Gouramis come from very warm waters – like the bettas.  Keep them warm (75^o to 80^o), or you’ll have constant problems with most of them.

They Breathe Air.  Many of the fishes of Southeast Asia depend on an extra breathing apparatus called a labyrinth to help them survive in warm water with its low oxygen levels.  Gouramis belong to this group of Anabantids that take air from the surface of the water.  They also use air to build their nests.

Not Picky.  Gouramis eat nearly anything you give them.  The true goramy even likes dry dog food.  (But, let’s make it clear up front that dog food is a stupid thing to feed them.)  Flake foods suit the others fine.  They color up especially well on the commercial color foods and at spawning time.

Easy to Spawn.  Most of the Gouramis spawn as easily as bettas.  Exceptions:  Chocolates, true goramys, kissers, and moonlights.  Condition your breeders on meaty frozen foods and flakes.  Keep them at 80^o in a half-filled 10-gallon tank.  The male builds a bubblenest.  He wraps around the female to coax the eggs out.  The eggs float and hatch in 24 to 36 hours.

Easy to Raise.  Since the eggs and fry float, feel free to remove the parents.  Larger Gouramis spawn a thousand eggs.  The small ones lay about a hundred the others lay hundreds.  Feed the fry infusoria, “green water,” and/or very newly-hatched brine shrimp.  Keep the fry warm.  Once they grow large enough to eat fine dry food, they grow rapidly.  Slow filtration on the babies keeps them from suffocating in the thin layer of scum on the top of still water.

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Blue Gourami.  Good choice.  Tough medium-sized cookie.  Able to survive in non-heated aquaria.  Males get pushy.  Note short top fin on this female and egg-filled belly.  Look to the belly-hair page for the variants.

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Opaline male.  To see the many blue gourami variants, go to Trichogaster.

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Lavender male -- very similar.

Blue Gouramis include the three-spot, Cosby, Stafford, opaline, gold, purple, amethyst, lavender, and platinum Gouramis.  They’re all the same species and thus all breed together,  This group consists of the easiest and most reliable spawners of all the Gouramis.

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Dwarf Gourami.  Good choice.  Mixes well.  Comes in several colors these days.  Eats nearly anything.  Hates dirty water.  Maybe a little vain?

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Powder Blue Gourami.  Color variant of dwarf.  1.5" in this case.  All males.

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Turquoise Gourami.  Color variant of dwarf.  1.5" in this case.  All males.

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The turquoise are just flat out pretty.

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Neon dwarf male gourami looks better but just a bit better.

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Blood-Red Gourami.  Color variant of the honey gourami.  1.5".  All males.

Dwarf Gouramis sport a red and blue color combination.  They are especially attractive at breeding time.  The neon reds and powder blues result from selective breeding – darn clever these Orientals!  Honey Dwarf Gouramis now appear more often in the chemically augmented version  than the original.

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The massive pygmy or now called sparkling gourami pushing almost an inch.

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Another one slightly larger.  Pretty but tiny.

Sparkling, Croaking, and Pygmy Gouramis occasionally show up.  These tiny guys never get as large or as pretty as the dwarves.  Keep them in small tanks.  Ditto the chocolate gouramis.

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Giant Gourami.  Good choice.  Gets its name not because it's a "giant," but because it's a larger version of the dwarf.  Pointed dorsal on male.  Sometimes called banded gourami.

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Female giant more subtly colored.  Rounded dorsal.

Giant Gouramis max out between four and six inches – not the biggest Gourami by a long shot.  Male giants develop into very colorful specimens.  

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Honey-colored variant of the thick lip.

Thick Lips resemble a small version of the giant with a black line below their bottom lip.

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One-inch honey dwarf gourami before maturity.

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Painted honey dwarf gourami.

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Male Pearl Gourami.  Great finnage with no orange chest color.

Pearl Gouramis grow into very attractive four-inch fishes.  The males develop long finnage and very bright colors – especially at breeding time.  The ones you see in dealer tanks show only a hint of their potential.  Every medium community tank needs at least a pair of pearl Gouramis.

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Young white version of osphronemus.  Sometimes called Archer Gourami.)  Face still looks good.  Wounded in side.  He's  eight inches.  See how they get the "archer" name?

True Goramys get huge – nearly two feet long.  They’re highly regarded as food fish where they come from.  They eat tremendous quantities of any food offered.  Mix them only with larger fishes.  Medium sized ones like to argue with each other.

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Most "kissers" start out at about two inches long. 

Kissing Gouramis get big in large tanks.  Their “kissing” can damage smaller and/or unsuspecting tankmates.  Keep these in pairs so they can “kiss” each other.

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Snakeskin Gourami.  Somewhat plain for most people.  Here's a small (three inch) specimen -- not much color.  Best Gourami to mix with South American cichlids.

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Younger snakeskin but much better colors.

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At four inches, you can sex this young male -- long dorsal.

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Adult snakeskins (eight inches here) develop more color but still look drab compared to 
most gouramis -- a generally colorful group of fish.  Male.

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Another snakeskin almost as large.  Can't see top fin well enough to sex.  Female?

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Moon lights sport an attractive silver color.  Some have a dark stripe along their side.

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No idea why the stripe on some specimens.  Female.

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Orange pectoral fins supposedly denote males.  We've never spawned them.

Moonlights and Snakeskins also get large.  Moonlights grow into attractive silver specimens.  Snakeskins stay a drab brown with black marks on their sides.  They never get mean but mix with cichlids.

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Chocolate Gourami.  Barely over an inch long.  Very poor choice for any aquarium.  Too small.  Too drab.  Too shy.  Too disease susceptible.  If they don't get ich (like this one, check the spots), they get velvet.  They need very warm water to survive. 

Chocolate Gouramis demand water too warm for most people to keep.  They’re also picky eaters and very susceptible to ich and velvet.

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Combtail Gourami.  Pretty but nasty fish.  Kills anything it can reach -- including each other.  Just not a good mixer.  We rarely see these guys these days, thankfully.

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Another nasty Anabas -- the climbing perch.  Not a fast seller.

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At four inches, these guys eat goldfish.

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Not good mixer and great tank escapers.

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Not the prettiest fish, but they make a great clean-up crew in a paludarium.

Combtail Gouramis and the other Anabas species (like climbing perch) beat the heck out of other fishes in their tank.  They’re nasty fishes seldom offered for sale.  Don’t get one if you get the chance.

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Called noble gouramis, these are really Ctenops nobilis.

Noble Gouramis.  We never saw these before 2003.  They look skinnier than most Ctenops.  Go to Miscellaneous Oddballs for more pictures of Ctenops.  Some of the Ctenops get along just fine with American cichlids.  They might just move fast enough to stay out of way of African cichlids.

Paradise Fish are a close cousin to the Gouramis.  Red, Blue, and Albino are the three most often seen strains.  Blacks show up occasionally in small quantities.  Blacks are much subtler in color and smaller in size.  The new Purples get their bright colors from injections of dye.

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We add the algae wafers for our plecos.  The gouramis eat them even faster.

Feeding Oddity.  Gouramis love the Hikari algae wafers.  We just discovered this fact this year (2004).

Word of Caution.  All Gourami keepers need to know how to cure and/or prevent velvet.  Adding salt to the water always helps.

Last Word.  Gouramis offer a very wide range of sizes – from the smallest Pygmy Gourami to the lumbering True Goramy.   Pick the ones that best fit your needs.  LA.

For More Gourami Pics go to Trichogasters

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