*Should I try another centerpiece fish for the 20-gallon Back-to-Basics planted tank? It has to get along with the platies and should be another color besides red or orange.*
A Bolivian Ram or Apisto could be good. Breeding pairs probably too aggro though. An African Butterfly fish would be a cool oddball. Might be pushing it on tank size?
I cracked up when she said, "It actually has a name!" Indeed!! I felt guilty not "naming" my 5 glowlight tetras, but I just couldn't be bothered. So I compromised with myself and call them, "The Jackson 5".
I have 9 of the colored “GloFish” zebra danios. I affectionately call them “my little crackheads.” Their names are Michael, Dwight, Jim, Stanley, Pam, Meredith, Creed, Angela, and Phyllis. I will admit that Pam and Meredith are difficult to tell apart, lol.
I was quite relieved when my Betta actually turned out to be a mellow fellow for the community tank. I still have backup housing for him if that changes, though.
I had a betta that was super nice to other fish. He only flashed at anyone during feeding time if they tried stealing his food and that was it. He ran away from his reflection all the time.
Same here! My betta never learned how to flare... and he always lets the the Endler’s get food first because he knows they are much faster. I make sure he gets his portion in the end by feeding slightly bigger pellets which the Endler’s can’t swallow
I think that's why I'm reluctant to try another betta as a centerpiece for my 20-gallon community tank because I have no backup housing in case it's too aggressive! I guess I could always return it... :(
@@GirlTalksFish maybe do a guide on how to identify betta fish personalities? I somehow knew mine would fit in a peaceful community tank perfectly since he never showed any signs of aggression while I was at the shop. Honestly it would be a cool experiment only if you had hundreds of backup tanks or simply own a fish shop 😎
I bought one Honey Gourami today as a centerpiece fish to go into my heavily planted 12 gallon tank with Ember Tetra's and Dwarf Rasbora's and this fish is a gem! Totally peaceful and within one hour of being introduced into the tank it was making a tiny bubble nest!! I can see why you like the Honey Gourami so much! I live in England and Honey Gourami's luckily for us here are very much stocked in a lot of fish retailers.
I'm looking at putting a honey gourami in with what will be my kids' tank. My 4 year old wants Cherry Barbs, so I think the pop of yellow will look really cool.
Try out an apistogramma for a center piece. A panduro would look cool in there or even an agassizii alemara red tail they both get a really cool blue body
I've tried countless times with Dwarf Gourami they always turn into a menace in my community. Honeys are awesome though. Bolivian Rams are a better alternative to the Blue Rams in my experience.
YES I just recommended the same thing! Female Bettas are the best and are more active with a bigger personality than the males! However, female domestic splendens can be very hit-or-miss. Because of selective breeding, they're just as colorful as the males, but can also be more aggressive. I've had girls who constantly attacked shrimp and other fish without hesitation, some of which unfortunately killed. However, I've also had some with a gentle temperament who got along well with tankmates! It's very 50/50, you can either have one who's very well behaved or a sassy little booger 😂
I’ve been researching on what good centerpiece I want for my 55 gallon community tank, and Pikachu and Apollo sold me on the honey gouramis. Absolutely adorable
Oh dang it Sonic! I hope he gets better soon. I really love how honey gouramis look with their sunny yellow to orange gradient, and how gentle they seem to be. And awesome to hear that they’re hardy and great as beginner fish!
I have a Pearl Gourami and he is so peaceful. He’s in a tank with corys and a female honey gourami. There has not been any aggression from anyone in the tank and his spots are almost iridescent. I would definitely recommend one. 🤎🤗
I recently got a little honey gourami and I love her so much! At first she was really shy in my Molly tank but once we introduced some of our older molly fry into the main tank she started coming out more and more, I think the presence of small fish helped her feel safer since she is a bit smaller than all of my adult mollies 💛
I love your videos! I'm currently setting up 60 gallon with a school of tiger barbs, and my centerpiece will be the bottom dwelling rainbow shark. If you only keep one and give them plenty of territory (the entire bottom plus caves is just for the rainbow shark) then they do great with other fish who stay out of the way, or can handle a bit of aggression. And, well, tiger barbs, haha
6:14 my honey gourami was hiding for almost a year but since I introduced a group of silvertip tetras the gourami is out and chasing them on every opportunity.
I totally agree with what you said about dwarf gourami! I got a pair and the male did nothing but chase and bully everyone else in the tank. The female was in hiding throughout the time I kept them as the male would immediately start attacking her non-stop when ever she came out of hiding! Returned both after the male's high speed chases destroyed about 25% of the plants in the tank within 24 hours! However, they are extremely beautiful and I do hope give another try in the future in a much larger aquarium with several females!
Just got a honey gourami as an alternative to betta to keep with harlequin rasboras. He's still pretty shy. I didnt have room for 2. At least the rasboras and gourami seem peaceful to each other.
totally random, but i think for schooling fish it is REALLY important that you like how they swim. some are very chill (though not necessarily stationary) and others are spastic (which can feel stressful). i like fish that glide versus jerky darting motions. this is almost more important than a centerpiece fish or anything else.
I love this video, thank you so much! As a kid I always had a 10 gallon tank with fancy goldfish and a betta plus some other random fresh water fish (it was the 80's and it worked, I don't know how}. I'm so intrigued by the personalities you show in these fish, my pet store tells me some guramis are milder in temperament and I'd love to add one to my tank so thanks for this
Angel fish are great. You can keep just 1 of them in a 20 gallon. I used to have platies and other community fish with 1 angelfish. They are cheap, beautiful and great.
