Three Spot Gouramis

[paige]

Can I put 2 three-spot gouramis in a 46g? I've heard they were aggressive but wasn't sure how aggressive. They would be in there with zebra danios and furcatus rainbows (small, very active fish). I'm having trouble deciding on larger 'centerpiece' fish...so hopefully the gouramis will be okay.

 

[Lorazoo]

that should be okay. If you have plants and things to break sight lines even better. 46g should be enough for them to establish seperate territories. It's just no guarantee. I had 2 dwarf gouramis in a 120 and one still picked on the other and the less dominant wound up just dying before i could set up the tank to seperate them. I think it was stress b/c he showed no signs of sickness but was hiding alot and was chased around everytime he came out. If its possible you could get a male and a couple of females and avoid all of those problems.

 

[Katie217]

i have a threespot and a dwarf in a 20gal, they are totaly fine together, there is some agression at feeding time, but then there always is with most fish. so i would say yes, you can definatly have 2 in a 46g

 

[CAPSLOCK]

Don't get two males, but other than that they should be fine together. Males have pointy dorsal fins, females are more rounded.

 

[Katie217]

i only ever see female 3 spot guarmies, i have a female and a male dwarf...

 

[fishlover1]

i have one with my other gouramis (see sig) and hes fine...but he is also my smallest gourami...but i think 2 will do fine together if you get 2 females.

 

[CAPSLOCK]

Stores don't separate the female/male gouramis except for the dwarfs (cause they look so different), so I suspect you have really seen males and just didn't know it. They also all have rounded fins at first, they have to grow out a bit to become pointy in the males.

 

[jeremy]

If you have a big enough tank with plenty of hiding places, you should be ok. The one in that picture looks like a female. Half of the gouramis I have in my 55 are male, and all is well.

 

[JustOneMore20]

I would get 1 male or 2 females, or 1m/2f. Two males will likely kill each other. It probably works well in your tank, Jeremy, because you have more than 2 gouramis.

Paige, if all you can find is males, then I'd get either 1 male or a group of them...like 4. That way the aggression will be distributed among them. Having only 2 males is asking for trouble IMO. Opaline gouramis (blue, 3-spot) are among the most aggressive gouramis. I have a male 3-spot in my 29g and he chases my glowlights, neons, and cories.