Trichogaster species
by Andrew Smith
One of the most robust of all tropical aquarium fish must be the Three spot gourami, Trichogaster trichopterus. This comes in an ever-increasing number of colour forms ranging from gold to blue, cosby to amethyst and platinum. The main downside to such an adaptable fish is its potential as a spiteful inhabitant of the community tank.
Even if the males do not pick on other fish, they often turn on their own species. Subordinate fish lead rather miserable lives.
However, I often hear from readers after I suggest a particular species is a problem that they have a perfectly-behaved specimen, so naturally there are exceptions.
Considerably better qualified Trichogaster species for the community tank are Moonlight gouramis, T. microlepis, and Pearl gouramis, T. leeri.
Pearl gourami males are very attractive with an olive green colour fading to silver with a covering of mother of pearl dots. The throat is orange, and this deepens when the fish is displaying or in spawning dress. Despite growing quite large - 5” or 125mm is not unusual - they remain fairly docile with other tank inhabitants.
The same goes for the Moonlight gourami. Some people say that it is basically a silver fish with not much going for it. True enough, but with the right soft type of lighting, they display a purple-ish hue, which is offset by the male’s orange ventral fins (those that look like feelers on the underside of the fish) or the female’s yellow ventrals.
One Trichogaster species that is not so suitable for tanks under 3’ is the Snakeskin gourami, T. pectoralis.
This fish at 20cm/8” is just that bit too big for your average community. It is not particularly aggressive, but its size rather discounts it from being practical.
by Andrew Smith
One of the most robust of all tropical aquarium fish must be the Three spot gourami, Trichogaster trichopterus. This comes in an ever-increasing number of colour forms ranging from gold to blue, cosby to amethyst and platinum. The main downside to such an adaptable fish is its potential as a spiteful inhabitant of the community tank.
Even if the males do not pick on other fish, they often turn on their own species. Subordinate fish lead rather miserable lives.
However, I often hear from readers after I suggest a particular species is a problem that they have a perfectly-behaved specimen, so naturally there are exceptions.
Considerably better qualified Trichogaster species for the community tank are Moonlight gouramis, T. microlepis, and Pearl gouramis, T. leeri.
Pearl gourami males are very attractive with an olive green colour fading to silver with a covering of mother of pearl dots. The throat is orange, and this deepens when the fish is displaying or in spawning dress. Despite growing quite large - 5” or 125mm is not unusual - they remain fairly docile with other tank inhabitants.
The same goes for the Moonlight gourami. Some people say that it is basically a silver fish with not much going for it. True enough, but with the right soft type of lighting, they display a purple-ish hue, which is offset by the male’s orange ventral fins (those that look like feelers on the underside of the fish) or the female’s yellow ventrals.
One Trichogaster species that is not so suitable for tanks under 3’ is the Snakeskin gourami, T. pectoralis.
This fish at 20cm/8” is just that bit too big for your average community. It is not particularly aggressive, but its size rather discounts it from being practical.