A comment on Betta fish as community fish: There has been some really cool research looking into the genetics of Betta fish. Because of how they have been bred, Longer finned Bettas along with Red or Yellow Bettas are more aggressive because they come from the lines which have been bred for the last 400 years or so as F1ghting fish. Shorter tailed Bettas or the blue/blacks are less aggressive because they are closer in genetic structure to their wild counterparts and haven't had the extra aggression bred into them. Might be why Sonic was so aggressive whereas Darth Vader and Soundwave weren't!
Thanks for correctly pronouncing "Betta" instead of "beta". That, plus your knowledge, your onscreen personality, your pleasant voice, etc got you my subscription!
Hello Irene .. thank you for sharing and the advice you gave on many topics of fish talk . Ever since i subscibed to your channel , it is a morning habit in anticipation to view the latest or past videos . Find them entertaining & informative . Keep up the good work 👍 I love the little colorful active Tiger Barbs . Would appreciate at your convenience to have videos/commentaries on it . Thank you .
My first Honey Gourami fry just hatched this morning. the last two weeks was the best time since I got the tank the breeding behaviors are super entertaining.
I have a 10g, started with a female betta . 3 kuhli loaches, 2 Hill Streams, 5 neons.. later no Regrets! I have been thinking of 2 honeys but the betta has so much personality.
This video convinced me to get a Honey Gourami. I've looked into them and they seem like the perfect fit for my Ember tetra aquarium (same pH, hardness, likes lots of plants and slow moving water). I'll be getting one tomorrow!
Its a myth that dwarf gouramis sit in the upper half, they swim everywhere unless you have a heavily planted tank, I have a Male and female powder blue in with tiger barbs and they do well,I think they are best for semi aggresive community
That's true - my gouramis have mostly swam all over the tank, not just at the top. Ooo, that would be so fun to set up a semi-aggressive community tank one day!
My two dwarf gouramis swim all over my 20 gallon planted tank; high, low and middle. They are great peaceful aquarium showpiece fish because of their colours, deep bodies and graceful movements. Mine are interesting in another way - they forage in the plants and even sometimes on the bottom.
I have a 10 gallon which I've kept both Bettas and a Dwarf Gourami (DG) in as a centerpiece fish. The bettas were both female koi plakat breed bettas and were completely passive to anything else that was in the tank. At worst, they'd curiously poke at my otocinclus fish but that's all they ever did. My DG is a powder blue male named Pancake and he's about the same. 10 gallon is a bit small for him but he's doing alright and has a very energetic and excited personality. He's actually been spooked a few times because the otos rammed into him at high speed and startled him, which was amusing to see. Also very nice to interact with because he likes to poke at my hands with his feelers and, on one occasion, even held onto my finger with both feelers for several seconds. I have a new 40 gallon that is currently cycling and I plan to add honey gourami to it when it's ready. I just can't get enough of those feelers! They're adorable and hilarious and I wish every fish had em.
I had both a blue powder and a flame gourami, they got along well but my powder gourami got sick and passed sadly. My flame gourami lives in a larger tank now and does great.
Great video. I’m putting together a 20L which will be my 1st planted tank so I enjoy videos like this a lot. I can tell you and I are approximately the same age based on your fish names. 80’s cartoons were the best!!
Dwarf gourami would work in a community tank with panda garras or hillstream loaches. During feeding, those type of bottom feeders are more boisterous and assertive, making the dwarf gourami less prone to bully them. Cory cats seem to work better with ram cichlids though.
I LOVE my red betta Hannibal!! Hes my buddy and gets so excited whenever he sees me. I spoil him first and foremost. I enjoy my other fish but Hanny is the KING. 🥰
Ugh I really want to experiment one day and do a honey gourami centerpiece tank with maybe some neon tetras for that color contrast. I think they’re so pretty. I’m a sucker for anabantoids I guess bc I love bettas. I also have a mustard gas halfmoon named Woodstock (like the bird from Peanuts!)
You should try golden wonder killifish they are amazing and not as aggressive as people think I have one in a community tank also the males get 4 inches long and have bright greens and yellows and have red on the fins
love your content.. i learn so much. my gourami is mildly aggressive. he doesn’t mind the albino corys tho. He’s brand new, so we’ll see how he is once he acclimates.. I did want a female, but they were really hard to find they would cost at least $50
I have a full size blue 3 spotted gourami in my 36 gallon community and this stunning orange gourami in my 20 gallon community. They’re both around 6 inches. Both males and they both live peacefully with all the other fish in the tanks.
I have two gouramis, one honey and one red and blue dwarf. Pretty sure they are both male. They get along perfectly fine with each other and their tank mates. It’s a community tank with giant danios, fancy guppy’s, ghost shrimp and peppered corys. They are incredibly fun to look at and watch them swim around. I named the red dwarf gourami Nova (Short for super nova) and my sister named the honey gourami Buttercup. (I preferred Flare (short for solar flare) for the name but my parents got angry at me :/. Would have been better to stick with the space theme.) Although they are a bit skittish (Nova is more skittish then Buttercup) they are getting used to people coming up to the tank. And if your wondering I have a 45 gallon tall.
My dwarf gourami "Gary " !🤣 Comes up to the tank side when he sees a human, he knows that means food !! He loves the Hikari food,and they all do well on it.
I enjoy balloon Guarmis as well as acouple of dwarfs. I ended up getting some clown loaches to be the center pieces as they grow over time mixed in with a variety of algae eaters and glasscleaners, cories, shrimp, snails and a few different guarmis. Oh yeah almost forgot I did pick up a few super small chamelieon fish at 1cm that love swimming in and around the plants. The tank is 73L and is always buzzing with activity.
