I bought 2 male dwarf flame gourami's from a local pet store. They were shy for around 3 days then they BOTH proceeded to make bubble nests in my community tank. This proved to be very stressfull for my neon tetras as whenever one of them got anywhere near either bubble nest they were chased and nipped by the one or both of the gouramis.
These fish have a very interesting habit of spurting water just like the Archer fish. They do this by pumping water through their gills and spitting it out through their mouths. They shoot at the blood worms which I feed from a toothpick.
I had two males dwarf Gouramies, that I bought about two weeks apart. One was extremely active, the other extremely shy and always hiding. The active one picked on the shy one. I had to rearrange some plants one day, and the shy one had a little fishy heart attack and died. The active one died about a month later of an unknown illness. They are of the few fish I've ever had die. Either they are very delicate, or my tank wasn't a happy home for them. Other than that, they were lovely fish.
My male dwarf gourami is in a 110 liter tank, he wasn't one to hide and hung out with the oriental goldfish. What's weird is he seems to defend areas for some of the other fish, it's like he helps them chase away intruders. (Maybe I just think that's what he is doing). I recently purchased what I think is a female for him. She is still quite a bit smaller than him and he didn't take up with her but chases her away whenever she gets near him.
Just don't keep them in a small tank with a male betta. Although they look very different from human point of view, some bettas certainly disagree with us.
I'm a huge fan of gouramis. I have a neon blue dwarf and a cinnamon dwarf in my 200 liter community tank with a large gold, a blue (large), a moonlight, and a pearl. Also roomies are 4 australian rainbows, a CAE, a striped raphael cat, and an upside down cat. Everyone gets along peacefully! They get flaked food, and frozen brine shrimp 3 times a week. I love them to death. Bright, fun to watch, & so pretty. I like to watch the neon blue. He sits in waiting till one of the bigger ones comes by, then darts out, as if to say tag you're it, then darts off again leaving the others circling in confusion. He's a blast. My kids named him Dart, appropriately enough because of this funny antic.
