# Severum & Gurami??



## shantanuparadka (Mar 26, 2010)

Can gurami leave with severum??
i have severums & dollars now planning to bring few gurami can they leave together under a one shed??


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## shantanuparadka (Mar 26, 2010)

gourami which i saw was golden bit bigger than or may be of same size of my severums.
and also blue gourami which was bit smaller than severums.
should i go for it??


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## oldcatfish (May 27, 2009)

Gouramis will be fine with Severums, unless you have a mean Severum. Gouramis are extremely compatible fish...they do surprisingly well with cichlids.

I have 4 gouramis in my 125g with an adult Red Devil, Green Texas, Salvini, Jack Dempsey, Firemouth, and Green Terror in a 125g. I have more aggression between the gouramis than with cichlid toward gourami. I also know several aquarists that have kept them with other cichlids, including Severums.

My only tip would be to get at least 4 gouramis....otherwise they will bully each other too much. And any of the 3-spot varieties are compatible with each other, including the ones you listed.


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## shantanuparadka (Mar 26, 2010)

actually my knwledge about gourami is not good. can u tell me about 3spot gourami. the two which i specified (Golden & blue) are of that type.

will the size of the gourami and severum will affect each other??


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## oldcatfish (May 27, 2009)

Personally, I'd get the Gouramis smaller or about the same size as your Severum.

The 3-spot gourami variety is the most commonly available--there are many color morphs, including the two you are interested in. Other available ones are the Opaline Gourami and the Platinum Gourami. All are line bred color morphs of the 3-spot, originally from Asia. They are very adaptable to water conditions, but actually prefer warm, slow current water---just like Severum. Gouramis are omnivores, they will usually eat any foods that fit in their small mouths. The 3-spot variety can reach 6 inches in the wild, but usually reaches about 4 inches in an aquarium. Male 3 spots have a pointed dorsal fin, females have a rounded one. Try to get a higher female to male ratio, for less aggression.

All of the gouramis are Labyrinth fishes---they have the ability to take oxygen from the air, so you will see them routinely do that in an aquarium. So, try not to have cold air blowing across the top of the water surface, they are more prone to disease if you do that.

Again, I'd go with at least 4 of any of the 3-spot morphs (and yes, you can mix & match if you prefer).


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## bernie comeau (Feb 19, 2007)

Very hardy, adaptable and versatile species.

I've kept them with all kinds of cichlids, including severums, and they have done well. Risky with Amphilophus or Parachromis species, but even with these, they sometimes do O.K.

They can be very aggressive towards their own kind, so either a single or a group of 4 or more. At a young age, they are not always easy to sex, as the pointed dorsal fin of the male is not yet developed. My current male was purchased almost a year ago (nov. 22, 2009)and measured at 2 1/2" at time of purchase ------none in the tank at the petshop exhibited a pointed dorsal fin at this small size:










Here is a recent pic of my male taken oct. 15, 2010, at th 4-5" size. The pointed dorsal fin became obvious about 6-7 months ago, though I suspected it was a male before that, as it was simply too aggressive to be a female:










These are some pics to show you what I keep with it in a 180 gal.:










Female blackbelt and male con in pic with male blue gourami.










Young male Black belt, Angelfish, and male Pseudotropheus crabo with male blue gourami in pic. (Yes, I know a bit of an odd mix in this tank :lol: , from most people's perspective). gourami actually pushes the crabo around in the top left side of the tank, though he's still subordinate to the angelfish.
A few videos of the tank:

http://s192.photobucket.com/albums/z116/Bern-C/?action=view&current=045.mp4

http://s192.photobucket.com/albums/z116/Bern-C/?action=view&current=050.mp4

Short video showing full set up of tank:

http://s192.photobucket.com/albums/z116/Bern-C/?action=view&current=046.mp4

Blue gourami thrives in a tank with aggressive fishes.Short video showing powers of the tank, threatening each other:

http://s192.photobucket.com/albums/z116/Bern-C/?action=view&current=008.mp4


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## bernie comeau (Feb 19, 2007)

Also have a female blue gourami in my 125 gal.,( purchased nov.22, 2009 as well).

These are some of the aggressive fishes I keep with it. Does very well in the tank. Actually chases away the smaller crabo and kenyi in the upper area of the tank :roll:










Male auratus in pic with female blue gourami on top.










Female salvinis, male and female kenyi with female blue gourami in pic.

A video of the tank:
http://s192.photobucket.com/albums/z116/Bern-C/?action=view&current=073.mp4

Video shows gourami is not stupid. Knows how to stay out of the way. Not something I see too often---- male salvini chasing the gourami ----but it moves quick when it has to:
http://s192.photobucket.com/albums/z116/Bern-C/?action=view&current=026.mp4

Video showing some of the aggression between auratuses:
http://s192.photobucket.com/albums/z116/Bern-C/?action=view&current=013.mp4


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## bernie comeau (Feb 19, 2007)

Been keeping 3-spot gouramis with cichlids for quite some time. Had some that lived well over 5 years in aggressive cichlid tanks. 
A couple pictures from over 30 years back:










2 male JD, male mozambique, female golden mozambique, female mayan with male blue gourami.










