren't in the contaminated Walmart water system of impending demise). The other types of gouramis look the same for both sexes, so you could do a "1 male of each" to "make up the rest with females" ratio to cut down on aggression... the females will have a rounded dorsal fin, males will be more pointy. I'm fairly sure that they don't pair off, but I'm not positive on that... so I don't think that it would be important to have a 1.1 ratio.

I'd imagine that the opalines and golds can interbreed, as could the dwarf types... from what I understand, they are both color morphs of the same species (Colisa lalia). I honestly have no idea how you would tell what color morph the female dwarf gourami is... they are pretty much just gray gourami-shaped fish. I doubt you'd have any serious breeding in the main tank anyways, and fry would get eaten even if they chose to breed.

PS... Not sure how 3 kuhlis get counted as 14". They get max 4" unless you get some wierd offshoot species, and they're so thin they can't possibly count for a whole 4" of bioload... more like 2" of bioload per fish.

 

[VirgoWolf]

Thanks, that answers alot of my questions... do you think it would be too much to get mostly male dwarfs? Keep the bigger ones in 1.1 or 1.2 (depending on how many in the group/pair)

LOL sorry, I was copy/pasting some and changing as I went along, must have left that one! LOL

 

[CAPSLOCK]

I don't think even all male dwarfs would be a problem... I have seen lots of people on here with 4ish male dwarfs together, no major issues. Well, I guess it would be a problem if you did try to breed them and you had no females, but not a problem just to have them together. Of course, I've never had multiple dwarfs together, the single dwarf I've got now is the only one I've had for more than a week. He does get along with the tiny pearl very well though (he's about twice as long as the pearl), so you might consider getting the smallest non-dwarf gouramis you can find, so that the larger ones don't beat up on the dwarfs immediately. (<wow, that sentence needs help) And/or add the dwarfs first so they can get established.

 

[VirgoWolf]

Awesome, I was planning on getting the dwarfs first, but I will try to get smaller gouramis too.