Fish Recommendation ?

Question - is the orangey yellow fish near the bottom of the heater one of the gouramis? If so it is a honey goorami, not a dwarf gourami.


You do have a small problem with the fish you have now - bettas and gouramis do not make good tank mates. They are closely related and sooner or later there is a very good chance of fighting between them. Bettas are well known for appearing to be happy with their tank mates, then they suddenly snap and go on the rampage. If you want to keep them together, have a back up plan. Either another tank the betta can be moved to, or as a temporary measure one of those nets for keeping fry in. You will need to make a cover of some sort for a fry net as bettas can jump, especially if there is something on the other side he sees as an enemy.


So to your question about more fish. The first thing I would get would be another glowlight tetra, and assuming the small suckerfish are otocinclus, another two of them as well as they are shoaling fish. But if you have something like a bristlenose they get too big for your tank.

Those extra fish will put you are fully stocked I'm afraid.



The real problem is the betta. They are not good community fish and it is tricky finding fish suitable to share a tank with them. Both neon and glowlight tetras can be iffy as they are likely to nip the betta's fins, and as I've already commented, gouramis are not a good choice either.



However . . . .
Do you still have the Edge? If you do, that would be a good tank for the betta provided either he can find the small square of air to breathe or you keep the water level lower so there is an air gap under the top glass (yes I do know it will spoil the effect  )
That would free up space in the 64 litre and make the choice of other fish wider than with the betta in there.

Hi Again,

Yes Sue your right they are Honey gourami's,i forgot. I did ask the aquatic centre if they were ok with Bettas and he confirmed they were and they even had one with the honeys in the tank ! Sooo frustrating. Having the Betta's really limits the fish you can have but I think they are so beautiful !!
It sounds like i should just continue on with what i have and give it some more time to develop further.

Sue, i havent seen any evidence yet of the Betta causing any trouble, thats not to say he won't but if anything the honeys seem to be fighting a bit, or is that just they playful nature ?

Please see first pic below

And just one of the Betta, just because

Hmm, it is a bit hard to tell. The first photo looks like the yellow colour morph Unless the lighting is distorting the photo and it's really a red colour morph) while th second photo is definitly a red colour morph.
The fact that the first one - if it is a yellow - had darker colour towards the tail suggests a male. Females tens to be just plain yellow. Has this fish ever shown traces of a dark line down the side from nose to tail? Yellow females tend to show this line as a broken stripe of darker colour, not nearly as pronounced as with the wild coloured female. The stripe becomes more obvious when the fish is streesed, eg during a water change.
The second, red gourami is more difficult. The only way to tell males and females apart with this colour is by fin shape. The fin on the back tends to be more pointed in males, and shorter, more rounded in females. Unfortunately, I can't see the fins well enough in your photo 




Your betta is gorgeous 

Again thank you all for your advice.

SO i have been monitoring the honey gouramis today and the yellow gourami is definitely picking on the peach coloured gourami, I have no other tank and I'm concerned about the well being of Peachy, any ideas ?

Hi Sue & fcmf,

Please see attached a better image of the peach honey gourami, male or female ?

Honey gouramis exist in three colour forms that I know of - there maybe more I haven't come across.

The wild form is tan coloured male and silvery beige female. The other two are man made colours, made by selective breeding not dying.
The yellow morph has both male and female yellow, but the male tends to have a much deeper yellow, almost orange back end and tail. The female will have traces of a dark line from nose to tail; occasionally the line is quite pronounced but it is usually just fragments of darker colour rather than a whole line.
The red morph can be variable in shade from orangey to bright red. Males and females are the same colour and females do not have the line, not even bits of colour.

Your yellow gourami is a male of the yellow morph. It is deeper yelllow towards the tail and there is no hint of a line down the side.

Your peachy gourami is a light coloured red morph. These are much more difficult to tell. But I think this one is also a male. The tail end of the anal fin that runs along the underside looks to sweep outwards then upwards then back in towards the body. A female's anal fin would be shorter and rather than sweep out and back in, it would curve straight up till it meets the body, no back swing to the edge.



I will be honest and say that in my opinion you have trouble waiting to happen with a male betta and two male gouramis. I would have only one of these fish in a 64 litre tank.

If you can get another 25-ish litre tank for the betta, that would remove one problem. Then I would swap the peachy gourami for 2 or even 3 female yellow gouramis. With more yellows you are more likely to be able to select females in the shop. It would be hit and niss trying to get three red females.
To choose yellow females, go for the ones with either a solid dark line down the side or those with broken yellow lines. I have attached a photo of a female yellow honey gourami i had a few eyars ago to show what I mean by the broken dark line. You can also see the shape of the anal fin at the tail end, how it goes straight up to meet the body rather than curve back in.