Dwarf Gourami’s were originally found in Bangladesh, Pakistan and India, but they have since been introduced into other areas of the world with thanks in part to their ability to adapt to a wide range of water conditions.
Tank Requirements
- Community
- Temperatures between 25°C and 28°C
- Water between pH 6.5 and pH 8.0
- Minimum of 80 litres or 18 Gallons
- Heavily planted preferred
- Gentle water flow
A hardy fish that is available in a variety of colours that is able to adapt to a variety of tank conditions, however, caution should be taken when adding these fish to a community tank as the males can become aggressive.
Feeding
- These are omnivores
- Flake
- Bloodworms
- Artemia
- Daphnia
- Pellets
These fish are not fussy eaters at all, they will devour anything put into the tanks. They particularly enjoy grazing on plants, especially floating plants.
Male Dwarf Gourami
Size: Maximum length 9cm
Colour: Usually an electric blue and orange/red mix.
Sexing: The male Dwarf Gourami is alot brighter coloured than the female.
Female Dwarf Gourami
Size: Maximum length 9cm
Colour: The majority of female guppies have a silver body.
Sexing: The females are generally a plain silver colour and they have a fuller/plumper body.
Personal Review
These are not my favorite fish. They spend their lives squabbling with everything in the tank, despite my setting the tank up to suit semi-aggressive fish, these fish still find a way of annoying everyone.
The male spends his time chewing off parts of my plants and carrying them like trophies around the tank until he bunches them all in a corner. To try to curb this behaviour I bought floating plants, it didn’t help. The roots from the floating plants now just provide a more stable place for him to build his nest of dead plants.
The male is currently suffering with popeye, this is because he decided to pick a fight with my golden algae eater, my algae eater didn’t survive.
To be honest, it could just be bad luck that I have a demented fish, I have heard lots of people say they have no problem at all with them. They do add a certain colour pop to the tank and they are always busy, which is nice to see. They are easy to care for, and have no issues with eating anything in the tank, but due to my experience with my male, I wouldn’t keep them again.
