The Honey gourami or Trichogaster chuna is a most attractive tropical fish that can make a nice addition to a peaceful community setup. These charming gouramis are easy to care for, making them a good choice for a beginner.
But what fish make suitable tank mates for the Honey Dwarf gourami? Is it true that Honey gouramis can change color? And, can the Honey gourami live in a nano tank?
Read this comprehensive care guide to find out more about these beautiful little fish.
Honey Gourami – Overview
Scientific Name
Trichogaster chuna
Common Name (species)
Honey gourami, Dwarf Fire gourami, Red Flame Honey gourami, Sunset Honey gourami, Honey Dwarf gourami
Family
Osphronemidae
Origin
South Asia, India, specifically Assam and Manipur, Nepal, and Bangladesh
Diet
Omnivore
Care Level
Easy
Activity
Active
Lifespan
4 to 8 years
Temperament
Peaceful
Tank Level
All parts of the water column but mainly middle and upper areas.
Minimum Tank Size
10 gallons
Temperature Range
Tropical 72° to 82° Fahrenheit
Water Hardness
4 – 15 dGH
pH Range
6.0 to 7.5
Filtration/Flow Rate
Moderate to low current with good filtration
Water type
Freshwater
Breeding
Bubble nester that can be relatively easily bred in a home tank
Compatibility
Peaceful community fish
OK, for Planted Tanks?
Plant-safe
Origins
The Honey gourami was first described in 1822 by Buchanan and Hamilton and is found in South Asia in Gangetic provinces, as well as in India, specifically Manipur and Assam, and in Bangladesh and Nepal.
The species does appear on the IUCN Red List but is categorized as being of Least Concern since it’s widespread and there are no notable threats to habitat. Pretty much all the fish that you see in the trade today are commercially raised, and it’s highly unlikely that you will find any wild-caught Honey gouramis for sale today.
Natural Habitat
Honey gouramis live at low altitudes in tropical rivers, ponds, ditches, lakes, and flooded fields. The habitat here is thick with vegetation, and the water is generally slow-moving, although seasonal flooding does occur during the monsoon season.
Taking Aim!
Honey gouramis have been seen catching their prey by shooting it down using a carefully aimed squirt of water. The fish do that by making sudden contractions of their mouths, effectively spitting drops of water at insects on overhanging leaves, knocking the unfortunate insect into the water where it quickly becomes lunch for the hungry gourami.
What Do Honey Gouramis Look Like?
The Honey gourami has a similar compressed body shape to that of the Dwarf gourami but is slightly slimmer, and the anal and dorsal fins are a little smaller. The fish has threadlike ventral fins that it uses to detect its surroundings.
Like all gouramis, the Honey gourami has a labyrinth organ, which enables the fish to breathe air at the water’s surface, taking oxygen directly into its bloodstream.
Color Variations
Honey gouramis are generally pale yellow to silver-gray with a light brown horizontal stripe along their lateral line.
When spawning or stressed, the fish change color, becoming more vibrant during breeding when the male’s body and finnage become reddish-orange or bright yellow. The belly, throat, and face tend to turn black.
There are several selectively bred varieties of Honey gouramis, including red and gold color morphs.
Size
Female Honey gouramis grow to around two inches in length, with males being slightly smaller than females at approximately 1.5 inches long. Their size makes these fish ideal for life in a 10-gallon tank.
What Is The Lifespan Of A Honey Gourami?
Honey gouramis can live for between four and eight years when kept in optimum conditions and fed a high-quality, nutritious diet.
Activity Level/Temperament
Honey gouramis are peaceful creatures that are perfect for a community tank of fish with a similar agreeable temperament.
However, these fish are quite slow-moving, spending most of their time cruising around the middle to upper areas of the water column. They can also be quite shy and timid, especially when first introduced to the aquarium. Once the gouramis become more confident, their colors will become more vibrant, and they’ll be less inclined to hide.
Compatibility And Tankmates
Honey gouramis can live alone, in pairs, or in small groups.
Although these are not schooling fish, they do like company of their own kind, and they make a more impressive display when kept in groups of four to six specimens. Within a group, the fish will establish a pecking order with the Alpha fish becoming a little pushy at feeding times or when choosing a nesting site.
Male Honey gouramis can sometimes bully the female when kept in pairs.
Honey gouramis do best when kept with other peaceful species, including:
- Mollies
- Platys
- Swordtails
- Corydoras catfish
- Rasboras
- Loaches
Fish Species To Avoid
I recommend that you avoid large aggressive or semi-aggressive species that might bully the shy gouramis.
Also, some of the tetra species tend to be nippy, which will stress the gouramis. Unless you have a large tank, other gouramis are best avoided, as they can become aggressive toward each other.
