# dwarf gourami, ram, and rainbowfish compatibility



## ShadowBeast (Jul 27, 2011)

I'm thinking about getting a neon dwarf dwarf gourami, a german blue ram and possibly a rainbowfish would these cause trouble for my plants or other fish? I have a male swordtail and few cories and a few Synodontis lucipinnis.


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## ShyShrimpDoc (Jun 28, 2012)

What type of rainbow fish? These vary from larger more aggressive fish to ting guys like threadfins or Gertrude's. There vary just as widely in habits and compatible tank mates.


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## ShadowBeast (Jul 27, 2011)

ShyShrimpDoc said:


> What type of rainbow fish? These vary from larger more aggressive fish to ting guys like threadfins or Gertrude's. There vary just as widely in habits and compatible tank mates.


I was looking at the smaller rainbows like the Boesemani Rainbow at LiveAquaria.


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## LB79 (Nov 18, 2011)

Rams and dwarf gouramis don't like each other. Either the DG will trash the ram, or the ram will trash the DG. By trash I mean harass nonstop.


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## ShadowBeast (Jul 27, 2011)

LB79 said:


> Rams and dwarf gouramis don't like each other. Either the DG will trash the ram, or the ram will trash the DG. By trash I mean harass nonstop.


Is there another type of Cichlid that won't harass the gourami and what else do these fish hate?


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## Phish (Apr 29, 2009)

I have a dwarf flame gourami, 2 bosamini rainbow fish and a german blue ram in my tank. they have all been together about a year. They were all added at different times and get along great. Never see any nipping. I have them in a 40 breeder that is heavily planted. the ram and gourami do their thing on there own and the rainbows just chill together.

I also have 9 tiger barbs and even they get along well with everyone! All fish are different, it really comes down to their individual personalities in my experience. Mine may be atypical


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## ShadowBeast (Jul 27, 2011)

Phish said:


> I have a dwarf flame gourami, 2 bosamini rainbow fish and a german blue ram in my tank. they have all been together about a year. They were all added at different times and get along great. Never see any nipping. I have them in a 40 breeder that is heavily planted. the ram and gourami do their thing on there own and the rainbows just chill together.
> 
> I also have 9 tiger barbs and even they get along well with everyone!


 Any chance of them harassing Amano shrimp?


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## Phish (Apr 29, 2009)

I have 2 amanos in my tank as well, they are doing fine. My tank is super planted though, lotsa rocks and caves and hiding spots.


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## ShadowBeast (Jul 27, 2011)

Phish said:


> I have 2 amanos in my tank as well, they are doing fine. My tank is super planted though, lotsa rocks and caves and hiding spots.


 Luckily I got 2 ceramic cichlid caves and some seiyu stones so I should be able to make some more hiding spots.
I need to get new plants though.


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## daworldisblack (Jan 12, 2012)

I have Dwarf Gouramies and Rams living together in a 25G. They seems to get along fine.. minor chasing here and there but no fin damages. Both dont harass my 8 Amanos in there.


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## ShadowBeast (Jul 27, 2011)

daworldisblack said:


> I have Dwarf Gouramies and Rams living together in a 25G. They seems to get along fine.. minor chasing here and there but no fin damages. Both dont harass my 8 Amanos in there.


 Okay that sounds alright.
What tetras or rasboras? will they harass those?


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## Noahma (Oct 18, 2009)

ShadowBeast said:


> I was looking at the smaller rainbows like the Boesemani Rainbow at LiveAquaria.


Bosmani are not a smaller rainbow, they can top out at 5-5.5" They also are a schooling fish and require numbers to feel most comfortable and show the best colors. They require a tank at least 48" long, and are very active. 

The GBR and M.Bosmani also have very different water requirements, the german blue ram prefer very soft water, while the Bosmani come from rivers that are quite a bit harder. 

