New Tank, Looking For Comments And Advice On My Fish Selection.

They look great 

Why can't I see the photo? I have a no entry sign where it should be.

Phew, at least it's not just me.

I don't even see a no entry sign 

I could see the image when you first posted it, that's how I could post my reply. Then it vanished 

I can see ot now too.

And those fish are beautiful. I do have fish envy.

A few comments:

Stiphodons - need more females than males, though they can be difficult to sex as males can change colour at the drop of a hat. Females - or at least mine - have black and white stripes, no colour. Males vary from palest blue to deep blue depending on mood and where they are in the pecking order. Mine were sold as "indie blue" and"indigo blue" and I have no idea what they really are. They also like a strong water flow so aren't really compatible with gouramis which prefer a gentle water flow. Having said that, i have a honey gourami female in my tank 

I would go for either kribs or apistos or peacock gudgeons. I have gudgeons and they behave in a very similar way to the apistos I used to have. I would anticipate arguments if you get more than one of the three. they are all cave spawners, so you need caves. Peacock gudgeons like to spawn in spaces so narrow you'd wonder how both male and female could get in there together.
In your tank, 1 male + several female gudgeons, or 1 male + 1 female krib - and they need to be a bonded pair - or 1 male + 2 female apistos. You'd need 2 caves for kribs (to give them some choice), 2 for gudgeons as it's the male that guards the eggs and with just 1 male give him 2 to choose from, and with apistos one cave per female plus one.

Gourami species should not be mixed. And pairs are not good either as one will likely bully the other so 6 of one species is the way to go. Don't get too many males if you can avoid it.

Gourami species should never be mixed in the same tank.

Gourami males tend to be bullies. If they want to spawn and the female doesn't, males can be downright nasty. Males have been known to kill females. However, in my experience this does not apply to honey gouramis. I have had more trouble with females fighting than with a male harassing a single female. Yes, honey gourami males do chase females, but of all the honeys I've had over the years, the worst has been a nipped tail.

I would go with a m/f pair. If the male does bully the female, you can get another female or even two.
Honey gouramis come in three colours - natural, red and yellow.
The photos in the profile on here show the natural colour. These are the easiest colour to sex. Males are tan, females are silver beige. The males in the shop tank will be stressed and paler than the one in the photos. When the net goes in the tank all the males could lose all colour. females usually have a darker stripe from nose to tail, but not all females do.
Yellow honeys are the next easiest. Both male and female are yellow, but males tend to have an orangey back end and females have the same line as natural coloured females, just not as pronounced.

Take someone with with when you go gourami shopping. The way to chose these two colours is to stand and study the fish in the shop tank. Males will behave differently from females as well as being differently coloured. Males are more up front; females just get on with life.
Look at all the fish. Find the most brightly coloured male; find a female from those fish which show the stripe - males don't have the stripe. Now send your colleague to fetch a shop worker and keep your eyes on your chosen fish. make sure they catch the fish you want!


Red honeys are difficult to sex. You have to go by fin shape, which is not reliable. Males tend to have a pointier  end to the dorsal fin, females tend to have a rounder end. I have never bought red honeys because I can never be sure.

Hi everyone, hope you've all been well the past couple of week.

Its been a while but visited the LFS today and may have made a mistake with my purchase.   They only had a couple of honey gouramis in the tank with a few other gouramis and they didn't look in the best of health, hiding at the bottom behind the heater.  But in the tank next to them there were loads of Gold Gouramis that looked in great health.  My mistake here was that I thought all Gouramis where roughly the same, however, since looking up the Gold's it appears they can grow to 15cm  and might take a look at my tetras (still to purchase)  as dinner.  Shop is closed now, but I take it these will be too big for my tank and I'm probably best advised to return (if they will take them) and wait it out for a fresh batch of Honeys?