Diet And Nutrition
Always buy the highest-quality fish food that your budget will stretch to, as that will keep your fish healthy and will also bring out their most vibrant colors.
What To Feed Honey Gouramis
Honey gouramis are omnivores. In nature, the fish eat insects, zooplankton, and small invertebrates.
Aquarium-kept Honey gouramis can be fed flake foods, frozen foods, and pellets.
Can Your Feed Honey Gouramis Live Foods?
Although gouramis do enjoy live foods, I advise caution here. Parasites and bacteria commonly find their way into the aquarium with live foods, so I prefer to feed the frozen equivalent instead.
Never take live foods from the natural environment. You don’t know what you might be bringing into your tank with the food in the form of parasites or even harmful chemicals.
However, if you want to give your Honey gouramis live food to vary their diet, you might want to consider taking on a home brine shrimp hatchery.
How Much and How Often To Feed
You should feed your fish two to three times per day, giving them only what they will eat in a few minutes.
Never overfeed your gouramis. Leftover food will degrade in the substrate, polluting the tank water, and overfeeding can cause serious health issues for your fish, too.
Tank Setup
Tank size
The small Honey gourami can live happily in a small 10-gallon tank, although you will need something more spacious if you want to keep a community of fish.
Since these fish are labyrinth breathers, they need to come to the water surface to take occasional mouthfuls of air. Gouramis are also surface feeders, so I recommend that you choose a long tank instead of a tall one. Also, a rectangular tank provides more surface area for good efficient gaseous exchange.
Honey gouramis can jump when alarmed, so always use an aquarium with a lid or cover slide.
Tank Setup
Substrate
Honey gouramis can have any kind of substrate, although dark-colored gravel brings out their colors best.
Decoration
Honey gouramis can be quite shy, so make sure that you include lots of dense planting and other hiding places where the fish can take shelter if they want to.
Species of floating plants are useful for providing shade and making the perfect spot for bubble nest building. However, bear in mind that Honey gouramis need unencumbered access to the surface to breathe, so remember to thin out the plants occasionally.
You can create an attractive, natural-looking habitat by using twisted roots, stones, and driftwood to decorate the tank.
Habitat Requirements
Although Honey gouramis are relatively hardy fishes, you do need to keep their water clean and well-oxygenated. So, you must perform 25% to 30% partial water changes every week and vacuum the substrate to eliminate accumulations of waste that would otherwise pollute the water.
Filtration
Your tank needs a good filtration system. However, Honey gouramis don’t appreciate a strong current, so choose a filter with a flow adjuster or buffer the current with plants or decorations.
Generally, a canister or HOB filter is the best choice for gouramis rather than an internal box filter that will generate too much water movement for these sensitive fish.
To ensure that the water is well-oxygenated, you might want to include an airstone or bubbler.
Water Parameters
Water Temperature
Dwarf Fire gouramis are a tropical species that need a water temperature of between 72° and 82°F.
IMPORTANT!
The room temperature must be consistent with that of the water in your fish tank so as not to damage the gourami’s sensitive labyrinth organ.
Water Hardness And pH Range
The water pH should be in the range of 6.0 to 7.5, with a water hardness of between 4 and 15 dGH.
Lighting
These fish live in relatively shallow water, so the natural lighting in the wild environment is pretty bright. That said, the habitat is heavily shaded by the dense vegetation that grows there.
Honey gouramis don’t need any special lighting, so you can use a regular LED lighting unit to keep your living plants healthy and provide enough light for you to enjoy your fish.
Aquarium Maintenance Tasks
Every week you must vacuum your aquarium gravel to remove fish waste, rotting plant matter, and uneaten food. Concentrate on the corners of the tank, under decorations, and between plant bases.
At the same time, change 25% to 30% of the aquarium water, and rinse the filter media through in that dirty water to get rid of any sludge that would otherwise clog the media and prevent the water from circulating through the unit properly.
Remove algae from the glass with an algae magnet or sponge.
Setting Up Your Aquarium
Assemble everything you’ll need to set up your aquarium, including:
- Dark-colored substrate
- LED lighting unit
- HOB or canister filtration system
- Water conditioner
- Heater
- Aquarium thermometer
- Tank decorations
- Living plants
- Aquarium water testing kit
Setting Up Your New Fish Tank
- Wash the gravel under running water to get rid of any dust.
- Put two or three inches of gravel in the aquarium.
- Plug in the filter, lights, and heater but don’t switch them on.
- Fill the aquarium with dechlorinated tap water just below the fill line. Tip the water slowly over a stone or upturned dish so that the gravel doesn’t get scattered all over the tank.
