# Dwarf or pearl gourami with tetras?



## MUTigers (Oct 26, 2016)

What size tank?

We have 3 pearl gourami in a 40 gallon breeder with 20ish neon tetra. There's also 8 harlequin rasbora, 4 cory, and a few shrimp. The tank is moderately planted and everything seems to get along great!

I should probably also mention, the gourami were the last fish we added, so everything else was well established first.


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## Docock (Aug 5, 2015)

I have 15 green neon tetras, 3 halfbeaks, 3 vampire shirmp, and three peacock gudgeons with 8 pearl gouramis (did not mean to have this many) in a 48 gallon heavily planted. They were the last fish put in the tank and they are young juveniles, but they are very peaceful. I used to have dwarf gouramis, and besides being more aggressive they are a very overbreed unhealthy breed.


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## klibs (May 1, 2014)

+1 to Docock... dwarf gouramis are dicks / awful fish IMO and I will never own one again. Annoyingly aggressive for their size and I had trouble keeping them healthy vs the rest of my fish. one of the only fish that died on me a few times...

how big is your tank? pearls get pretty big...


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## Archaeofish (Dec 18, 2014)

I have pearl gouramis with rummynose and cardinal tetras, and well as otocinclus and CPDs. The gouramis and tetras have been in the same tank for about two years, and I've had no issues with interspecies aggression. Early one, I did notice some bullying of one female gouramis by one of the males, especially around feeding time, but that seemed to resolve itself at least a year ago.


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## klibs (May 1, 2014)

I actually just purchased 3 pearl gouramis yesterday to join my ~40 fish school of bloodfin tetras so I don't have experience yet... will be adding them to the tank next month after QT. but before i bought them i did some research...

Initial observation after a night in my planted QT tank is that the pearls have for the most part stuck together. This is surprising because I read that they usually hide in the corner for the first week as they are timid but this is not the case at all with mine. they are out and about, kissing the surface, and hanging out together more often than not. they are also very young and only like 2" long at this point.

Like the above poster said, they can work out fine with schools of fish that are alleged 'fin nippers' (rummys) under the right conditions. From what I have read, to increase chances of success you should establish the school of the smaller fish and THEN introduce the larger fish. also, the larger of the school of tetras you have the better off you will likely be. people say that large schools mess with each other more often than other fish. having said that, if you are going neons or cardinals I may not even worry about this point. pretty sure neons and cardinals both are not the 'fin nipping' type and are very docile - you should look into that though. never owned either. I have bloodfin tetras which I have been told are very much fin nippers / they are very active so we'll see what happens when I introduce my pearls...

Also read that pearls are generally extremely peaceful. any aggression between them should be solved simply by providing them with enough plants in the tank to 'escape to' every once in a while. this is common sense with just about any non-schooling fish though. once they establish 'tank dominance' mechanics and all that crap they will learn to co-exist given space. too small of a tank will obviously cause issues though... (again, common sense)

I haven't experienced the last 2 paragraphs firsthand but in my research those are the major things i saw pointed out


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## Nordic (Nov 11, 2003)

I really enjoyed my dwarf gourami's but I kept them long before the iridovirus thing became a big problem.


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## jr125 (Mar 5, 2015)

I'm done with dwarf gouramis too. Every one I've had has been aggressive toward tank mates to some degree and short lived. Love the pearls. Can't imagine running into any problems with them if housed in an appropriately sized tank with peaceful other fish.


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## Jbubba001 (Nov 24, 2013)

I have had a few pearl gourami's
I am thinking of getting another.
They seem to get along with everyone.
And I have never had any luck with the Dwarf gourami


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