# Small school of Gouramis or Rainbows Possible?



## the planter (Jul 8, 2010)

ive heard you can keep sparkling gouramis in like a school. rainbows are great  they are a mid tank fish and really like to swim and are very hardy. bright colors too haha


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## eser21 (Apr 19, 2011)

im not 100% on this but as i understand it dwarf gouramis need to be treated like a chiclid in the sense that they will be aggressive to each other if they arent forced to live in close proximity by sheer numbers.
I had a male and a female dwarf and dont think i could have introduced another pair, the male was quite aggressive and permanently trying to build bubble nests.... have you considered pearl (lace) gouramis? you could have lots of females and 1 male without a problem and the females are very pretty too, unlike dwarfs IMO.

I think you can mix many rainbow species but maybe not all ???.. no personal experience by my LFS has a 15ft planted tank with hundreds of different rainbows in it....


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## Jadelin (Sep 30, 2009)

The peaceful temperament is towards other types of fishes, meaning they won't bother their tankmates. But the males are aggressive towards each other. Also, you need to make sure that you don't have other aggressive fish in that tank that would bother your gourami, as they are rather shy.

However, in a tank that is big enough with enough wood and plants, the males can each establish territories and several can get along in a big tank. You may be able to keep several males in a tank as big as yours, but you will never have a school of them, because they won't tolerate being near each other.

That being said, Dwarf Gouramis are quite small, and wouldn't stand out very much in a tank as big as yours. Personally I like the coloring of them the best, but have you considered some of the other bigger gouramis? You have plenty of space for them in your tank, and some of them are a little less shy than the dwarfs tend to be.


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## Diana (Jan 14, 2010)

I have kept Pearl Gouramis in a tank with fish as small as Guppies, and the Pearls did not eat the adults. Very few fry survived, though. 

In general, most Anabatoids are territorial, and aggressive. It varies among species, and somewhat among individual fish. 

More aggressive:
Males of any species. 
Dwarf Gouramis
3-Spot and all the color variations
Betta
Paradise Fish

Not so aggressive:
Moonlight
Honey and the hybrids
Sparkling

More peaceful:
Snakeskin (But these are too large for fish under about 2" long- I have Snakeskins in my 125 with Clown Loaches and Bichers. They eat Guppies)

Suggestions for upper level schooling fish for a 'small fish' tank:
Hatchets (but they jump! Tank must be fully covered)
Danios (may also jump, but not to the extent of the Hatchets)

You can keep many species of Rainbows in the same tank, many species have a wide range of tolerances that overlap. 
Many species will cross breed. If you get baby rainbows from a mixed species tank make sure you tell whoever gets them that they may be hybrids. (If you get enough to give away). Better than that, research which species will hybridize and do not keep those.


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## greentomato (Jul 25, 2011)

Thanks so much! Such a relief to finally have some good info regarding these guys. Thats a really good idea to keep several female pearl gourami's and 1 male; I didnt realize the females were just as pretty so that sounds like a great solution. Also pre-selecting Rainbows so they dont xbreed is a great idea that didnt even occur to me. Im still back and forth between the two but now at least i get to the fun part of looking at lots of fish to pick a look since now i have a much better idea what to expect. Its hard to not get super excited and "Noah's ark" it with so much space lol.

Right now i am thinking silver hatchets(ty for the idea Diana i <3 these), cardinals , pearl gourami and some corys for the bottom. I really like the Chilatherina and Glossolepis Rainbows but i dont want my tank to look cluttered so i might have to wait until i build another tank.
OR
Marble Hatchets, gold tetras, Rainbows and corys. 
:bounce:


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## flip9 (Jun 16, 2011)

You need to use a spawning mop to breed rainbow fishes. So as long as you dont have any mop looking plants (like a moss wall) they are pretty hard to breed.


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