Gourami's

[coops]

Hi everyone,

Just wondering has anyone had any problems keeping pearl gourami and dwarf gourami with discus?

I have 2 dwarf's and 3 pearls in with my discus and find that they seem to scare the discus and out compete them for food.. There are 5 discus at about 3" each and have only been in the tank for about a week, will they become more aggressive at feeding time as they get use to there new home or should i just move the gourami's out?

[coops]

Come on guys thow me a freakin bone ere... i have not ad much experience with discus and just wanna know if gouramis are or aint a good mix with the all mighty discus?? anyone?? come on?

[Benny]

Patience is a virtue, my friend...
Any dwarf gourami IMO isnt going to hassle a discus too much... But any NON DWARF gouramis, eg pearl, and golden get kinda agressive.....

I hope im right, and that i was of sum use...

benny

[oscar]

I've kept pearl gourami's in a tank with discus before and never had any issues. The pearl gourami's were about 4 years old.

That was a while ago and i have since moved them out to make room for more discus.

[coops]

Sorry for being a pushy bugger but im just being a lil protecive of the new inmates... so if you had to make a definative decision benny would you say bye bye pearly's? i love the little buggers but well they aint quite as spectacular or expensive as the discus so if they have to go so be it... would like to hear any other opinions..

[sammigold]

are they being aggressive toward the discus? Maybe give it a couple of weeks to allow the discus to settle in.. can you feed from two different areas in the tank so that you can get the gouramis eating at one end and then sneak some to the discus at the other end? Just monitor it and your instinct will tell you.. "to gourami or not to gourami" (bad attempt at humour!!) Good Luck!!! :lol:

[coops]

are they being aggressive toward the discus? Maybe give it a couple of weeks to allow the discus to settle in.. can you feed from two different areas in the tank so that you can get the gouramis eating at one end and then sneak some to the discus at the other end? Just monitor it and your instinct will tell you.. "to gourami or not to gourami" (bad attempt at humour!!) Good Luck!!! :lol:

No they are not by any means being "aggressive" towards the shy little pettals, but they do push and shove as soon as food is put fourth..

I have tried sly ones on the gourami's but they outsmart me and the discus every time they are like ravinous little piggies and they show no mercie..

[Merrilyn]

Hi Coops. The purists will tell you not to keep anything in with your discus, other than more discus.

There's good reasoning behind this. Discus are likely to come down with diseases that most other fish can easily shake off. Something that only mildly affects another fish, can prove fatal to a discus. With extremely valuable fish, it's a good idea to keep them on their own.

However, having said that, most discus keepers, myself included, keep some other type of fish with discus in a display tank. Personally I keep Altum Angels in with my discus, as well as some peppermint bristlenose catfish. I have tried cardinal tetras on several occasions, but unfortunately they seem to become lunch all too often.

The best advice I can give you is this:- if you have a very valuable breeding pair, then DO NOT put anything in the tank with them at all.

If however, you have some nice fish that you would like to see in a display tank, then by all means put in your cardinal tetras or rummy nose tetras or your gouramies. Just make sure that whatever you put in there is not too aggressive when it comes to feeding, as your discus are shy feeders, and if the tankmates get to the food first all the time, your discus may miss out.

Discus prefer soft, acid water, so you should select tankmates that have the same water requirements.

[Davo]

I have had pearl gourami's with my discus for years and they have never been aggro. The only gourami's that have been were some orange/golden gourami's.

Dave.

[coops]

The Discus have become more confident and they now dominate the tank when the food is on and in general!

Thanks everyone for the advice.. :)

[bgi]

I've raised hundreds of pearls. They are less aggressive if there is only one in the tank. If you have a male and female and they decide to spawn, you will have a world of hurt as the male defends the nest. We only have one male left. He's happy with the discus and is quite polite to them all.