Platinum Gourami 5cm

Platinum Gourami
 

Considered to be one of the best entry-level tropical fish is the platinum gourami. This fish is always a fantastic candidate and essentially a must-have in any community aquarium due to their reflective colour, peaceful personality, and their larger growing size. Platinum gourami is actually a captive-bred colour morph of the wild three-spot gourami which is generally more silver in nature. There is also a gold and blue strain available in this species, in a group of all these mixed colours, this will be a stunning display. Platinum Gouramis also makes for a great standalone showpiece fish in community aquariums as they grow to around 15cm. 

Platinum gourami looks especially unique due to its snow-white colour. As their name suggests the body colour is a solid white with a pink hue and light metallic blue sheen. The three spots found in the natural, gold, and blue train are not visible on this fish but they do have white tiger stripes which are surprisingly visible. They also have a streak of gold across the ventral fin for an added bit of contrast along with an array of spots all across the fins. These are also very hardy fish that can tolerate a range of aquarium parameters, they are also anabantid meaning they have a primitive lung that allows them to take gulps off oxygen from the surface to breathe. 

Platinum gourami 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 and breed by constructing a bubble nest in the aquarium. This is almost never successful in a standard community aquarium which is why it is best to breed these fish in a dedicated breeding tank. The wild origin of platinum gourami is Asia. 

Tank Recommendations for your Platinum Gourami

Platinum gourami does get fairly large at 15cm which is why the bare minimum aquarium would be around 70 litres. As always though a larger aquarium would be far better to allow ample space for multiple gouramis and other tank mates. The platinum gourami will prefer very calm, vegetation-dense waters since these are the conditions that standard three-spot gourami are from. Replicating this would be the best environment for the gourami. Platinum gouramis are also almost exclusively fish that stick to the upper portions of the aquarium meaning that there isn’t any real concern about the substrate or Scape materials used in the bottom portions of the tank.  These are also tropical fish that are best kept at 24-26 degrees.

Suitable Tank Buddies

The platinum 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 smaller aquariums like the minimum recommendation of 70 litres this could potentially arise. Platinum 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 maculatus raspboras.

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 Platinum Gourami

Platinum Gourami is 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 good quality floating food, supplemented with frozen bloodworms or black worms or even live foods like baby brine shrimp or micro worms.