Gouramis, the friendly community fish

Those venturing into Freshwater community tanks would be amiss to not consider some members of the Gouramis family. Their resiliency, looks and disposition make them ideal for the novice and advanced aquarist alike. One of the things that makes them resilient is their possession of a suprabranchial organ, what this means is that for a period of time they can live in oxygen poor waters, taking in oxygen directly above the surface. While this is a pretty cool adaptation, we still urge proper and ethical husbandry practices.

Due to having such a wide natural range and being captive bred profusely, they are also relatively cheap and easy to acquire. Smaller and more colorful Gouramis such as the man-made Red Dwarf Gourami, look absolutely stunning in planted aquaria and will all but ignore ornamental shrimp. It’s difficult to overstate the popularity of smaller species for community tanks, this said we recommend keeping them with non-aggressive tank mates that may nip at some of their long fins.