# ANY non-agressive Centerpiece Fish?



## Wasserpest (Jun 12, 2003)

Pearl Gouramies are big, beautiful, and peaceful centerpieces. They skim the surface as well. 

They can be skittish in a highlight, bare tank, but in large tanks with enough hiding places they become pretty tame. I can catch mine by the tail when feeding :hihi:

(If you click at the Photo link for the 100gal in my signature you can get an idea.)


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## medicineman (Sep 28, 2005)

Congo tetra. They do not move around as much and IMO does not need too much swimming space despite of their size. You can pick normal or albino ones depending on your setup and personal taste. Pick more males as they are better looking. It would be not so easy to find good sized congo tetra on the market, so good luck if you decide to hunt for them.


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## TheOtherGeoff (Feb 11, 2003)

i agree. i love pearl gouramis, however discus are always good call. 

myabe if you could find them, red line barbs would be awesome


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## RoseHawke (Mar 10, 2004)

*medicineman:* Congos are cool, I saw some at my LFS but I believe like most tetras they are happier in a school and I really don't want more than two, three more fish in there at the most.

*Wasserpest:* Pearls? Hmmmm . . . hadn't really considered them as I had read somewhere once upon a time that they could be shy. Although the dwarf gourami in my 10 gallon ("Swami" Gourami :hihi: , the husband named him,) certainly isn't and has a lot of personality to boot. 

*TheOtherGeoff:* Again, I believe the barbs are a schooling fish? Hmmm . . . Pearls . . . hmmmm. Will definitely have to look into those .


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## spypet (Sep 15, 2006)

assuming you go with a pair of pearls, i wonder if their gender is important to their temperament. MM? MF? FF?


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## Wookiellmonster (Jul 29, 2005)

I agree Pearl Gouramis are beautiful center-piece fish. I just bought 2 three days ago, right now they are quite shy, but I'm sure they will adjust. And Wasserpest is right they do skim the surface, its great! I don't know how to sex them, but I have two one is 3 inches and the other is 2 inches both don't have long finnage nor the golden chest, so I expect both to be females. They follow each other alot though.


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## RoseHawke (Mar 10, 2004)

I think it's decided! Sometimes we can't see the forest for the trees as it were. The Pearls meet with the husband figure's approval; they're a slightly larger and non-schooling fish which meets with _my _approval, plus they're surface skimmers which will negate me having to obtain either a molly or two or a mechanical skimmer. . . AND they're _gorgeous_ fish!

Now comes the hard part . . . _finding_ a couple!

Thanks for all of y'all's suggestions!


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## spypet (Sep 15, 2006)

just curious; there are dozens of Gouramis and Anabantids species.
are Pearls in any way particularly suited for a peaceful planted tank?


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## Wasserpest (Jun 12, 2003)

Pearls are less aggressive than other labyrinth fish. A mature male can be quite stunning, however there is a lot of junk out there in the fish stores :icon_frow 

Look for a male and one or more females. It can be tough to sex them when they are (too) small, maybe just gotta take your chances.


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## Wookiellmonster (Jul 29, 2005)

I believe they are the most docile gouramis I have kept. They don't eat any of my plants or uproot them so thats a plus.

How do you sex them when they are mature Wasserpest?


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## spypet (Sep 15, 2006)

> Sexing: You’ll see little difference between males and females until they reach two inches. At this size males sport a top fin twice as long as the female’s. He also starts developing a gold chest – a mere hint of his striking adult coloration.


How to Breed Pearl Gouramis, Trichogaster leeri, with pictures


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## danepatrick (Jul 17, 2006)

i will agree. pearl gouramis as well. that's what *MY* centerpiece fish are.


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## crazy loaches (Sep 29, 2006)

Pearl gouramis are awsome in a plant tank. But if I were to offer another choice for a centerpeace fish, that was a bit smaller, might be an Apisto like an agassizii or cacatuoides. They are moderately aggressive (mostly with thier own kind) but never showed any aggression towards anyone in my community tank. Not sure about shrimp though.

Here is a pic of a juvi barely an inch long:


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## dufus (Nov 13, 2006)

dwarf gouramies can get aggressive imo, but pearls RULE!!!
they never even try to chase/bite/nip/[email protected]/argue/dissagree w/ any other fish imtank.

they are very beutifull when mature, and are very gracefull swimmers.


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## spypet (Sep 15, 2006)

how do pearl's deal with potential fin nippers, such as some barbs?


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## dufus (Nov 13, 2006)

i've heard of them dieng from dwarf puffers and bichir bites, but i don't know how much barbs nip. i know in my aquarium book(20+yrs.old, and german translated->english) it says dont putw/tiger barbs. i think they would be a little bit annoid.


