Gold Gourami 9cm

Gold Gourami

Considered to be one of the best entry-level tropical fish is the gold gourami. This fish is always a fantastic candidate and essentially a must-have in any community aquarium due to its striking colour, peaceful personality, and larger growing size. Gold Gouramis also make for a great showpiece fish in community aquariums as they grow to around 15cm.

The gold gourami is also a very hardy fish that can tolerate a range of aquarium parameters and being an anabantoid, these fish have a primitive lung that allows them to take gulps off oxygen from the surface to breathe.

The gold gourami is actually a captive-bred colour morph of the wild three spot gourami which is generally more silver in nature. Gold gouramis also have beautiful colours and as their name suggests their base colour is iridescent gold. This deep gold colour is strongest at the nape of their head and along their back which then fades into a powder yellow colour.

They also often have 3 black spots along with the bud and a faint black outline along with the fins which also have light yellow spots. Gold gouramis can be bred in the home aquarium however unlike their close cousins the bettas there isn’t any easy way of differentiating males and females. Generally, these fish will pair off naturally in a group. The wild origin of the Gould gourami is from Asia.  

Tank Recommendations for your Gold Gourami

Gold gourami does get fairly large at 15cm which is why the bare minimum aquarium would be around 60 litres (20 gallons). As always though a larger aquarium would be far better to allow ample space for the gourami and other tank mates. The gold gourami also does come from very calm, vegetation dense waters in the wild and replicating this would be the best environment for the gourami. Gold gouramis are also almost exclusively fish that sticks to the upper portions of the aquarium meaning that there isn’t any real concern about the substrate or escape materials used in the bottom portions of the tank.  These are also tropical fish which are best kept at 24-26 degrees.

Suitable Tank Buddies

The Gold gourami is a fairly peaceful fish. There have been reports that they can be territorial with members of their own species and possibly against other fish. In a larger aquarium setting, this should not be a problem however in a smaller aquarium like the minimum recommendation of 60 litres this could potentially arise. Gold gouramis also do have longer fins compared to other fish which pose an easy target to open fin nipping species which also should be avoided

Usually Compatible

Torpedo barbs, corydoras, Black widow tetras, Plecos, ember tetras

Sometimes Compatible

Other gouramis and very small fish such as Endler guppies or maculates rasboras.

Rarely Compatible

Aggressive species may prey on the gourami or any fin nipping species such as tiger barbs which could cause constant injuries to the fish.

Feeding your Gold Gourami

Gold Rams are very easy to feed. They will take a wide range of pellets, flakes and frozen foods. Just like any fish though they should be fed a varied diet with a mix of different foods. The ideal diet would be a good quality floating food, supplemented with frozen bloodworms or black worms or even live foods like baby brine shrimp or micro worms.