- To kickstart the nitrogen cycle, add a few drops of pure ammonia, a pinch of fish food, or a handful of a substrate from a mature tank.
- Wash your ornaments and arrange them in the tank.
- Snip away dead leaves or damaged stems from your live plants and add the plants to the aquarium. Make sure that you leave enough space between each plant so that they have room to grow and spread out.
- Switch on your heater and filtration system.
- Living plants need eight to ten hours of light daily to photosynthesize, so you might want to buy a timer if you’re not around to set the lights yourself.
Now, the waiting game begins! You need to allow the aquarium to cycle before it’s safe to add your fish. The nitrogen cycle can take between ten days and four weeks to complete, although you can speed things up by adding a biological supplement to the filter.
During the cycling process, you need to test the water every day with an aquarium water testing kit. When the levels of ammonia and nitrites are at zero and nitrates are less than 20ppm, the cycle is complete, and it’s time to add several small fish.
Health And Disease
Honey gouramis are pretty hardy fish provided you give them the proper water conditions and diet.
Indicators Of Good Health
Your fish should be seen exploring the tank, feeding, and taking regular trips to the surface to gulp air.
Red Flags
These warning signs might indicate that your fish are not thriving as they should:
- Not eating
- Inactivity
- Not breathing at the water surface
- Ulcers or red patches on the body
- “Flashing” against the gravel or against solid objects in the tank
- Hanging at the surface
Common Health Issues and Treatment
Health Issue
Ich (White Spot Disease)
Symptoms or Causes
Ich is a very common disease that’s caused by an aquatic protozoan parasite.
Fish infected with Ich develop a sprinkling of tiny white spots on their fins, gill covers, and bodies. They also flash against the gravel and other solid objects in the aquarium.
Suggested Action
Raise the water temperature to 82o F for three days. Use an OTC White Spot Disease medication to treat the tank.
Health Issue
Flukes
Symptoms or Causes
Flukes is the term used to describe various types of external fish parasites. These macroparasites can often be seen with the naked eye attached to the fish’s skin or gills.
Suggested Action
Treat the fish tank with an OTC antiparasitic medication.
Health Issue
Fungal infections
Symptoms or Causes
White fluffy growths on the fish’s body, mouth, and head.
Suggested Action
Quarantine infected fish, and treat with an antifungal medication.
Health Issue
Bacterial infections
Symptoms or Causes
Sores and ulcers on the body and head, ragged, bloody fins.
Suggested Action
Treat the tank with OTC antibacterial treatment.
Breeding
In the right conditions, you can breed Honey gouramis in the home aquarium. However, it’s worth noting that males can be belligerent toward the female, especially right after spawning has taken place.
Like all gouramis, the male constructs a bubble nest. The female lays her eggs underneath the nest, and the male carries each egg to place it in the nest, where he will guard the eggs until they hatch.
Once hatched, the fry feeds on the egg sac, eventually becoming free-swimming when the food source has gone. I recommend that you remove the male at this point, as he might eat the fry.
Availability
You can find the various color morphs of Honey gouramis for sale in good fish stores and online for a few dollars per fish.
Product Recommendations
- Water dechlorinator
- Algae cleaner
- Aquarium thermometer
- Aquarium vacuum
- Books on keeping tropical fish
- HOB or canister filter
- Fish tank (minimum size 10 gallons)
- Heater
- High-quality tropical fish flakes and frozen foods
- LED lighting unit
- Live plants
- Tank decorations
- Dark gravel
- Aquarium water testing kit
In Conclusion
I hope you enjoyed this guide to the Honey gourami.
These beautiful little fish make the ideal addition to a peaceful community tank, and they can be kept successfully in a small, 10-gallon setup. Make sure that you provide your gouramis with plenty of hiding places and cover, as these fish can be quite shy. Given the right conditions, you can breed Honey gouramis, too.
Do you have Honey gouramis? What tank mates work well with your pets? Tell us in the comments box below.
And, please remember to share this article if you loved it!
I just got a honey gourami 3 days ago. He/she has settled very well into my community tank. Also new at the same time were 3 green tiger barbs and an otoclincus? catfish. Already in the tank were 2 female guppies, 2 rainbowfish and 8 kitty tetra. Everyone seems very happy and it all looks wonderful in there.
I called my gourami Beatrice. The first day she had a dark stripe across from stress of moving but by the next day that had faded so she is just her lovely pale colour and I have seen no more sign of stress. She’s doing everything that she’s supposed to. She seems to especially like nibbling on the live plants in there and exploring the rocky “cave” with its various nooks and crannies.
I am thinking of getting another 3 of the catfish as they are so small and enjoying eating the algae off the glass so they’ll help me get nice photos if there are no green speckles on the glass between the camera and my fish 🙂