A very old blurry picture. Female Crenicichla sp. 'venuzuela', female OB zebra, and male blue gourami in top left corner. I beleive that blurr below the gourami in the corner to be a severum, though I am not absolutely certain. 3-spot gouramis eventually get a fair size. At least 5", if not 6"eventually. My female C. "venuzuela" swallowed a lot of my fish ---- cleaned up on ALL my female convicts, and some were large female cons, 4" +. It never ate my blue [/img] gourami, as it was too large to be swallowed.

IME, only the 3-spot and the paradise fish(with smaller tankmates) did well with aggressive cichlids. In the past, other types of gouramis never made it in my tanks and did not do well. 3-spot is the safest option with severum; the most likely to work out well, though I would supose you would have a number of options for gourami species compatible with severums.


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## shantanuparadka (Mar 26, 2010)

thanks a lot.

I will try 2 upload the pics once i purchase


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## oldcatfish (May 27, 2009)

Bernie, I am amazed. I have never seen Angelfish kept successfully with Blackbelts or Africans. And no torn fins on the Angel either!


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## bernie comeau (Feb 19, 2007)

oldcatfish said:


> Bernie, I am amazed. I have never seen Angelfish kept successfully with Blackbelts or Africans. And no torn fins on the Angel either!


Actually,IME often, I have found angelfish to do fine with some C.A. (and large oscars) For what ever reason(?) they seem to get special consideration, probably because they are odd and therefore seen as very different (even though they belong to the same tribe as C.A --- Heroini), and they don't compete for territory on the bottom of the tank so they are not seen as a competitor/ threat. They are generally very confident fish as well, so that can go a long way in an aggressive community. Some examples of their special consideration ------ my angelfish have had the bottom of their fin right inside the convicts cave when the convicts had eggs, and the convicts did absolutely nothing at all. Anybody else do that, and the cons don't hesitate to nail them instantly :lol: In the past I had oscars lay eggs, and during the whole time, a group of angelfish hovered above them.The oscars never made any attempt to clear them from their area!

Also had a bad experience keeping angelfish with C.A., long time ago, when I was a teenager. Had this large angelfish for about 5 years in a tank with an RD/midas and other aggressive cichlids. Nobody ever touched it, until one day. I seen it right before my eyes. One little bite from the RD/midas ----ripped one side of the face off the angelfish. The eye was still intact, but the whole side of the face ended up as a big flap hanging on the other side of its head. The angelfish died and I learnt 1st hand how risky it is with RD/midas. And it was just a little bite, not some power hit.

I've seen both the convicts and the blackbelts bite the angelfish. Very seldom, but I've seen it, and the angelfish are sturdy enough. Big, fast and powerfull, a BB can do as much damage as other large C.A. if it takes a run at something. But taking a run and nailing an angelfish at high speed, is an extremely unlikely thing for a BB to do. Just a little bite from a BB, on rare occasion, is really not that serious. It's not realistic to expect aggressive cichlids to spend a life time in the same tank and never bite each other. I'm willing to take some risk with BB, but I wouldn't be willing to take the same risks with RD/midas again.

If I had a large group of mbuna, rather then just the one male crabo, the chance that somebody would pick on the angelfish would be a lot higher. Crabo has been in the tank for about 6 weeks now. He was a subordinate male removed from my 125 gal. Innitially he was chased around a lot by the blue gourami :lol: Took 3 weeks for him to finally stand up to the gourami :roll: But really, his "hands are tied". He's scared of the blackbelts as neither blackbelt will tolerate him acting tough in their prescence. Doesn't like the male jewel at all, but I doubt he'll ever show much aggression towards the angelfish.

As far as there fins, they have had chunks missing from their tails, but it has grown back. The very few little bites I have seen given to them from the cons and BB have been on the body. The chunks missing on the tail, I suspect maybe the salvini or most likely the jewel did it. Jewels are real nasty on fins. They are able to bite fin right off. A little chunk missing on the tail of my male con, that never grew back, I seen the male jewel bite it off during a scrap between the two, a while back. Angelfish's fins are good because they are very sledom the objects of agrresion, but it's not realistic to expect that they will always have perfect fins kept in a tank like this.

No idea on the sex of these angelfish. Especially if they are both males, they may eventually become intolerant of each other. Most of the time they hang out together, but they have had quite a few scraps between each other. Sometimes they threaten each other in the middle of the tank. Aggression in the tank is not so blatant, but it really is a very aggressive enviroment for angelfish. It rubs off on them. "Monkey see, monkey do", they live in this enviroment, and start to act like their tankmates. But they are smart enough to stay out of the way and give the female blackbelt some space when she swims by.

The angelfish were purchased at dime size, on nov. 23, 2009, a day after I purchased my blue gouramis. They were kept in a 75 gal. Then, in about march or april, 2010, the angelfish, along with the male blue gourami, were introduced into the 180 gal. They have done fine ever since.


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## gouramis79 (Jan 6, 2022)

Not sure any of the authors of the thread are live on the forum buy I need help on the topic. Trying to find information on internet on my gourami and angelfish compatibility issue. The person above says that he has gourami and angelfish successfully living together for a long time and articles like this one Gourami care - Complete guide - Fishkeeping Daily mention that too. Saying that angelfish are one of the best tankmates for gourami. What am I doing wrong in my 15 gallon tank my gourami male killed the second angelfish. Could it be just a bad gourami bully or what?


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## Deeda (Oct 12, 2012)

Welcome to C-F! You may not get a response from the original members as this topic is over 10 years old.

@gouramis79 , a 15 gallon tank is fairly small for keeping adult angelfish and a gourami. So which gourami species do you have?


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