That’s so interesting! My dwarf flame gourami is the most passive fish in my tank. Almost always hiding in corners and by themselves even tho he has another gourami friend!
I have a male/2 female Dwarf Gourami in with glowlight tetras and panda cats. Yeah the male likes to throw his weight around but he seems to like the panda Cory's, the female dwarfs genuinely love them, follow them around as they graze and try to cuddle up with them. And yeah Gouramis go everywhere and have even seemingly learned to graze a tiny bit from the corys. Also they love floating plants, the male loves to just swim slowly through the roots and feel them on his face
I also kept a flame gourami with a green neon tetras! He was fine with the GNT but he was merciless cherry shrimp. Eventually drowned when he got stuck in a crack between two rocks. (probably chasing shrimp.)
from 7:07 to like 7:15 i think i saw 4 blue rams and a male betta is this correct? do they all not fight? bc if this is possible i have a pretty mellow friendly betta and i would love to add some rams in my 20 gall
I like Bettas as a centrepiece fish. Personally I’ve had better luck using a female; if you look for the right one they can be equally as stunning as a male and in my opinion seem a little bit more passive.
I very much agree that bettas can vary quite a bit in personality and aggression levels. I've had several bettas that were content to do their own thing. However, I also had a betta that was fine with smaller fish like guppies and white clouds, but hated super real plecos. He would flare at them, and chase the plecos around the tank. The plecos were fast enough that they didn't get injured. My theory is that the aggression was due to the betta and plecos being of similar size.
My dwarf gourami was constantly nipping the 2 honey gouramis and 2 kuhli loaches when I introduce them into his tank so I gave him a big timeout until I got my other 3 femal dwarf gourami. Now they are all doing fine and it seems no problems for weeks
Please do a tank featuring with bumble bee gobies. There are very few fishtubers that talk about them and would love to see someone landscape a dedicated tank.
Great information and clearly presented. You are a wealth of knowledge and I thank you for passing your learning on. I sooooooooooooo want a gourami!!!
I have a dwarf powder blue gourami with shrimp and coridoras and he doesn’t touch or mess with them to my observation! He was being bullied by other males in the store when I got him!
I did ok with a dwarf gourami and about 8 neon tetras and a few nerve snails and some shrimp. I do think he ate half a tetra once, but that was after they all got fin rot and the gourami was dead the next day. They all lived a year before things started to go bad.
@@forrestisnt so many fish - so little space for tanks. lol. I’m setting up a “fish room” in a corner of my basement this year. One of those new tanks will have them!
@@Evil_Genius_888 awesome, i have them in with cardinal tetras, corydoras habrosus and a l 183 pleco. The only aggression is mild normal male aggression towards the female apisto and the pleco doesn't like the male apisto eating near it.
After a particularly negative experience, I no longer have a center piece fish with my community fish. At one point, I had a betta with 7 neon tetras, a few dozen cherry shrimp, and snails. The betta killed all the shrimp and snails. The neons nonstop bit the bettas fins. The neons, shrimp, and betta only lived together for 2 weeks but still managed to do a lot of damage to each other. The betta is now in a 10 gallon tank alone. The neons are living with cherry shrimp in a 20 gal tank. The only things I add into the tanks now are plants
I’m having the similar problem but it’s one sided. My betta happened to be very timid so the Endlers occasionally chased him around and he couldn’t even stand his ground. Now he feels much more comfortable with 3 ottos, 1 netrite snail and few ghost shrimps. I’ve never seen him attack or chase anyone
I know it's been a couple of years, but a blue or green betta might have made a good centerpiece fish among the orange fish😎. I came here after picking up a female powder blue dward gourami, whom I have named Trixie. Right now, she's sharing her 10 gallon tank with Turbo the Wonder Snail, who hitchhiked into the tank on my live plants like all bladder snails are wont to do. After I see how she settles in, I may add something like ember tetras or chili rasboras for the color contrast. I was originally considering a betta as well, but the price was a deciding factor here. At the time, there were a LOT of $20 bettas, but Trixie was $6 at my LFS.
I have a Male dwarf flame gourami in my 29g planted community tank. His name is Einstein and he gets along great. No aggression. He's my little gardener lol likes to tend to the roots of the frogbit
I love my dwarf gourami, he's in a 54 litre tank with harlequin rasboras,honey gouramis,( hubby was sold them,not sure they could co habit peacefully together) but too far too take them back ,and they seem to all be ok,and a kind of ginger tetra not sure their exact name.and 3 nerite snails.
@Girl taks fish which fish is this ?? I bought it but don't know the name please help . at 5:48 in the bottom right brown coloured gourami like fish left side to the albino/white fish , what is its name? please help
I’d have to say Apistogrammas, either a single male or a pair as the centerpiece. The Panduro variety is a beautiful light blue with yellow and orange stripes. They are a little hardier than the rams in my opinion, they are just a little harder to find because most fish shops do not import them as often as rams or other dwarf cichlids.
Safety tip for scapers who loves floaters. *Dwarf gouramis loves to nip the roots of FLAOTERS AND MAKE THEIR BUBBLE'S NEST which makes the flaoter vulnerable to suck up excess nutrient*
The only time I named one of my schooling fish was with my ember tetras, the most aggressive one of the group that tended to be a bully. I noticed one of my fish had a swollen eye and assumed it was the bully's fault. I named the bully "wifebeater". The rest were just called "my lovelies." I just added a sparkling gourami (currently called Bullet) to the group, so far he seems to ignore the tetras, though I did see Wifebeater aggressively approach it a couple of times and Bullet ain't having none of that and chased it away.
