Content

• Steps
• Tips
• Warnings
• What do you need

Gourami are among the smallest fish in their family. Dwarf gourami are great colorful fish for community aquariums. Pet stores sell male dwarf gourami more often than females, which are rare. These beautiful fish are good for beginners for a first experience, or they simply form the central basis of the entire aquarium composition.

Steps

1. 1 Find out more about your fish. The dwarf gourami is the smallest of the labyrinth fish. With a length of only 5 cm, such fish can become the centerpiece of a small general aquarium with a volume of about 75 liters. Like most tropical fish, dwarf gourami are brightly colored. Females of dwarf gourami are colored muted colors and are not as common as males. Males are always very brightly colored and are found in the following colors:
   • Zinc dust (Blue Powder)
   • Red Flame
   • Green
2. 2 Get a large enough aquarium. Although dwarf gourami are among the smallest in their family, they need a properly sized aquarium. An aquarium of 56 liters will be sufficient for one gourami and several aquarium neighbors. Only one gourami per aquarium or pair, but it must be bought at the same time from the same aquarium in the same store. Gourami are like cockerels and will attack any fish that looks like a cockerel.
3. 3 Buy a water heater! All gourami are tropical fish and should be kept in an aquarium with water of the correct temperature, which ranges from 24 to 26.5 C.
4. 4 Pick up aquarium mates. Dwarf gourami are not considered aggressive, but show aggression towards other labyrinths: cockerels, other gourami, etc. Otherwise, they can coexist peacefully with other fish.
   • They can be settled along with corridors, tetra neons, scalars, small representatives of loaches and other small fish that will not bother gourami.
   • Cockerels, other gourami and other labyrinths, as well as fish with long fins and bright colors, get along poorly with dwarf gouras.
5. 5 Place decorations. Dwarf gourami are rather shy. It is best to have some artificial / live plants in the tank for them to hide. Also driftwood can be used in the aquarium.
6. 6 Get the right food. An appropriate staple diet for dwarf gourami is tropical fish flakes or bloodworms. Other types of food, such as frozen plankton, will provide the gourami with additional nutrients. Some tropical fish foods contain ingredients that enhance the color of the fish.
7. 7 Acclimatize your gourami. Like other fish, dwarf gourami need to undergo a 15-30 minute acclimatization in their transport bag to the water parameters in the aquarium, incl. to its temperature. After that, you need to carefully catch the fish from the bag with a net and release it into the aquarium without pouring water from the bag into it.

Tips

• These are very peaceful fish.
• You will need a water heater as these fish are tropical.
• They are labyrinth fish. Like all other types of gourami and anabatids, they are able to additionally breathe atmospheric air.
• A 56 liter aquarium is suitable for keeping one dwarf gourami and several aquarium neighbors.

Warnings

• Although they are peaceful fish, they should not be kept with cockerels or any cock-like fish.
• Different types of dwarf gourami should not be kept in the same aquarium, unless they were originally kept together in a pet store aquarium.

What do you need

• Compressor (optional)
• Ammonia tests
• 56 liter aquarium
• Driftwood or other decorations for the aquarium (optional)
• Water heater
• Lid for aquarium with light
• Live / artificial plants
• Nitrate / Nitrite Tests
• PH tests
• Filter
• Substrate