4 male dwarf gouramis in a 30 gallon

[Jarpeg423]

So I wanted to get everyone’s opinion on here. I have a heavily planted 30 gallon tank. Currently I have 6 albino Cory’s, 1 Bolivian ram, 6 black neon tetras, 6 cherry barbs, and now I recently purchased 2 male powder blue dwarf gouramis and 2 male flame dwarf gouramis. I know you’re not supposed to put more than 1 male, especially in a 30 gallon but I had not done my research properly on these fish. I have been monitoring them for about 3 days now and I have not seen any aggression or any chasing. They’ve been well fed and all are eating fine. I’m curious if this trend of peacefulness will continue, or will I wake up with dead fish in the future. Like I said though, they seem to be doing great together, most of the time they swim around together. I attributed this to them all coming from the same tank at the pet store. Any info is appreciated

[JettsPapa]

Welcome to the forum.  I don't doubt that they're doing fine now, but I'd be very surprised if that continues as they get older and approach sexual maturity.  It's risky keeping just one, since they will sometimes attack any other fish in the tank, but additional dwarf gouramis is really asking for trouble.

They are also notoriously susceptible to illness (usually fatal), so with those two strikes against them the best option would probably be to take them back to the store.  I know they're beautiful fish, but I would never recommend them to a new fish keeper.  Other gourami species, like pearl gouramis and honey gouramis, rarely have those issues if you're looking for an alternative.

[jwcarlson]

I've never tried to keep more than one, but the handful that I've had over the years are always kind of combative with other tankmates.

The illness that JettsPapa mentions is another reason why I don't think I'll ever keep them again.  There's probably plenty of nuisance to this statement, but in general I've always treated them as a betta as far as tankmates and stocking (meaning just one as the "showpiece" in a typical tank and expect them to possibly be a bit aggressive to tankmates).   

[Jarpeg423]

Ok I will keep you guys informed as to what happens. I don’t have the receipt for the fish and they were purchased from meijer, I will ask them when I go there tomorrow if they will refund them but I don’t think they will. I have 2, 10 gallon tanks that I set up today just in case I need to move them, I wanted to have those ready to go. Thanks for the input. I figured they might be fine now but once they hit maturity, I can see issues arising. 

[Jarpeg423]

It’s been a little over a week and they are still doing well, no aggression whatsoever. They are about 2.5 inches long so I would assume they are almost fully grown. I have a lot of plants in my tank so I think that may be helping