Long tail bettas can't swim taller tanks that's why they prefer more longer/shallower tanks. One of my half sun was in a 10g and stressed nipped so much it was getting concerning. I moved him to a 6.5g, added few resting platforms with plastic soap dish holders, betta hammocks, he stopped fin nipping. You can try a male plakat betta in that community like a galaxy or koi betta as a center piece and see how it goes. One of my giant female is a total a-hole. I am having hard time putting any small fishes in my 20 long, thankfully she doesn't mind the corydoras Aeneus but she ate 3 endlers, I moved the rest to my platy community tank. They're such tricky pets!
I have a 25 gal tank with cherry shrimp, a school of harlequin rasboras and the centerpiece fish is 4 clown killifish. Even though they are small, they stand out and look really good.would reccommend
HaHa! I hit the subscribe button awhile ago when I found out you had a betta named Soundwave (by far the coolest Decepticon), but now that I know you've also named your fish after Voltron, Darth Vader, and Peyton Manning, I'm less a subscriber and more of a disciple. I'm now off to the local fish store to search for a yellow and blue betta that I can name Skeletor...
I have a flame male dwarf gourami and a female he was already paired with. They're doing fine with 14 neon tetras in a 20 gallon tank! Only once for a short while was the male dawrf gourami chasing the tetras around a bit. I hope it'll continue to be okay.
I think Guppies are great alternative to bettas if they constantly flares around their tank mates, I have four bettas 2 males and 2 females the younger female is the only one I think I can add to my two community tank since she doesn't care seeing her neighbor fish than my other three that constantly flares and swims along their tank walls in desperation to chase the other fishes. I always put a paper around their tanks and takes it out for a minute just to stimulate them a little bit.
I agree with your opinion of dwarf gourami. My male flame variety bullies the cories. I also tried honey gouramies but it turns out the "red" type sold to me was actually a thick-lipped gourami, and not so peaceful.
Idk if you've already got a centerpiece fish for that tank with the platies, but I'd suggest you try a female powder blue dwarf gourami, they're not as mean as the males.
I’m having tons of success with the Fire Dwarf Gauramis in my 20. I think you just got a bad one or something went wrong. For instance your last beta is bad, if that was your first you would have given a thumbs down. Thanks for video, it’s a good topic and opinions you have.
My honey gourami & my powder blue gouramis were sweet hearts. My flame gourami was a complete prick allll the time 🤦🏽♀️ the most stressful first i had kept so far lol
*Should I try another centerpiece fish for the 20-gallon Back-to-Basics planted tank? It has to get along with the platies and should be another color besides red or orange.*
Yes!
Hey irene! Any stocking ideas for a planted 10 gallon?✨
@@butterflyera4628 angelfish just 1 though
Golden wonder killifish
A Bolivian Ram or Apisto could be good. Breeding pairs probably too aggro though. An African Butterfly fish would be a cool oddball. Might be pushing it on tank size?
I cracked up when she said, "It actually has a name!" Indeed!! I felt guilty not "naming" my 5 glowlight tetras, but I just couldn't be bothered. So I compromised with myself and call them, "The Jackson 5".
Perfect name in my opinion lol
I wonder if mine are glowlight tetras,will Google it ! ♥️
Honestly. Naming the school makes perfect sence! Will be naming my school now too!
I usually pick one name for a school of fish like “Bob”
I have 9 of the colored “GloFish” zebra danios. I affectionately call them “my little crackheads.” Their names are Michael, Dwight, Jim, Stanley, Pam, Meredith, Creed, Angela, and Phyllis. I will admit that Pam and Meredith are difficult to tell apart, lol.
My honey gourami, Applesauce, has never been shy. He's been gentle with my platys and corys. Such a great and pretty fish.
I love that name! 💛
That's a cute name for a fish!
@@GirlTalksFish Yea I wouldve named the gourami banana or some
APPLESAUCE!!! Cutest name!
@@ChetJennings He was named by my preschool students after a book character :)
I was quite relieved when my Betta actually turned out to be a mellow fellow for the community tank. I still have backup housing for him if that changes, though.
I had a betta that was super nice to other fish. He only flashed at anyone during feeding time if they tried stealing his food and that was it. He ran away from his reflection all the time.
Same here! My betta never learned how to flare... and he always lets the the Endler’s get food first because he knows they are much faster. I make sure he gets his portion in the end by feeding slightly bigger pellets which the Endler’s can’t swallow
I think that's why I'm reluctant to try another betta as a centerpiece for my 20-gallon community tank because I have no backup housing in case it's too aggressive! I guess I could always return it... :(
@@GirlTalksFish maybe do a guide on how to identify betta fish personalities? I somehow knew mine would fit in a peaceful community tank perfectly since he never showed any signs of aggression while I was at the shop. Honestly it would be a cool experiment only if you had hundreds of backup tanks or simply own a fish shop 😎
@@GirlTalksFish Can I house guppies with my dwarf gouramis?
I bought one Honey Gourami today as a centerpiece fish to go into my heavily planted 12 gallon tank with Ember Tetra's and Dwarf Rasbora's and this fish is a gem! Totally peaceful and within one hour of being introduced into the tank it was making a tiny bubble nest!! I can see why you like the Honey Gourami so much! I live in England and Honey Gourami's luckily for us here are very much stocked in a lot of fish retailers.
