penny

I have been thinking of adding a "signature fish" such as an angel or a gourami to my 40 gallon community tank (which currently houses some danios and rasboras). I understand both angels and gouramis can be aggressive. I would appreciate any advice as to which would be more likely to fit in with a community tank, or is there an alternative fish that would look good and fit in?

agabr123

i think a pearl or moonlight gourami would be your best bet. angels might think the danios were a nice snack!

Amanda

I had horrible luck with angels, so I vote gourami.

Shawnie

and i vote angels LOL they are amazing fish ...if you get a juvie, it wont mess with the danio ..but I found I cant keep just one angel or they got too lonely

penny

I certainly think angels look great. My only issues are to do with aggression and whether they are too sensitive to water conditions to be a success. If I get a juvenile it may not see my other fish as food, but will it still be aggressive and nippy ? Are gouramis less aggressive? Also are they hardier than angels? Any comments appreciated as I am still having trouble working out what to put in my tank. (I will be adding 3 guppies soon)

agabr123

IMO gouramis are definitely less nippy and hardier than angels, they are generally only aggressive towards other males of the same species, or females if there is only one

GouramiGirl1221

I vote gourami. As I'm sure you can tell, they are by far my favorite type of fish. If you're looking at a peaceful community setup, I'd stick with a pearl or a dwarf gourami and stay away from the moonlight and color varieties of the 3-spot gourami (including gold, platinum, blue, or gold). Those are the more aggressive and large varieties. Dwarfs are very cute and come in many different color varieties, and pearls are very peaceful with other fish as well. In my experience I've only seen aggression with pearls and dwarfs toward other gouramis, not to other community fish. If you venture into the moonlight/3 spot varieties you risk them being more aggressive with your non-gouramis as well.

I hope that gives you some more insight into the gourami aspect. I'm sorry I can't help you with the angels...I've never kept them myself.

agabr123

my bad, i mixed that up, i was thinking of the dwarf, not the moonlight!!! ***refer to gouramigirl1221s post!

penny

thanks for your comments. It seems a dwarf Gourami may be what I need. Of course I intend to do regular water changes and keep things as clean and nice as possible-but I have heard that Angels won't tolerate anything but pristine water. What would you say about Gouramis?

agabr123

correct about the angels, they definitely need a VERY well established tank and really, really great water conditions. the gourami is hardier and from my understanding considered somewhat of a "beginner fish," pretty forgiving in terms of your experience level

penny

sounds like I have a winner

GouramiGirl1221

In my experience the gourami is very hardy. I bought my powder blue dwarf when I was just coming into the hobby (before I knew about the nitrogen cycle). He lived for two weeks in the tank with no water changes, and then another month and a half with daily water changes after that until the cycle completed. Not that I advise cycling with fish...just sharing my experience.

JWalker

GouramiGirl1221,

Thats very interesting what you mention. I have recently

2x Pearl Gouramis
2x Honey Gouramis
2x Paradise Fish

I only had teh 2 pearl Gouramis at first and they where perfect together.

Now that i got the Honey Gouramis the slightly bigger one keeps chasing and trying to attack the other Honey Gourami and occasionally goes for the Pearl gouramis.

GouramiGirl1221

JWalker,

A lot of it has to do with the size tank they're in. Honeys and pearls are generally peaceful breeds, but there is an exception to every rule. Crowding gouramis almost always results in aggression (unless you have 20 male dwarfs in a 10 gallon tank, such as in an LFS situation). Paradise gouramis are a more aggressive species as well. Probably what has happened in your case is you got the pearls, they established their territory in the tank, and now they feel like the honeys are "invading" their space, which is why you're seeing the aggression.

JWalker

GouramiGirl,

That is possible, it happens the most during feeding time where the one Gourami get very aggresive.

I think i have enough space. (55 Gallon Tank)

fishpie

the rasboras would nip the angels fins stressing it, and yes fish die from stress gold, blue, moonlight, and opaline gourami's would be a good idea

fishpie

and no kissing gouramis