Archivarium 2004

[Greatwhite]

I have a male Flame Dwarf Gourami who's really nice and happy. I was wondering if I should get him a female? I know he'll do okay without, but how will he do with one? I currently have 1 dwarf gourami and 5 zebra danio in a 10 gallon tank.
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Gotta love our little fine-finned friends.

[~sunshine~]

It's not that easy to find a female gourami for they are much less colorful than the males and may not sell very well in a pet store. Ask different stores if they carry female dwarf gouramis. You may have to do a special order. You will have to invest a little more if you want this pair of fish to result in babies. Use google to find out a little more on breeding dwarf gouramis and make them as comfortable as possible. Good luck! Your tank sound just beautiful!!!
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:D

[nukri]

yeah, your gourami looks and probably IS happy. But if you can get him a female, YOU are going to be very happy seeing their vonderful courtship displays and spawning. However, for this to work you need to:
1. find a female which is not a trivial task, as previous responder aready mentioned.
2. have good number of plants (even if you are forced to go plastic). After spawning female needs hiding places or it may end with tragedy.
2a. if not plants, you'll need a separate tank to exile the female to after spawning.

Raising fry is a whole other issue and may not be easy but I didn't think it was your objective any way. Just watching spawning will be rewarding enough, at least for a while.
Good luck and let me know if you'll find a good mail order place for female dwarf gourami.
nukri
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The only people who make difference are people who are different themselves.
Magdana

[fiffy]

I've never had dwarf gaurami's but I know with the species I have kept you should keep them in a ratio of 2 females per male, and useually only 1 male in a tank. I don't know if your tank would suport 2 more gaurami's or not but if you see the male get very agressive with the female either add a second female or remove her. Hopefully this won't be an issue.