Pearl Gourami + CPD Compatibility

[Schwack]

Hopefully this is an easy question for people who've kept pearl gourami in the past. Long story short, I started building a tank stand for a 29 gallon. Realized as I was getting started that I'd only need to stretch things a tiny bit to fit a 40 breeder. Petco has 'em on sale at the moment, so voila, I'm down a 29 gallon and trying to stock this 40 breeder.

I'm a big fan of pearl gourami and was hoping to keep 3-4 as the "centerpiece" fish of the tank. My plan was 1 male and 2-3 females to keep breeding/territorial aggression to a minimum.

After picking the largest fish, I went through a bunch of smaller species to help fill the tank out and then it hit me: I've got 40+ celestial pearl danio that are basically ready to sell! If I put them all into this large tank, I could run a giant school of ~50 CPD alongside the larger pearl gourami.

Water parameter wise, they seem like a good fit. I'm just a bit nervous about putting such a large fish in with such little guys. I've seen folks recommend neon tetras with them, which makes me think they could coexist without too much trouble. Any more experienced fish keepers, especially those who've kept pearl gourami, able to weigh in on this stocking? Is my all pearl all the time tank idea doomed from the start?

[CorydorasEthan]

1 minute ago, Schwack said:

Hopefully this is an easy question for people who've kept pearl gourami in the past. Long story short, I started building a tank stand for a 29 gallon. Realized as I was getting started that I'd only need to stretch things a tiny bit to fit a 40 breeder. Petco has 'em on sale at the moment, so voila, I'm down a 29 gallon and trying to stock this 40 breeder.

I'm a big fan of pearl gourami and was hoping to keep 3-4 as the "centerpiece" fish of the tank. My plan was 1 male and 2-3 females to keep breeding/territorial aggression to a minimum.

After picking the largest fish, I went through a bunch of smaller species to help fill the tank out and then it hit me: I've got 40+ celestial pearl danio that are basically ready to sell! If I put them all into this large tank, I could run a giant school of ~50 CPD alongside the larger pearl gourami.

Water parameter wise, they seem like a good fit. I'm just a bit nervous about putting such a large fish in with such little guys. I've seen folks recommend neon tetras with them, which makes me think they could coexist without too much trouble. Any more experienced fish keepers, especially those who've kept pearl gourami, able to weigh in on this stocking? Is my all pearl all the time tank idea doomed from the start?

I am not very experienced, but here you go:

In my experience, pearl gourami do not eat other fish except for very small fry. They only grow maybe four inches at most. So I don't think that they would eat the CPDs. I have noticed, though, that they are food-hogs, and will chase away all bottom dwellers near the pellet that they have claimed (even after pigging out on the numerous floating foods). My male will go around the bottom terrorizing the cories and algae eaters around every pellet/wafer that they are eating. I don't know if this will be a problem in a larger tank with females in it, but it's just something to keep in mind. So just make sure that your CPDs are getting enough food. I hope this helps, and good luck!

[DSH OUTDOORS]

I've had a group of 5 pearl gourami in with guppy and fry for two weeks now and haven't had an issue.  At least all fry larger than a half an inch are still alive.  The gouramis are not fully gown yet though so we will see if anything changes.  Not the same, but figured it might help.

[Schwack]

3 minutes ago, DSH OUTDOORS said:

I've had a group of 5 pearl gourami in with guppy and fry for two weeks now and haven't had an issue.  At least all fry larger than a half an inch are still alive.  The gouramis are not fully gown yet though so we will see if anything changes.  Not the same, but figured it might help.

Not the same, but close enough to be helpful! By all accounts they're relatively peaceful fish. You and @CorydorasEthan are confirming my research. I didn't want to end up in a position where I wanted something to work so badly that I started ignoring potential warning signs.

I was hoping to get the gourami as juveniles as well, in order to let them grow with the CPD in the tank. I was hoping that might cut down on any aggressive behavior.

Edited March 24, 2021 by Schwack

[JettsPapa]

I have 9 pearls in a 40 gallon breeder, 7 of which are still juveniles.  I don't have anything as small as CPD's in with them, but I do hat serpae tetras and pristella tetras, and haven't noticed any aggression.

Feeding hasn't been an issue since the gouramis usually eat near the surface first and the tetras get what falls past them.  After they've cleaned up the floating food then the pearls will start looking for stuff that's lower down, or even on the bottom, but by that time the tetras have got what they need.  CPD's may be more timid than my tetras, so I can't promise similar results.