I'm looking at putting a honey gourami in with what will be my kids' tank. My 4 year old wants Cherry Barbs, so I think the pop of yellow will look really cool.
Try out an apistogramma for a center piece. A panduro would look cool in there or even an agassizii alemara red tail they both get a really cool blue body
I've tried countless times with Dwarf Gourami they always turn into a menace in my community. Honeys are awesome though. Bolivian Rams are a better alternative to the Blue Rams in my experience.
I love the tank with gourami, albino cory and neon tetra. The contrast between them and the tank vibe is just so astetically clean and pleasing.
For you question of the day: How about adding a blue female betta to the tank?
I have a blue crowntail as my center piece in my 29 gallon. I love her!
YES I just recommended the same thing! Female Bettas are the best and are more active with a bigger personality than the males! However, female domestic splendens can be very hit-or-miss. Because of selective breeding, they're just as colorful as the males, but can also be more aggressive. I've had girls who constantly attacked shrimp and other fish without hesitation, some of which unfortunately killed. However, I've also had some with a gentle temperament who got along well with tankmates! It's very 50/50, you can either have one who's very well behaved or a sassy little booger 😂
I’ve been researching on what good centerpiece I want for my 55 gallon community tank, and Pikachu and Apollo sold me on the honey gouramis. Absolutely adorable
Oh dang it Sonic! I hope he gets better soon.
I really love how honey gouramis look with their sunny yellow to orange gradient, and how gentle they seem to be. And awesome to hear that they’re hardy and great as beginner fish!
I have a Pearl Gourami and he is so peaceful. He’s in a tank with corys and a female honey gourami. There has not been any aggression from anyone in the tank and his spots are almost iridescent. I would definitely recommend one. 🤎🤗
yes and pearl gourami will also eat hydra and save fry/small fish from getting killed by the hydra.
I recently got a little honey gourami and I love her so much! At first she was really shy in my Molly tank but once we introduced some of our older molly fry into the main tank she started coming out more and more, I think the presence of small fish helped her feel safer since she is a bit smaller than all of my adult mollies 💛
I love your videos! I'm currently setting up 60 gallon with a school of tiger barbs, and my centerpiece will be the bottom dwelling rainbow shark. If you only keep one and give them plenty of territory (the entire bottom plus caves is just for the rainbow shark) then they do great with other fish who stay out of the way, or can handle a bit of aggression. And, well, tiger barbs, haha
6:14 my honey gourami was hiding for almost a year but since I introduced a group of silvertip tetras the gourami is out and chasing them on every opportunity.
Hello! How cool. I just set up my first planted tank yesterday!!
Congrats, good luck keeping it your first😂
Cool! I’d like to keep a planted aquarium one day :)
I totally agree with what you said about dwarf gourami! I got a pair and the male did nothing but chase and bully everyone else in the tank. The female was in hiding throughout the time I kept them as the male would immediately start attacking her non-stop when ever she came out of hiding! Returned both after the male's high speed chases destroyed about 25% of the plants in the tank within 24 hours! However, they are extremely beautiful and I do hope give another try in the future in a much larger aquarium with several females!
Just got a honey gourami as an alternative to betta to keep with harlequin rasboras. He's still pretty shy. I didnt have room for 2. At least the rasboras and gourami seem peaceful to each other.
totally random, but i think for schooling fish it is REALLY important that you like how they swim. some are very chill (though not necessarily stationary) and others are spastic (which can feel stressful). i like fish that glide versus jerky darting motions. this is almost more important than a centerpiece fish or anything else.
My male GBR Franklin is my favorite centerpiece fish I own! He’s been with me for about 8 months now
I definitely want to do a hot water setup someday and get GBRs again. They're sooo cool.
I love this video, thank you so much! As a kid I always had a 10 gallon tank with fancy goldfish and a betta plus some other random fresh water fish (it was the 80's and it worked, I don't know how}. I'm so intrigued by the personalities you show in these fish, my pet store tells me some guramis are milder in temperament and I'd love to add one to my tank so thanks for this
Dwarf gourami was my first fish when I seriously got into fish keeping! I think I was like, 12. But Blue was such a wonderful fish ❤
Angel fish are great. You can keep just 1 of them in a 20 gallon. I used to have platies and other community fish with 1 angelfish. They are cheap, beautiful and great.
A comment on Betta fish as community fish:
There has been some really cool research looking into the genetics of Betta fish. Because of how they have been bred, Longer finned Bettas along with Red or Yellow Bettas are more aggressive because they come from the lines which have been bred for the last 400 years or so as F1ghting fish. Shorter tailed Bettas or the blue/blacks are less aggressive because they are closer in genetic structure to their wild counterparts and haven't had the extra aggression bred into them. Might be why Sonic was so aggressive whereas Darth Vader and Soundwave weren't!
Thanks for correctly pronouncing "Betta" instead of "beta". That, plus your knowledge, your onscreen personality, your pleasant voice, etc got you my subscription!
Hello Irene .. thank you for sharing and the advice you gave on many topics of fish talk .
Ever since i subscibed to your channel , it is a morning habit in anticipation to view the latest or past videos .
Find them entertaining & informative .
Keep up the good work 👍
I love the little colorful active Tiger Barbs .
Would appreciate at your convenience to have videos/commentaries on it .
Thank you .
My first Honey Gourami fry just hatched this morning. the last two weeks was the best time since I got the tank the breeding behaviors are super entertaining.
German Blue ram was my favorite but they were harder to keep, especially in my early fish keeping life. I will revisit another day
Hi Irene. Maybe you can try sparkling gourami?
