Mii
credit to Dippiedee for re-wording the original post and making it easier to read (grammar and stuff). they are a much better writer than i am.
Introduction
The Honey Gourami is a small peaceful gourami and therefore a good choice for community tanks. They are extremely hardy and while maintaining stable water parameters is still important, a little fluctuation is unlikely to kill them. Keep in mind that hardiness isn't an excuse to neglect fish as they are still live animals. Bad care won't instantly kill them, but will certainly have a negative impact on their health. They are considered beginner friendly due to their previously mentioned hardiness and peaceful nature.
Tankmates
The Honey Gourami is a social fish and should be kept in pairs or groups, with the females outnumbering the males. When picking tankmates avoid other Gouramis as they may bully the Honey Gouramis. Also to be avoided are fin nipping fish such as tiger barbs and skirt tetras.
Commonly Mislabeled
Orange, yellow, or red Thick Lipped Gouramis are often mislabeled as color morphs of honeys. Make sure you don't accidentally mix the two together as the Thick Lipped Gourami will see the honeys as competition and bully them. Thick Lipped Gouramis have larger foreheads, thicker lips, stockier bodies and a clear/white tail. They come in bright oranges and reds that you don't often see in Honeys.
They are great fish too, and I will probably post a care guide for them too in the future, but it's always important to make sure you know what fish you're buying. here's a video of my thick lipped gourami who has too many names:
here are my female golden honeys mango and lemon
Housing Requirements
They are active, intelligent fish and will love a well planted aquarium. Provide an aquascape with tall plants such as amazon swords. As they are a top dwellering species, places to hide near the surface will make them feel safe. Other fish will also provide mental stimulation for their curious nature. As they have a labyrinth organ which lets them breathe air from the surface, make sure there is a bit of space between your lid and the water in the tank. While you could probably get away with less space, the ideal minimum tank size would be 10 gallons. Could you get away with 5? Probably. Would your fish be happy? It's hard to tell as fish can't talk, but more space would certainly be appreciated. If you want a Gourami for tanks less than 10 gallons I recommend you look into either a single betta, or group of Sparkling Gourami.
Feeding
Feeding them is fairly easy; you can use a quality protean rich flake food as their staple diet and supplement with live or frozen-thawed food like blood worms. If they won't eat, crush up the flakes really small until they get used to them, then you can switch to regular size. Avoid overfeeding them by monitoring how much food is being eaten during feeding time. If it’s taking them a few minutes to scarf everything down, you’re probably feeding them too much. Fast them once weekly to prevent indigestion.
Water parameters are in the care sheet below; use a thermometer to measure your water temp and check it frequently. Check your water parameters frequently too; I recommend the API master test kit and the API water hardness test kit.
Quick Care Sheet
Temperament: Peaceful
Tankmates: Many, due to their peaceful nature. Avoid other gouramis and fin nipping fish.
Size: About 2 inches
Minimun Tank Size: 10 gallons
Ideal Tank Set up: Planted with tall plants for hides near the surface. Make sure they have access to air at the surface to use their labyrinth organ in case their isn't enough oxygen in the water.
Temperature: 70-82F
Ph and water hardness aren't very important as long as they're not super extreme or unstable
substrate is not important as they are a top dwelling fish, although I personally don't use sharp substrate like gravel even for top dwellers as they still might go near the bottom, try to hide under something, and end up getting scraped up. This is from personal experience as it happened with one of my bettas.
Feeding: Protein rich flakes supplemented with live or frozen food like bloodworms or brine shrimp.
Breeding: They are bubble nesters. For breeding advice I suggest you look elsewhere as I have no experience or knowledge in breeding fish.
re-written with better grammar and layout by Dippiedee original care guide by myself.
Introduction
The Honey Gourami is a small peaceful gourami and therefore a good choice for community tanks. They are extremely hardy and while maintaining stable water parameters is still important, a little fluctuation is unlikely to kill them. Keep in mind that hardiness isn't an excuse to neglect fish as they are still live animals. Bad care won't instantly kill them, but will certainly have a negative impact on their health. They are considered beginner friendly due to their previously mentioned hardiness and peaceful nature.
Tankmates
The Honey Gourami is a social fish and should be kept in pairs or groups, with the females outnumbering the males. When picking tankmates avoid other Gouramis as they may bully the Honey Gouramis. Also to be avoided are fin nipping fish such as tiger barbs and skirt tetras.
Commonly Mislabeled
Orange, yellow, or red Thick Lipped Gouramis are often mislabeled as color morphs of honeys. Make sure you don't accidentally mix the two together as the Thick Lipped Gourami will see the honeys as competition and bully them. Thick Lipped Gouramis have larger foreheads, thicker lips, stockier bodies and a clear/white tail. They come in bright oranges and reds that you don't often see in Honeys.
They are great fish too, and I will probably post a care guide for them too in the future, but it's always important to make sure you know what fish you're buying. here's a video of my thick lipped gourami who has too many names:
here are my female golden honeys mango and lemon
Housing Requirements
They are active, intelligent fish and will love a well planted aquarium. Provide an aquascape with tall plants such as amazon swords. As they are a top dwellering species, places to hide near the surface will make them feel safe. Other fish will also provide mental stimulation for their curious nature. As they have a labyrinth organ which lets them breathe air from the surface, make sure there is a bit of space between your lid and the water in the tank. While you could probably get away with less space, the ideal minimum tank size would be 10 gallons. Could you get away with 5? Probably. Would your fish be happy? It's hard to tell as fish can't talk, but more space would certainly be appreciated. If you want a Gourami for tanks less than 10 gallons I recommend you look into either a single betta, or group of Sparkling Gourami.
Feeding
Feeding them is fairly easy; you can use a quality protean rich flake food as their staple diet and supplement with live or frozen-thawed food like blood worms. If they won't eat, crush up the flakes really small until they get used to them, then you can switch to regular size. Avoid overfeeding them by monitoring how much food is being eaten during feeding time. If it’s taking them a few minutes to scarf everything down, you’re probably feeding them too much. Fast them once weekly to prevent indigestion.
Water parameters are in the care sheet below; use a thermometer to measure your water temp and check it frequently. Check your water parameters frequently too; I recommend the API master test kit and the API water hardness test kit.
Quick Care Sheet
Temperament: Peaceful
Tankmates: Many, due to their peaceful nature. Avoid other gouramis and fin nipping fish.
Size: About 2 inches
Minimun Tank Size: 10 gallons
Ideal Tank Set up: Planted with tall plants for hides near the surface. Make sure they have access to air at the surface to use their labyrinth organ in case their isn't enough oxygen in the water.
Temperature: 70-82F
Ph and water hardness aren't very important as long as they're not super extreme or unstable
substrate is not important as they are a top dwelling fish, although I personally don't use sharp substrate like gravel even for top dwellers as they still might go near the bottom, try to hide under something, and end up getting scraped up. This is from personal experience as it happened with one of my bettas.
Feeding: Protein rich flakes supplemented with live or frozen food like bloodworms or brine shrimp.
Breeding: They are bubble nesters. For breeding advice I suggest you look elsewhere as I have no experience or knowledge in breeding fish.
re-written with better grammar and layout by Dippiedee original care guide by myself.
