Freshwater Tropical Fish Guide - The Blue Gourami

The Blue Gourami, sometimes also called the 3waters as found in their native tropical waters of
Spot Gourami is a popular freshwater tropical fishthe Far East, the Gourami will feel right at home if
for aquarium keeping. these fish are usually a lightyou have a lot of plants in your aquarium. They
blue color and have three dark spots, one on theget along with other fish of their kind but you
base of the tail, one in the middle of the body andneed to make sure that you have many
the eye which looks like the third spot. TheGourami's and preferably different type's in the
Gourami type of fish itself comes in severaltank to keep them from ganging up on the other
colors, the blue which you often see in pet stores,fish. It is best to have at least 4 Gouramis in the
gold and opaline as well as a few other rear oftank and even better if you can get a mix of the
varieties. These fish can grow very large and areblue, gold and opaline varieties. Generally, you
best suited for larger aquariums.want to stick to having only one male and the
The Blue Gourami is a fairly easy fish to keep andtank as they can be territorial.
will exist fine on floating flake food that youThe Blue Gourami enjoys the company of the
probably feed to the majority of the other fish inother varieties of Gourami. You could keep Gold,
your tank. However, like most creatures, theseBlue and Opaline Gourami together peacefully in
fish do need a little bit of variety and it's good tothe same aquarium. Oddly enough, if your tank
throw in some freeze dried blood worms orhas only one variety of Gourami with other
frozen brine shrimp every once in a while just tospecies of fish, the Gourami will gang up on the
be sure they are getting all the vital nutrients thatother fish. When you keep a mix of Gourami in
they need.the tank among other fish species, the Gourami
If you buy a Gourami fish that is very small youtend to focus on their own type and leave the
might be able to start them off in a smallerother fish alone. It is recommended that you have
aquarium but eventually you going to have to geta minimum of four Gourami's in your tank, with a
a 50 gallon or larger as the fish grows. Thismix from the different varieties.
species can grow quite large and you want to beThe Gourami can get along in the tank with other
sure that you house them suitably. you also needfish of the same size and can live peacefully with
to be sure that you have a good heater on theBarbs, Clown Loaches, Bala Sharks, Danios,
tank as these, like many other freshwater tropicalRainbow Sharks, Red Tail Sharks and Rainbows.
fish, require the water temperature to beIf you take excellent care of your Gouramis and
between 70 and 82°F. Other tank conditionsprovide them with the proper tank conditions,
include a PH of 6.0 to 8.8 and a hardness of 5-35they can live to be four years old and grow to be
dGH.4 inches in length.
Since these fish are used to thickly vegetated