If you would like to keep a specie of rainbow, Dwarf Neon Rainbows (M.Praecox). I would scrap the LFS ones and look for someone that is actively breeding ones found in the Paigai area. They are much more colorful, and much more hardy than the mass bred ones found from the fish farms. They should work well with the german blue ram, and have pretty similar water quality requirements. They should do well with the dwarf gourami as well.


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## 245Bettalover (Sep 13, 2012)

What tank size is this?


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## LB79 (Nov 18, 2011)

Rams won't harass smaller fish like tetras or rasboras. DGs... they are very unpredictable.


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## ShadowBeast (Jul 27, 2011)

245Bettalover said:


> What tank size is this?


 A 38 gallon.



LB79 said:


> Rams won't harass smaller fish like tetras or rasboras. DGs... they are very unpredictable.


 I guess it depends on the fish's personality.


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## 245Bettalover (Sep 13, 2012)

The Synodontis lucipinnis could bother the ram...


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## ShadowBeast (Jul 27, 2011)

Noahma said:


> Bosmani are not a smaller rainbow, they can top out at 5-5.5" They also are a schooling fish and require numbers to feel most comfortable and show the best colors. They require a tank at least 48" long, and are very active.
> 
> The GBR and M.Bosmani also have very different water requirements, the german blue ram prefer very soft water, while the Bosmani come from rivers that are quite a bit harder.
> 
> If you would like to keep a specie of rainbow, Dwarf Neon Rainbows (M.Praecox). I would scrap the LFS ones and look for someone that is actively breeding ones found in the Paigai area. They are much more colorful, and much more hardy than the mass bred ones found from the fish farms. They should work well with the german blue ram, and have pretty similar water quality requirements. They should do well with the dwarf gourami as well.


I saw the Bosmani on one site as max size 3" and another website for 5", though they had different colors.
I actually saw some Praecox rainbows at one of the LFS near me, they were a little over an inch long(must be very young ones) and looked very pretty.



245Bettalover said:


> The Synodontis lucipinnis could bother the ram...


That actually sounds pretty funny and I'm guessing because they ram would like a hiding spot the catfish would bug the ram for the spot, am I right?


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## Noahma (Oct 18, 2009)

ShadowBeast said:


> I saw the Bosmani on one site as max size 3" and another website for 5", though they had different colors.
> I actually saw some Praecox rainbows at one of the LFS near me, they were a little over an inch long(must be very young ones) and looked very pretty.


Bosmani are a great rainbow, there are two color varieties, one orange, one yellow. 
Rainbows are a commitment, but very fun! They prefer longer tanks to taller tanks, so a longer footprint is a necessity. The one problem with most of the LFS rainbows has to do with hybridization. Most species of rainbows will hybridize with other species. the quality goes down when this happens (colors get dull, fish get less hardy etc.) So.... if you are wanting to get into rainbows a bit more the best bet is to look for local breeders with good genetic strains of rainbows, they should be able to tell you the species as well as the river system it is from. IE M. Pracox 'pagai', each species of rainbows can have variation of colors depending on the origonal catch location. 

The Bosmani 'Lake Aytinjo' tend to be a bit smaller than its other brethren. So there is some confusion when it comes to sizes. 

M. herbertaxelrodi would be a good rainbowfish for your tanks dimensions as well. They are also known as "yellow" rainbows, featuring a nice bright yellow body (one group has a light green shade to the body) and bright orange tails and fins. 
(the pictures in the link do not do them justice, they are by far one of my favorite rainbows)
http://rainbowfish.angfaqld.org.au/Haxel.htm

M. Kamaka would do well too. 
http://rainbowfish.angfaqld.org.au/Kamaka.htm

M. Nigrans
http://rainbowfish.angfaqld.org.au/Nigrans.htm

These are some of the mid sized rainbows that would do well with a 36" long tank. They top out at about 3.5" at the most. 

