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Passport
- Family
- Dwarf Gouramis
- Grows to
- 6 cm (2.4")
- Lives
- 4–6 years
- Temperament
- Semi aggressive
- Care
- Intermediate
- Swims
- Near the surface
- Keep
- One is fine
- Water
- 22–27 °C (72–81 °F)
PakistanIndiaBangladesh
Care requirements
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On record for Dwarf Gourami: adult size, lifespan, minimum tank, temperature, ph, hardness, minimum group, diet, care level, swim level, tank length.
A figure that is not on record is left out rather than guessed. One marked Suggested comes from keeping knowledge rather than a page.
- Minimum tank 56 L / 14.8 US gal
- pH 6–7.5
- Hardness 2–18 dGH
- Diet omnivore
- Tank length 60 cm minimum
Care notes written from general aquarium knowledge, not from the cited sources.
About
Dwarf gouramis are beautiful and they come with a warning that belongs at the top rather than buried in the health section. Dwarf gourami iridovirus is real, incurable and usually fatal, and a carrier can look perfectly healthy in a shop tank. How common it is among the fish on sale today is genuinely unknown — the figure people quote comes from a survey of already-diseased gouramis in retail shops, which cannot tell you the rate among healthy farmed stock.
That's not a reason never to keep one. It is a reason to buy from somewhere that breeds its own where you can, and to quarantine what you buy. If one dies without explanation in a well-run tank, the virus is one possibility among several — worth knowing about, but not a conclusion you can reach from the absence of other clues.
The fish itself is lovely: an iridescent blue and red-barred male, with pelvic fins drawn out into long feelers he uses to touch and taste everything around him.
Tank setup
Give your dwarf gourami a calm tank with a still surface. They're labyrinth fish that breathe air, and they need to reach the top easily without fighting a current.
Never seal the lid, but do cover the tank. The air above the water needs to stay warm and humid — a cold draught on the labyrinth organ does real damage — and they can jump.
Plant it densely, especially with floating plants. They're shy fish that came from overgrown ditches, ponds and rice paddies, and open water makes them nervous.
Keep one male per tank. Two will fight, persistently.
Keep the flow low and the water warm and steady.
Feeding
Dwarf gouramis are omnivores that eat readily and take food mostly from the surface and mid-water.
Feed a good flake or small pellet as the base, with frozen and live food — bloodworm, daphnia, brine shrimp — for colour and condition.
They're slow, deliberate feeders. In a busy tank, faster fish will strip the surface before the gourami commits.
Avoid: overfeeding, which they're prone to, and avoid keeping them with fast greedy tank mates.
Filtration and flow
Keep the flow gentle and the surface calm. A strong outlet exhausts them and disrupts the air they need at the top.
Filter for waste rather than for turnover. A sponge filter or a well-baffled outlet is ideal.
Keep the water clean and stable. Stress from poor conditions is thought to be part of what brings the virus out in carrier fish.
With plants
Dwarf gouramis are entirely safe with plants and belong in a heavily planted tank.
Floating plants matter most. They shade the surface, they calm the fish, and a male building a bubble nest will anchor it to them.
Dense growth at the sides gives them the cover they need to come forward.
Health
Iridovirus is the one to know. Signs include loss of colour, sores, a swollen abdomen, loss of appetite and wasting, and there is no treatment — an affected fish should be removed to spare the rest of the tank.
They're also prone to a bacterial infection sometimes called dwarf gourami disease, with similar external symptoms. Distinguishing the two at home isn't practical.
Quarantine new fish, buy from a breeder rather than a mass supplier where you can, and keep conditions stable. That's the whole of the available defence.
Breeding
Males build a bubble nest at the surface, usually anchored under a floating plant, and they're meticulous about it.
The male courts the female under the nest, wraps around her, and catches the eggs as they fall, spitting them up into the bubbles. He then guards the nest alone and drives the female off, so she needs removing.
Fry are tiny and need infusoria before anything else. Keep the tank covered and the air above the water warm — the labyrinth organ develops in the first weeks and cold air at that stage kills broods.
Tank mates
Avoid10
- Convict Cichlid Convict Cichlid grows to 15 cm against Dwarf Gourami at 6 cm, big enough to eat it.
- Jewel Cichlid Jewel Cichlid grows to 15 cm against Dwarf Gourami at 6 cm, big enough to eat it.
- Least Killifish Dwarf Gourami grows to 6 cm against Least Killifish at 2 cm, big enough to eat it.
- Scarlet Badis Dwarf Gourami grows to 6 cm against Scarlet Badis at 2 cm, big enough to eat it.
- Common Goldfish Dwarf Gourami is not safe with Common Goldfish: common goldfish and dwarf gouramis are a bad pairing.
Only with care23
- Kribensis Dwarf Gourami is semi-aggressive and Kribensis is peaceful.
- Panda Garra Dwarf Gourami is semi-aggressive and Panda Garra is peaceful.
- Amano Shrimp Dwarf Gourami is a risk to Amano Shrimp: dwarf gouramis and shrimp and yabbies are a pairing to watch.
- Angelfish Dwarf Gourami is a risk to Angelfish: angelfish and dwarf gouramis are a pairing to watch.
- Bala Shark Dwarf Gourami is a risk to Bala Shark: dwarf gouramis and sharks are a pairing to watch.
No conflict is recorded with the other 74 species in the database, so nothing to flag. 1 species is not covered at all, so they could not be judged either way.