I have a 10g, started with a female betta . 3 kuhli loaches, 2 Hill Streams, 5 neons.. later no Regrets! I have been thinking of 2 honeys but the betta has so much personality.
This video convinced me to get a Honey Gourami. I've looked into them and they seem like the perfect fit for my Ember tetra aquarium (same pH, hardness, likes lots of plants and slow moving water).
I'll be getting one tomorrow!
ik , they look amazing with tetras .
Its a myth that dwarf gouramis sit in the upper half, they swim everywhere unless you have a heavily planted tank, I have a Male and female powder blue in with tiger barbs and they do well,I think they are best for semi aggresive community
True, I have gouramis (3 spot and pearl) and they swim everywhere, they however do tend to stay at the upper half during night time
That's true - my gouramis have mostly swam all over the tank, not just at the top. Ooo, that would be so fun to set up a semi-aggressive community tank one day!
My two dwarf gouramis swim all over my 20 gallon planted tank; high, low and middle. They are great peaceful aquarium showpiece fish because of their colours, deep bodies and graceful movements. Mine are interesting in another way - they forage in the plants and even sometimes on the bottom.
My dwarf Gouramis cover every inch of my 30gal. I love them
I have 2 dwarf gouramis in a community tank and they are all ok with my platys and tetras
I have a 10 gallon which I've kept both Bettas and a Dwarf Gourami (DG) in as a centerpiece fish. The bettas were both female koi plakat breed bettas and were completely passive to anything else that was in the tank. At worst, they'd curiously poke at my otocinclus fish but that's all they ever did. My DG is a powder blue male named Pancake and he's about the same. 10 gallon is a bit small for him but he's doing alright and has a very energetic and excited personality. He's actually been spooked a few times because the otos rammed into him at high speed and startled him, which was amusing to see. Also very nice to interact with because he likes to poke at my hands with his feelers and, on one occasion, even held onto my finger with both feelers for several seconds.
I have a new 40 gallon that is currently cycling and I plan to add honey gourami to it when it's ready. I just can't get enough of those feelers! They're adorable and hilarious and I wish every fish had em.
I had both a blue powder and a flame gourami, they got along well but my powder gourami got sick and passed sadly. My flame gourami lives in a larger tank now and does great.
Great video. I’m putting together a 20L which will be my 1st planted tank so I enjoy videos like this a lot.
I can tell you and I are approximately the same age based on your fish names. 80’s cartoons were the best!!
Haha, they're actually more my husband's ideas. He makes us watch 80's cartoons on DVD. :P
@@GirlTalksFish if you get another blue centerpiece fish might I suggest Cobra Commander as it’s name 😂
Your nerdy fish names make me so happy! Beautiful fishies!!!❤
i always use angels an my center piece! your tank may be a little small, but they are the best eye catch-er's out there!
Blue eyed panaque's are striking as well
IRENE! Honey Gouramis are awesome! So peaceful.
Yes they are!
Dwarf gourami would work in a community tank with panda garras or hillstream loaches. During feeding, those type of bottom feeders are more boisterous and assertive, making the dwarf gourami less prone to bully them. Cory cats seem to work better with ram cichlids though.
My 3 honey gourami do amazing in my community tank, they sometimes bicker but it's wonderful to watch them interact
I LOVE my red betta Hannibal!! Hes my buddy and gets so excited whenever he sees me. I spoil him first and foremost. I enjoy my other fish but Hanny is the KING. 🥰
Ugh I really want to experiment one day and do a honey gourami centerpiece tank with maybe some neon tetras for that color contrast. I think they’re so pretty. I’m a sucker for anabantoids I guess bc I love bettas. I also have a mustard gas halfmoon named Woodstock (like the bird from Peanuts!)
What are the fish next to the hillstream loach and betta that show up at about 9:28? 9:28 They’re the small black and white ones. Thanks!
That light is almost invincible on the top.It blend with the tank so good.
Yea I want a new light on my tank! Something low profile and good for the plants
You should try golden wonder killifish they are amazing and not as aggressive as people think I have one in a community tank also the males get 4 inches long and have bright greens and yellows and have red on the fins
love your content.. i learn so much. my gourami is mildly aggressive. he doesn’t mind the albino corys tho. He’s brand new, so we’ll see how he is once he acclimates.. I did want a female, but they were really hard to find they would cost at least $50
I have a full size blue 3 spotted gourami in my 36 gallon community and this stunning orange gourami in my 20 gallon community. They’re both around 6 inches. Both males and they both live peacefully with all the other fish in the tanks.
Having such a hard time getting nano fish. Can only get hold of Galaxy Rasbora. (Fish by mail is illegal in Denmark)
Really?! That’s too bad.
Thank you for all you do, your videos are always so informative and well thought-out!
I have two gouramis, one honey and one red and blue dwarf. Pretty sure they are both male. They get along perfectly fine with each other and their tank mates. It’s a community tank with giant danios, fancy guppy’s, ghost shrimp and peppered corys. They are incredibly fun to look at and watch them swim around. I named the red dwarf gourami Nova (Short for super nova) and my sister named the honey gourami Buttercup. (I preferred Flare (short for solar flare) for the name but my parents got angry at me :/. Would have been better to stick with the space theme.) Although they are a bit skittish (Nova is more skittish then Buttercup) they are getting used to people coming up to the tank.
And if your wondering I have a 45 gallon tall.
My dwarf gourami and honey gouramis get along fine,although I did read somewhere they fight, mine don't !
My dwarf gourami "Gary " !🤣 Comes up to the tank side when he sees a human, he knows that means food !! He loves the Hikari food,and they all do well on it.