Rainbows also take a while to color up, so buying them in a fish store you are going to get essentially colorless fish. Some rainbows will nip and eat fine leaf plants, so watch carefully, my Herberts do not touch my plants due to the high plant content in their diet. 

I have kept the Praecox a few times, and have had the same results with fish store stock, they live for a while and suddenly die. No explanation, just poor stock. You can get some good stock specifically the paigai (best color out of that fish I have seen) off aquabid. Another option would be some of the blue eye species. the frucatas are a small species, but they do not have a very long life span, so learning how to breed them would be part of the fun to keep a healthy colony. 

If you go with the above mentioned rainbows, they like harder water, although due to natural fluctuation in the water chemistry from season to season they can do relatively well in a bit softer water. If you really want the rams, I would look into other south american fish such as tetras etc. I have found that Apisto. cacatuoides do well with rainbows, mine were breeding and having a blast in the lower reaches of my tank at the same time with my herberts.


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## 245Bettalover (Sep 13, 2012)

ShadowBeast said:


> I saw the Bosmani on one site as max size 3" and another website for 5", though they had different colors.
> I actually saw some Praecox rainbows at one of the LFS near me, they were a little over an inch long(must be very young ones) and looked very pretty.
> 
> 
> That actually sounds pretty funny and I'm guessing because they ram would like a hiding spot the catfish would bug the ram for the spot, am I right?


yes you would be right


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## Diana (Jan 14, 2010)

> dwarf gourami, a german blue ram, a rainbowfish, a swordtail, a few cories, a few Synodontis lucipinnis


Look up the optimum water conditions for each of these species. They are all over the board from black water to liquid rock. I sure would not mix fish like this! 

This is a Noah's Ark tank: one (or two) of everything. Much better to do more research and get groups of fish that are compatible. 
A single species that is schooling, and enough to make a school is better than one of these and two of those...


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## Grifter (Aug 23, 2011)

Ive got 2 Bosmani in with a breeding pair of dwarf flag cichlids and a Apistogramma cacatuoides. No problem at all my bosmani are about 4" now.


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## ShadowBeast (Jul 27, 2011)

Diana said:


> Look up the optimum water conditions for each of these species. They are all over the board from black water to liquid rock. I sure would not mix fish like this!
> 
> This is a Noah's Ark tank: one (or two) of everything. Much better to do more research and get groups of fish that are compatible.
> A single species that is schooling, and enough to make a school is better than one of these and two of those...


 The fish I have so far haven't had any problems.
I think I'll just get the dwarf gourami and do some more info searching with the rainbow fish, I want to try to get a small schooling fish like tetras,barbs, or rasboras too.


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## Samarasa (Jan 31, 2009)

ShadowBeast, in my 20high I have 3 dwarf honey gouramis (2 female, 1 male) a breeding pair of German blue rams (very adolescent), 15 neon tetras, and a cleanup crew consisting of 2 otos and 3 pygmy loaches. 

The rams and gouramis get along just fine, in fact the gouramis spawned last Friday with no interference from the rams (though the neon tetras ate all the eggs pretty much immediately because I didn't turn my HOB off). The only time when there are any minor ram/gourami disputes is when one of the rams is guarding an algae pellet at feeding time, and even then it's only chasing and not biting.


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## ShadowBeast (Jul 27, 2011)

Samarasa said:


> ShadowBeast, in my 20high I have 3 dwarf honey gouramis (2 female, 1 male) a breeding pair of German blue rams (very adolescent), 15 neon tetras, and a cleanup crew consisting of 2 otos and 3 pygmy loaches.
> 
> The rams and gouramis get along just fine, in fact the gouramis spawned last Friday with no interference from the rams (though the neon tetras ate all the eggs pretty much immediately because I didn't turn my HOB off). The only time when there are any minor ram/gourami disputes is when one of the rams is guarding an algae pellet at feeding time, and even then it's only chasing and not biting.


 Do you think the gourami will harm cherry barbs?


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