# advice on stocking 15 gallon w/honey gouramis



## dorabaker (Jul 3, 2010)

Hello!
Since I was last on here my aquarium situation has deteriated sadly. It started when my beautiful golden gourami, who I'd had for 2 years, died very suddenly and unexpectedly (she looked perfectly healthy right up until I woke up one morning, went to feed her and found her floating at the top of the water...) I had a lovely little female betta, Saphir, in a small tank next to my main tank and when my gourami died I was desperate for a new 'centrepiece' fish in my main tank, so I put her in there. it wasn't a good idea...she vanished and for about a week I didn't know where she was. I was cleaning the tank today and discovered she'd made a flying leap out of the tank and landed spot on in my fish net which was resting in the bucket on the floor. clever fishy...
so I now just have 3 peppered corys (which seem healthy and happy, fingers crossed), 5 glowlight tetras and 4 cherry barbs. There WERE orginally six of each of the latter, but I lost a few near the beginning and they seem so settled and happy now that I don't want to disrupt the little community by replacing the ones that died.
Anyway - the point of this post is that I would like to get a new centrepiece fish or two to replace my poor gourami. I've decided Honey gouramis are probably the best option. I'm thinking of getting just one to be safe, but I did read that they are one of the only species of gourami you can keep in a group. It'd be nice to have more than one, so can anyone tell me how many I could keep? I have a 15 gallon tank with lots of plants (the plants are actually kind of taking over at the moment lol!) and very gentle filtration.
and of course if you have any other suggestions for fish I could add, please tell me! the pH tends to be on the acid side, and the temp is around 26 celsius, as a guideline. also the tank has been set up for around 18 months.


----------



## fishy friend2 (Aug 28, 2011)

a trio of sparkling gouramis, is a good choice for that tank


----------



## dorabaker (Jul 3, 2010)

fishy friend2 said:


> a trio of sparkling gouramis, is a good choice for that tank


I don't know if any of my LFS's stock those :S I don't think I've ever seen them except in pictures


----------



## fishy friend2 (Aug 28, 2011)

if you cant find sparkling gouramis, then i guess you could have a honey or two


----------



## Byron (Mar 7, 2009)

I consider the tank nearly stocked as is. The only gourami I would suggest for this setup would be the pygmy sparkling gourami, 3-5 of them.

The Gold Gourami, which is a colour variant of the Blue Gourami, Trichopodus trichopterus, was in my view too large a fish for a 15g tank and while one can't be certain this may have been a part of its early demise. The lifespan of this species varies among sources, from 4-5 minimum to 10 maximum, so whatever it may be, at 2 years it was premature. It normally attains 4-5 inches, possibly 6, which is a fair size. Growth problems can occur in small spaces. Thus I would not consider "larger" fish now.

Byron.


----------



## fishy friend2 (Aug 28, 2011)

gold gouramis, and honey gouramis, are different though, arent they


----------



## Byron (Mar 7, 2009)

fishy friend2 said:


> gold gouramis, and honey gouramis, are different though, arent they


Yes, very much different.


----------



## dorabaker (Jul 3, 2010)

thanks byron, yeah I was pretty sure my gold gourami died from stunting (I was aware it was too large for the tank but not at the time I bought it!) which is why I want to get a small species now.
anything other than the sparkling gourami you would suggest? I was thinking of a pair of blue rams, which I've kept before, but I'm a bit apprehensive about that because I know how delicate they are. I also know they are agressive, but having observed them when I've kept them before, I had two males in a 15 gallon and they never bothered the other fish. they fought a bit but it was all very 'formal' and they just seemed to want to establish a hierarchy, it was quite interesting to watch really. they never hurt each other.


----------



## Byron (Mar 7, 2009)

dorabaker said:


> thanks byron, yeah I was pretty sure my gold gourami died from stunting (I was aware it was too large for the tank but not at the time I bought it!) which is why I want to get a small species now.
> anything other than the sparkling gourami you would suggest? I was thinking of a pair of blue rams, which I've kept before, but I'm a bit apprehensive about that because I know how delicate they are. I also know they are agressive, but having observed them when I've kept them before, I had two males in a 15 gallon and they never bothered the other fish. they fought a bit but it was all very 'formal' and they just seemed to want to establish a hierarchy, it was quite interesting to watch really. they never hurt each other.


I would not risk two males in a 15g. A bonded pair would manage, but I still think there are too many other fish to push it. Rams should grow to almost 2 inches. And I stress the word bonded; another member recently lost a female when the male turned on her because they likely were not bonded. This is not an easy fish, as several members mentioned in that thread.

No one can predict how any fish will react in a given situation. We can learn from research of what is likely to occur, but different fish can react in different ways due to the environment or the fish. For instance, two male rams in this small a space might fight until one is dead, or they might not. And the latter could be due to both being stressed and not "normal" because of the environment--too small a space can cause some fish to become un-naturally passive, which is just as bad for the fish as being overly aggressive.


----------



## dorabaker (Jul 3, 2010)

Byron said:


> I would not risk two males in a 15g. A bonded pair would manage, but I still think there are too many other fish to push it. Rams should grow to almost 2 inches. And I stress the word bonded; another member recently lost a female when the male turned on her because they likely were not bonded. This is not an easy fish, as several members mentioned in that thread.
> 
> No one can predict how any fish will react in a given situation. We can learn from research of what is likely to occur, but different fish can react in different ways due to the environment or the fish. For instance, two male rams in this small a space might fight until one is dead, or they might not. And the latter could be due to both being stressed and not "normal" because of the environment--too small a space can cause some fish to become un-naturally passive, which is just as bad for the fish as being overly aggressive.


fair enough, I won't risk it then.


----------

