-pinky-

I saw some lovely honey gouramis for my 60L tank, which i think i might exchange for my betta, because i think 2 honey gouramis would mix better. But i noticed that they weren't exactly honey coloured. They were grey, with perhaps the slightest hint of yellow...if i buy them and they are happy with their surroundings will their colour brighten?...

I also saw some dull coloured red honey gouramis...Will their colour brighten aswell?...

Finally, if you know some info about honey gouramis (of any colour), please post it here! Because i'm likely to get two of them soon, instead of the betta



________________________

oh, and if i'm getting two, whats best?........

1) two males

2) one male, and one female (baring in mind, i don't want babies)

3) two females

I'd rather have atleast one male because they show the more vibrant colours. The only reason i don't want them to breed is because there just isn't enough room, and they get territorial when breeding. =] I don't mean to sound big-headed about my fish definitely breeding because its unlikely they will! But if they did, all my fish would be in BIG trouble...i don't have two tanks, and 60L isn't big enough for so many fish

-pinky-

And if you have any other suitable fish species you would like to tell me about that i could put in my tank...be my guest!

Here are the characteristics it needs...

Temperature of tank: 22-28C
Size: no bigger than 3"
Food: Must eat flake food
Tank mates: The fish must be able to live with 5 small tetras (neon, and glowlight)
Gravel: NO FISH THAT NEED FINE GRAVEL! The gravel in my tank is large and rocky, it will damage soft mouths

-pinky-

Please help people! I'm going to maidenhead aquatics on monday...if i havn't decided by then, it will be a long time before my betta gets a more suitable home!

Please answer

tropicalsforben

hi
sorry to be a pain but with all gouramis i no of they are best kept with either a male and female, or 2 females so really it is out of those two combinations. Two males are out of the question because of their fighting. Ill try find some useful info on these guys Pearl Gouramis are beautiful i have one but they might not be able to fit in your tank as they grow to 10cm. What about Bolivian Rams if your looking for colour?

Matt

Rams are good colour wise

BettaLuver the yellow on the honey gouramis will get more vibrant and will spread throughout their body. They start off grey with a slight tinge of yellow when they are young then as they get older they get yellower and yellower.

I Hope This Helps You.

P.S. I would get a male and female because the chances that they will breed without you trying to get them too are very low. And if they do then let nature decide who survives and who doesnt, I know that sounds harsh but it sometimes has to be done.

tropicalsforben

i found this by a member of another forum and thought this may help you decide.
"These little fish are WONDERFUL! They're sort of shy, but they're very easy to feed. I've found that if there are smaller "dither" type fish in the tank, such as Neon Tetras, they are more active. They are very easy to feed, and will readily accept flake and live or frozen brine shrimp, blood worms, etc. They also like to snack on PLANTS! I keep them in a 70 liter planted and as long as I've got Anacharis in there for them, they'll leave my other plants alone. They'll reduce a stalk of Anacharis to a mere "skeleton" in a day or less. They also pick at algae in the tank, but do not help alleviate an aglae growth problem. Personally, I think that because algae is green, they think it's fish candy (plants) and try to mow it down!

When they are small (about 1.5 cm in length), they are almost bland in color. It takes several months of feeding them a wide variety of foods to see the brilliant colors these fish can have. Mine looks almost PAINTED, the color is so vibrant! The tail is a fire orange, blending to a shocking lemon yellow on the body. I can't say enough about these wonderful little fish! They max out at 5 cm in length and can be sensitive, but they're a wonderful addition to any tank, especially a planted one."

angelfish220

I had 2 of these little guys once, but they died due to a heater break ( the tank got too cold) They were some of the coolest fish I had ever. I dont know the sex of them, but both were BRIGHT!!!! they like glowed in the dark thats how colorful they were. They were slow eaters but not picky at all, and looked great in a tank. I would defiantly recommend them.

-pinky-

I'd get a male and a female then, i doubt they would breed really! Thanks guys, i think i might get some honey gourami, but i'll just have to wait and see what happens to the betta! x

Lucy

I don't know that much about gouramis except that they're labyrinth fish and need surface area where they can come up for air.
I'm not real sure how well they'd do in a BiOrb due to it's shape.

Shawnie

the 60L isnt big enough for more than 1 and they are just like betta's as far as needing air and the bio orbs arent great for that ...

GouramiGirl1221

In a 16 gallon tank I wouldn't at all suggest getting 2 gouramis. If you get 2 males, they're almost guaranteed to fight and hurt each other. If you get a male and a female (if you can find one...I'll get to that in a minute) it's quite likely that the male will harass the female and severely stress her out, which could bring sickness into your tank.

In most areas, females are extremely hard to find. There are 3 different LFS's I go to on a relatively regular basis, and I've been able to find one female. Don't take the clerk's word for it that it's a female...when I did find the female I had to point it out to the person, and I don't know how many times I've asked about females and they've taken me to show me a tank full of males insisting that some of them were female.

So, unless your very confidant about your gourami sexing abilities so that you can get 2 females, I'd stick with one vibrantly colored male as your centerpiece fish to go with your neons and find your betta a tank better suited for him.

-pinky-

The Story

I went to maidenhead aquatics today, again, because i needed more time to decide the day i posted this thread. I spoke to the guy in the store, and he told me a story of his own, and gave me some very useful information!...

Why does nobody trust them?

I know you all say that people in stores don't tell the truth, but i'm very confident in maidenhead aquatics. I don't think they JUST want to sell me fish because they even said that i could bring back all my fish if i wanted...whenever i wanted! So far, pretty much every food, chemical and fish the staff have suggested have been correct!

Truthful Advice

The particular man that i usually talk to, has many fish tanks of his own, where he tests out different species, and tanks together. At the moment he has 50G tank with lots of different community fish, a smaller 15G tank with a few algea eaters in it, and...a biorb! He heard alot of complaints about them on the web, and decided to try it out. So he got a 30L BiOrb, with a few plants, a light, the usual...and he got some fish. He got 1 male betta, and 6 neon tetras. On this website that is a horrendous thing to do, but you shall never guess what happened...

Is the BiOrb so bad after all?

After setting up the aquarium, and keeping it with the same fish, and the same arrangements for a few months, here is what happened...

1) The tank itself - In one word, immaculate! Nothing had gone wrong with anything, and from the day he added fish, he had no problems with the parameters, filter or anything! So far so good.

2) The fish - The tetras were fine, none had been eaten by the betta, their fins were in good condition, they were all shoaling together, and a surprise was instore for the guy in the store who owns this tank, but lets talk about the betta. The betta was a crowntail, and his fins had not been nipped at all. He was acting normally, and in a healthy state. Now to me, that shows that the BiOrb is a very suitable tank, even for laberynth fish!

3) The surprise - After the first two months...Two of the neon tetras had layed loads of eggs! Having no room for them, he moved them into a another tank ready to hatch, and sold them when they grew old enough. Once again, the BiOrb shows all the signs of a normal tank!

My Tank

I have had my tank for 5 weeks. I have a betta, 2 neons, and 3 glowlights. The betta's fins havn't been nipped and no fish have been eaten. Also, the water paremeters have been fine....

Grand Finale

Theres nothing wrong with BiOrbs!

-pinky-

I understand the 60L might not be big enough, its just the whole air thing, and stuff like that that i'm on about =]