Freshwater Tropical Fish Guide - The Blue Gourami

The Blue Gourami, sometimes also called the 3 Spot Gourami, is a popular freshwater tropical fish for aquarium keeping. These fish are usually a light blue color and have three dark spots, one on the base of the tail, one in the middle of the body and the eye which looks like the third spot. The Gourami type of fish itself comes in several colors, the blue which you often see in pet stores, gold and opaline as well as a few other rear of varieties. These fish can grow very large and are best suited for larger aquariums.

Blue Gourami by Rafal Konkolewski 2004

The Blue Gourami is a fairly easy fish to keep and will exist fine on floating flake food that you probably feed to the majority of the other fish in your tank. However, like most creatures, these fish do need a little bit of variety and it's good to throw in some freeze dried blood worms or frozen brine shrimp every once in a while just to be sure they are getting all the vital nutrients that they need.

If you buy a Gourami fish that is very small, you might be able to start them off in a smaller aquarium but eventually you are going to have to get a 50 gallon or larger as the fish grows. This species can grow quite large and you want to be sure that you house them suitably. You also need to be sure that you have a good heater on the tank as these, like many other freshwater tropical fish, require the water temperature to be between 70 and 82°F. Other tank conditions include a PH of 6.0 to 8.8 and a hardness of 5-35 dGH.

Since these fish are used to thickly vegetated waters as found in their native tropical waters of the Far East, the Gourami will feel right at home if you have a lot of plants in your aquarium. They get along with other fish of their kind but you need to make sure that you have many Gouramis and preferably different types in the tank to keep them from ganging up on the other fish. It is best to have at least 4 Gouramis in the tank and even better if you can get a mix of the blue, gold and opaline varieties. Generally, you want to stick to having only one male in the tank as they can be territorial.

The Blue Gourami enjoys the company of the other varieties of Gourami. You could keep Gold, Blue and Opaline Gourami together peacefully in the same aquarium. Oddly enough, if your tank has only one variety of Gourami with other species of fish, the Gourami will gang up on the other fish. When you keep a mix of Gourami in the tank among other fish species, the Gourami tend to focus on their own type and leave the other fish alone. It is recommended that you have a minimum of four Gouramis in your tank, with a mix from the different varieties.

The Gourami can get along in the tank with other fish of the same size and can live peacefully with Barbs, Clown Loaches, Bala Sharks, Danios, Rainbow Sharks, Red Tail Sharks and Rainbows.

If you take excellent care of your Gouramis and provide them with the proper tank conditions, they can live to be four years old and grow to be 4 inches in length.

About the Author
Lee Dobbins writes for Fish Tank Guide where you can learn more about setting up and maintaining a fish tank as well as find out about tropical fish for your aquarium.

Article Source: ArticleSnatch Free Article Directory