I enjoy balloon Guarmis as well as acouple of dwarfs. I ended up getting some clown loaches to be the center pieces as they grow over time mixed in with a variety of algae eaters and glasscleaners, cories, shrimp, snails and a few different guarmis. Oh yeah almost forgot I did pick up a few super small chamelieon fish at 1cm that love swimming in and around the plants. The tank is 73L and is always buzzing with activity.
We had a sunset gourami that terrorized the mystery snails.
Oh no, good to know!
@@GirlTalksFish To be fair, we moved the snail bully to another tank and the rest of the gouramis are fine.
I had a betta in with neon tetras and an albino cory. They got along peacefully. But my betta was super laid back personality wise.
My dwarf gouramis were great community fish. I had two of them in the tank and they got along just fine. 😊
0:23 loool so true, none of my shrimps have a name loool
That’s so interesting! My dwarf flame gourami is the most passive fish in my tank. Almost always hiding in corners and by themselves even tho he has another gourami friend!
When working with Bettas always have a back up plan if it doesn't work out!
Tell me about it.
I have a male/2 female Dwarf Gourami in with glowlight tetras and panda cats. Yeah the male likes to throw his weight around but he seems to like the panda Cory's, the female dwarfs genuinely love them, follow them around as they graze and try to cuddle up with them. And yeah Gouramis go everywhere and have even seemingly learned to graze a tiny bit from the corys. Also they love floating plants, the male loves to just swim slowly through the roots and feel them on his face
I also kept a flame gourami with a green neon tetras! He was fine with the GNT but he was merciless cherry shrimp. Eventually drowned when he got stuck in a crack between two rocks. (probably chasing shrimp.)
from 7:07 to like 7:15 i think i saw 4 blue rams and a male betta is this correct? do they all not fight? bc if this is possible i have a pretty mellow friendly betta and i would love to add some rams in my 20 gall
I agree on the honey gourami! They are just amazing!
I like Bettas as a centrepiece fish. Personally I’ve had better luck using a female; if you look for the right one they can be equally as stunning as a male and in my opinion seem a little bit more passive.
Mmm, I'm sorely tempted now...
I am honestly on a hunt for beautiful female bettas. I am taking my time finding the right ones.
I very much agree that bettas can vary quite a bit in personality and aggression levels. I've had several bettas that were content to do their own thing. However, I also had a betta that was fine with smaller fish like guppies and white clouds, but hated super real plecos. He would flare at them, and chase the plecos around the tank. The plecos were fast enough that they didn't get injured. My theory is that the aggression was due to the betta and plecos being of similar size.
My dwarf gourami was constantly nipping the 2 honey gouramis and 2 kuhli loaches when I introduce them into his tank so I gave him a big timeout until I got my other 3 femal dwarf gourami. Now they are all doing fine and it seems no problems for weeks
Please do a tank featuring with bumble bee gobies. There are very few fishtubers that talk about them and would love to see someone landscape a dedicated tank.
I had a buddy keep peacock gudeons with shrimp and didn’t have a problem. Tank was heavily planted.
Great information and clearly presented. You are a wealth of knowledge and I thank you for passing your learning on. I sooooooooooooo want a gourami!!!
My dream community tanks :
Neon Tetra and honey gourami.
Red betta and sterbai cory cats .
Fancy Guppies and Albino Cory Catfish .
Angelfish, white skirt tetras , mystery snail .
Red platy , Dwarf chain loaches.
Kuhli Loaches, chili rasbora
Albino female guppies , bronze cory .
I have a dwarf powder blue gourami with shrimp and coridoras and he doesn’t touch or mess with them to my observation! He was being bullied by other males in the store when I got him!
I did ok with a dwarf gourami and about 8 neon tetras and a few nerve snails and some shrimp. I do think he ate half a tetra once, but that was after they all got fin rot and the gourami was dead the next day. They all lived a year before things started to go bad.
I’ve been thinking of an apistograma pair as centerpiece fish.
Go for it. I have a pair of macmasteri in my 40 gallon breeder and they are awesome.
@@forrestisnt so many fish - so little space for tanks. lol. I’m setting up a “fish room” in a corner of my basement this year. One of those new tanks will have them!
@@Evil_Genius_888 awesome, i have them in with cardinal tetras, corydoras habrosus and a l 183 pleco. The only aggression is mild normal male aggression towards the female apisto and the pleco doesn't like the male apisto eating near it.
After a particularly negative experience, I no longer have a center piece fish with my community fish. At one point, I had a betta with 7 neon tetras, a few dozen cherry shrimp, and snails. The betta killed all the shrimp and snails. The neons nonstop bit the bettas fins. The neons, shrimp, and betta only lived together for 2 weeks but still managed to do a lot of damage to each other. The betta is now in a 10 gallon tank alone. The neons are living with cherry shrimp in a 20 gal tank. The only things I add into the tanks now are plants
I’m having the similar problem but it’s one sided. My betta happened to be very timid so the Endlers occasionally chased him around and he couldn’t even stand his ground. Now he feels much more comfortable with 3 ottos, 1 netrite snail and few ghost shrimps. I’ve never seen him attack or chase anyone
Hope you make a Playlist of centerpiece and possible community tankmates.. always love your thoughts about these
I know it's been a couple of years, but a blue or green betta might have made a good centerpiece fish among the orange fish😎.
I came here after picking up a female powder blue dward gourami, whom I have named Trixie. Right now, she's sharing her 10 gallon tank with Turbo the Wonder Snail, who hitchhiked into the tank on my live plants like all bladder snails are wont to do. After I see how she settles in, I may add something like ember tetras or chili rasboras for the color contrast.