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## indyglyder (Jul 14, 2006)

I would not be put off by the rainbows too much. buy enough of the same species to make a school and they will be happy. one other you can try is the red line barb these should be in a school as well. can be a bit hard to find and pricey though. check out this site for rainbow fish species it may give you some ideas Home of the Rainbowfish


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## Mori (Jul 23, 2003)

I'd give angels a second thought if you can't find something else. I kept mine with yoyos, small plecos, danios, etc., without any problems. The main troublemakers were the loaches, actually. A tad on the playful side. Angels aren't angels, certainly, but with enough space, they can get along OK with other fish, especially if the other fish are there first. Of course they do vary enormously in temperament so you might get a stinker. But don't rule them out completely!


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## dogdoc (Feb 26, 2006)

I have a pair of pearl gouramis in my 75 gal. As well as a mixed school of rainbows. Have some yoyo loaches, ottos, and BN plecs too. No aggression problems at all.


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## ianmoede (Oct 1, 2004)

My pearls are anything but shy, they are out constantly. I would love to get a school of 6+ someday.


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## Lupin (Nov 21, 2006)

spypet said:


> how do pearl's deal with potential fin nippers, such as some barbs?


Hi Spypet.

Gouramis are best kept *away* from potential fin nippers. Even in a large tank, I wouldn't mix long-finned species along with fin nippers like the tiger barbs, serpae tetras and some anostomids.
Cherry barbs and pentazonas are the few barbs I would suggest comapatble with gouramis.


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## spypet (Sep 15, 2006)

Blue, thanks for the feedback.
I'm going to Petco tomorrow (they get their fish Delivery Wednesday)
if they have a fresh batch of pearls old enough that I can easily
distinguish male/female (I know how), then I'm going to buy a pair.
My Barbs have been very well behaved with every new tank mate thus far,
(they seem to prefer annoying each other than any other tank mates)
so I think I'll get away with it. if not, I can always throw the pearls into 
my Crayfish tank as they occupy completely different water levels.


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## Lupin (Nov 21, 2006)

spypet said:


> Blue, thanks for the feedback.
> I'm going to Petco tomorrow (they get their fish Delivery Wednesday)
> if they have a fresh batch of pearls old enough that I can easily
> distinguish male/female (I know how), then I'm going to buy a pair.
> ...


Lol..Thanks for coloring up my username, spypet.:tongue: 
Good luck with shopping.


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## ianmoede (Oct 1, 2004)

You know, I'm not sure id worry about fin nippers all that much. My pearls wouldn't take that from anyone, they're very "lively"


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## spypet (Sep 15, 2006)

Hi, I just wanted to thank everyone who contributed to this thread.
I monitored several LPS this past Month till one finally got in some
medium size 2.5" pearl gouramis. for $10 I got a male&female who get
along well in my tank, and the wide variety of fish in my community.
besides looking nice, they behave differently than my other fish
which makes their contribution to my tank all the more pleasurable.
FYI all the LPS claim they don't usually carry pearls because their
fins often break up in shipping, so they become harder to sell. I
can see how that's possible; fortunately all the fins are intact :icon_lol:
my pearls are more active than I expected. they seem very busy
exploring every inch of my tank disturbing other fish in the process.
hopefully once they feel at home, their activities will calm down.


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## dufus (Nov 13, 2006)

congrats, especially on the pair.


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## spypet (Sep 15, 2006)

yeah, the kid who netted them first gave me 2 females.
(he was only looking at the color, not the fin structure)
I ran them by the owner (it's a mah&pah pet shop) and
he went back and switched it to get me one Male too.
apparently his last shipment in were mostly females,
so he only had 2 males left out of the dozen in there.
I purposely wanted medium to large pearls to be sure
it would be easier to sex them, so I really lucked out.
I'm going to leave some water lettuce in a corner in
case the male feels like doing some bubble nest art.
I'm not looking to breed them, just make them happy.


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## Aqua Dave (Feb 23, 2004)

This looks like an older thread, but I'll toss in my 2 pennies. I have 3 angels, 2 rainbows (started with 4), and 2 opaline gouramis in my 150. I think any of them would be good centerpiece fish. The angels can be aggressive (mainly towards eachother), but with enough space and plants this can be mitigated. The rainbows are very nicely colored once they mature. Mine are the ornatus variety and truely look like rainbows. I'll eventually get some more, but I haven't found any that looked good at the LFS yet. The gouramis look nice as well and do not bother any of the other fish. They do kind of freak out easily and will sometimes hide. The one thing with the larger gouramis is they are pigs. They will eat just about anything and will continue to eat. I've found them eating hair and brush algae. Mine are fat to the point that they appear bloated. I've been trying to slim them down, but it's difficult in a community tank.

I personally think the angelfish and rainbows have much more color and character than gouramis. My gouramis just kind of float around while the angelfish and rainbows are always moving about. I like my gouramis, but I wouldn't pick them if I could only have one of the three.

David


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## ianmoede (Oct 1, 2004)

On the subject of pearl's, MF pairs in smaller tanks can be fairly aggressive. I'd try more of a ratio of 1:4 male to female to see if you could reduce some of the all out aggression directed at the opposite sex.


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