Narcicius

Ok I am currently cycling my 29 gallon tank. I originally was going to get one pearl gourami, three dwarf gouramis (1 male, 2 female) a small school of neon tetras (6) and one maybe two bristle nose plecos. After setting up decor and such I decided against the bigger pearl gouramis. I was happy with the rest of my previous setup (minus the pearl) only I started reading about the dwarfs being semi-aggressive. Please help da newb and sorry for my long boring post.

Blub

Sabi

I think either the pearl gourami or the dwarfs would be a good idea, there could be spats having the different types together....

angelfish220

I wouldnt have that many dwarfs together unless you have plenty of hiding spots for the females to get away. I just wouldnt risk it.

COBettaCouple

The dwarf gourami are semi-aggressive and having 3 in a tank could be peaceful or could be stressful. It's really up to the fish. I think it would be fine to stock them like that, but have a backup plan for the gourami - just in case.

Blub

COBettaCouple

I'm not sure if it would make the difference one way or the other.

Joe_D

I have two male dwarf gouramis and one is much more aggressive than the other. The one swims around the whole tank and keeps the other one pinned in a corner or stuck in a plant. I am very seriously considering asking my LFS if they will take one back (even for free). The quiet one doesn't even feed with the other fish, but he must be eating something (like my plants!) because I see him poop. Now the aggressive one is starting to nip at his tail -- somebody has to go.

It's a 20 gal. tank so maybe it is just too small for two dwarfs.

COBettaCouple

Sounds like they've established a 2-fish pecking order, with one always being on the bottom. It happens a lot with fish when you have 2 of a kind.

Narcicius

to help Joe D after studying the fish you may have two males and your tank isnt to small if thats all you have in it, and if its a male and a female males usually are more aggressive to the females its recommended that you have atleast 2 females per male to prevent the male to divide the stress on the females.

Joe_D

The gouramis are both males, right now the 20 gal. tank has:

2 dwarf gouramis (males)
3 zebra danios ()
3 guppies (1 male 2 females)

Blub

Narcicius

yeah this also eliminates the second male, be sure to watch the stronger one(if you get rid of one) because he might attack the other fish if he doesn't have a female to pay all his attention to.