I was originally considering a betta as well, but the price was a deciding factor here. At the time, there were a LOT of $20 bettas, but Trixie was $6 at my LFS.
I have a Male dwarf flame gourami in my 29g planted community tank. His name is Einstein and he gets along great. No aggression. He's my little gardener lol likes to tend to the roots of the frogbit
I love my dwarf gourami, he's in a 54 litre tank with harlequin rasboras,honey gouramis,( hubby was sold them,not sure they could co habit peacefully together) but too far too take them back ,and they seem to all be ok,and a kind of ginger tetra not sure their exact name.and 3 nerite snails.
@Girl taks fish which fish is this ?? I bought it but don't know the name please help . at 5:48 in the bottom right brown coloured gourami like fish left side to the albino/white fish , what is its name? please help
I’d have to say Apistogrammas, either a single male or a pair as the centerpiece. The Panduro variety is a beautiful light blue with yellow and orange stripes. They are a little hardier than the rams in my opinion, they are just a little harder to find because most fish shops do not import them as often as rams or other dwarf cichlids.
What type of soil did you use in your tank at the 3:40 mark in your video?
I would recommend the Pygmy sunfish they are so beautiful and so under rated
Safety tip for scapers who loves floaters.
*Dwarf gouramis loves to nip the roots of FLAOTERS AND MAKE THEIR BUBBLE'S NEST which makes the flaoter vulnerable to suck up excess nutrient*
The only time I named one of my schooling fish was with my ember tetras, the most aggressive one of the group that tended to be a bully. I noticed one of my fish had a swollen eye and assumed it was the bully's fault. I named the bully "wifebeater". The rest were just called "my lovelies."
I just added a sparkling gourami (currently called Bullet) to the group, so far he seems to ignore the tetras, though I did see Wifebeater aggressively approach it a couple of times and Bullet ain't having none of that and chased it away.
Long tail bettas can't swim taller tanks that's why they prefer more longer/shallower tanks. One of my half sun was in a 10g and stressed nipped so much it was getting concerning. I moved him to a 6.5g, added few resting platforms with plastic soap dish holders, betta hammocks, he stopped fin nipping. You can try a male plakat betta in that community like a galaxy or koi betta as a center piece and see how it goes. One of my giant female is a total a-hole. I am having hard time putting any small fishes in my 20 long, thankfully she doesn't mind the corydoras Aeneus but she ate 3 endlers, I moved the rest to my platy community tank. They're such tricky pets!
I have a fluval edge 6 gallons, with 7 tetras and 2 corys. Would it be too crowded to add a honey gourami?
I have a 25 gal tank with cherry shrimp, a school of harlequin rasboras and the centerpiece fish is 4 clown killifish. Even though they are small, they stand out and look really good.would reccommend
HaHa! I hit the subscribe button awhile ago when I found out you had a betta named Soundwave (by far the coolest Decepticon), but now that I know you've also named your fish after Voltron, Darth Vader, and Peyton Manning, I'm less a subscriber and more of a disciple. I'm now off to the local fish store to search for a yellow and blue betta that I can name Skeletor...
Lol! What can I say, we're a geek family through and through. Good luck finding your Skeletor!
@@GirlTalksFish Should be fairly easy. Setting up the tank to look like Snake Mountain is gonna be the tricky part. Geeks unite!✊
6:21
What's the name of those long, stripped, eel-like fish in the aquarium?
Kuhli loach 🐍
I have a flame male dwarf gourami and a female he was already paired with. They're doing fine with 14 neon tetras in a 20 gallon tank! Only once for a short while was the male dawrf gourami chasing the tetras around a bit. I hope it'll continue to be okay.
You should get a Bolivian ram. I’ve been reading up on them. I think they’re neat
They're awesome Andrew, my favourite fish.
"Soundwave" is an awesome name for a Betta. You have me wanting to get a purple-ish colored Betta. "Shockwave" will be his name.
I have 4 dwarf gourami in a community set up with corys and 2 female bettas and they're not aggressive at all
I think Guppies are great alternative to bettas if they constantly flares around their tank mates, I have four bettas 2 males and 2 females the younger female is the only one I think I can add to my two community tank since she doesn't care seeing her neighbor fish than my other three that constantly flares and swims along their tank walls in desperation to chase the other fishes. I always put a paper around their tanks and takes it out for a minute just to stimulate them a little bit.
I agree with your opinion of dwarf gourami. My male flame variety bullies the cories. I also tried honey gouramies but it turns out the "red" type sold to me was actually a thick-lipped gourami, and not so peaceful.
Idk if you've already got a centerpiece fish for that tank with the platies, but I'd suggest you try a female powder blue dwarf gourami, they're not as mean as the males.
Irene, I like all your content but this video in particular was especially interesting. Thanks you!
What was up with that sponge filter with the long neck on it? Just keeping it in there for the bio filter to stay on it?
What is the fisj on the glass at 8:24?
I’m having tons of success with the Fire Dwarf Gauramis in my 20. I think you just got a bad one or something went wrong. For instance your last beta is bad, if that was your first you would have given a thumbs down.
Thanks for video, it’s a good topic and opinions you have.
True, maybe I got a bad egg!
thank you for the info on German Blue Ram. I can't wait to have em' in my 10.5 gallon.
My honey gourami & my powder blue gouramis were sweet hearts. My flame gourami was a complete prick allll the time 🤦🏽♀️ the most stressful first i had kept so far lol