Honey Gourami Facts Vs Fiction

Hello, I'm new to fish keeping (only guppies so far). I saw dwarf gourami at Petsmart and fell in love. Being inexperienced and extremely nervous about fish attacking other fish I wanted to get some advice from the experts!
I currently have 1 guppy in my 20 gallon tall. So I have heard that honey gouramis are unlike other dwarf gouramis in that they like each other's company, so I could get 2 females or 2 males? Would they eat my guppy? I was also thinking about some harlequin rasboras or cardinal tetras. Would I have to be hyper vigilant (I'm a natural worrier so picture me up at 2am with a flashlight checking to make sure everyone is behaving)?

 

Hi!


Honeys are extremely peaceful and should be fine with your stock. You can also add a few more guppies. I'd do:
3-4 honey gourami
10 harlequin rasboras/cardinal tetras
3-4 male guppies

 

I own a honey gourami. They get along well with other fish. I've heard that males could get aggressive with other females when spawning season arrives but I haven't seeen that yet. (My males died and I'm left with my one golden honey gourami Sunny). I've also kept some cherry shrimp with it and they lived long enough to be moved out when I got my golden wonder killies. So the guppie should be fine with honeys

 

Honey gouramis are Trichogaster chuna and dwarf gouramis are Trichogaster lallus. I've had very different experiences with them.

Quite frankly, I've never had a DG make it. They seem to be very susceptible to mysterious deaths possibly due to overbreeding and the liberal use of antibiotics in the the ThaI trade. Definitely, by the time they get to US stores, the survivors are weakened.

I've had more luck with honey gouramis primarily because I've been able to get some from a breeder in the US, so that means they were raised without antibiotics, they're already grew up in So Cal hard, alkaline water, and I was able to get more females than males. They are much less aggressive than the DGs I've seen and any other type of gourami I've had except perhaps for pearls. However, they are still territorial and like to hunt live foods (daphnia and dero worms are favorites). I have mine in a heavily planted tank, and they're still juveniles, so a 29 is working for all of them. If any of them do start breeding, I'll have to get them into a smaller tank, then I'll have to take the female out and just leave the male for a while with the fry.

Definitely, honeys are more delicate than 3 spot gouramis, for example. After previous failures at keeping them, I set up this tank two months in advance, cycling it slowly with snails and plants. There's a conundrum to starting a tank of them in that they want very clean water that is also well-aged.

Honeys are extremely peaceful and should be fine with your stock. You can also add a few more guppies. I'd do:
3-4 honey gourami
10 harlequin rasboras/cardinal tetras
3-4 male guppies

Please don't mix guppies and honey gouramis and rasboras, tetras if your water is soft and acidic. The guppies want hard, alkaline water. If you have water that is in between the two extremes, the fish might adapt, but I really do believe in giving fish what they want unless you've had the luck to go with a breeder who has been able to raise the fish in your local water (ie., there actually are discus breeders in So Cal using our hard water), so that the hardest part has already been done for you.

 

Here's what I would say. Honey's need to be kept in pairs, so like 2 or 4 is a good idea. The females are usually a cm bigger than the males. The males get really colorful along with having a broad chest. temp ranges from 72-82. You should look for a pearl gourami. Very pretty.

 

Please don't mix guppies and honey gouramis and rasboras, tetras if your water is soft and acidic. The guppies want hard, alkaline water. If you have water that is in between the two extremes, the fish might adapt, but I really do believe in giving fish what they want unless you've had the luck to go with a breeder who has been able to raise the fish in your local water (ie., there actually are discus breeders in So Cal using our hard water), so that the hardest part has already been done for you.

Oops sorry! I forgot about that

 

Honey gouramis are Trichogaster chuna and dwarf gouramis are Trichogaster lallus. I've had very different experiences with them.

Quite frankly, I've never had a DG make it. They seem to be very susceptible to mysterious deaths possibly due to overbreeding and the liberal use of antibiotics in the the ThaI trade. Definitely, by the time they get to US stores, the survivors are weakened.

I've had more luck with honey gouramis primarily because I've been able to get some from a breeder in the US, so that means they were raised without antibiotics, they're already grew up in So Cal hard, alkaline water, and I was able to get more females than males. They are much less aggressive than the DGs I've seen and any other type of gourami I've had except perhaps for pearls. However, they are still territorial and like to hunt live foods (daphnia and dero worms are favorites). I have mine in a heavily planted tank, and they're still juveniles, so a 29 is working for all of them. If any of them do start breeding, I'll have to get them into a smaller tank, then I'll have to take the female out and just leave the male for a while with the fry.

Definitely, honeys are more delicate than 3 spot gouramis, for example. After previous failures at keeping them, I set up this tank two months in advance, cycling it slowly with snails and plants. There's a conundrum to starting a tank of them in that they want very clean water that is also well-aged.

Yikes, my tank has only been up and running for about 3 months. If they are delicate maybe I should wait awhile?

Please don't mix guppies and honey gouramis and rasboras, tetras if your water is soft and acidic. The guppies want hard, alkaline water. If you have water that is in between the two extremes, the fish might adapt, but I really do believe in giving fish what they want unless you've had the luck to go with a breeder who has been able to raise the fish in your local water (ie., there actually are discus breeders in So Cal using our hard water), so that the hardest part has already been done for you.

My test at petsmart says my water Total Hardness is 150. PH 6.8 . So that would be bad for honeys unless they are locally bred?

Here's what I would say. Honey's need to be kept in pairs, so like 2 or 4 is a good idea. The females are usually a cm bigger than the males. The males get really colorful along with having a broad chest. temp ranges from 72-82. You should look for a pearl gourami. Very pretty.

Are the pearls “friendly” ones too lol?

 

Are the pearls “friendly” ones too lol?

Yes lol!

 

My test at petsmart says my water Total Hardness is 150. PH 6.8 . So that would be bad for honeys unless they are locally bred?

That's much more doable that ours. Our pH varies between 7.8 and 8+ on really bad drought days

Yikes, my tank has only been up and running for about 3 months. If they are delicate maybe I should wait awhile?

This is the main tank that already has fish in it? In that case, I would recommend setting up a quarantine tank for any new gouramis. You can take well-aged media from the filter in the tank you have on the on main tank and stuff it into the QT filter. That will give you an instant cycle. You can also fill it halfway with water from the main tank and then finish with newly dechlorinated water. That should make it more doable. I usually put plants in my QTs--they really help to relieve stress with new fish, and honeys are shy shy shy when they first move in, so plants are a must.