Giant Gourami Questions

[Pile_O_Rocks]

Giant gouramis are my favourite monster fish. However, the synopsis of their aggression level has been a very mixed bag everywhere I’ve read to say the least! I have a few questions about them purely because if I ever plan on getting one, I want to know what I’m doing!
Does the average giant gourami tend to be a good tankmate to other fish? (and are there any specific species to which most certainly are not?)
Would one be more peaceful in a 2000 gallon indoor pond than a 300 gallon tank, or is the aggression not territory/space related?
Are RTGGs more or less aggressive than regular GGs?
I’ve heard that they get mellower with age, and are more aggressive when small. Is this true?
My apologies for the extensive amount of questions, I’m just interested in knowing as much as possible!

 

[esoxlucius]

their aggression level has been a very mixed bag everywhere I’ve read to say the least!

This pretty much sums up GG's. It's a total crap shoot. I've also read horror stories regarding their aggression, which makes me feel even more fortunate that I have one from the other end of the aggression scale. My RTGG is like a soft puppy!

He's in a 360 with balas, cigar barbs, a tinfoil, a lemonfin and filaments. If any of them go within 5-6" of his snout he will shake his head at them just to shoo them away, and that is as far as any aggression goes.

The only time mine was ever aggressive was when I had him in a 180g on his own. At first he was fine, he was about 8" at this point. But when he got to about 13" he became agitated and would throw some right wobblers, resulting in him injuring himself on the bracing and me getting the mop out! I put this behaviour down to him not being happy in the 180g.

All this stopped when I transferred him over to a new 360g fibreglass tank a couple of years ago. Currently he is a big fat soft 18".

I ensured that before I put him in my 360 that the others went in first. I left it a couple of days and then put the GG in. Some say this can be critical because you don't want the GG to view the tank as his own and then add fish which he will look on as intruders. That can go very bad.

In short, I think you should try and go as big as you can tank wise, and if you are going to have your GG in a com tank, then put them all in at the same time, as juveniles. I think that will put you in good stead. But saying that, there are always rogue GG's who won't tolerate tank mates whichever way you approach it. This is mine below enjoying a tickle.

 

[jjohnwm]

"Throw some right wobblers"? I tell ya, as soon as I can find a British/Canadian translation dictionary...

Esox hit the nail on the head: total crap shoot. GG's are so big that keepers who have had the chance to own more than one or two are pretty uncommon, so all you can get is a selection of anecdotes relating to single individual fish. And at the same time, GG's are so variable...well, you get the idea. Crap shoot.

For the record: I have owned two, bought together as very small youngsters. Once I got them home...from the store where a large number were kept together...one immediately attacked the other and was so vicious and relentless that I separated them. I tried re-introducing them together several times, including adding the aggressive one into a tank where the other one was well-established and also keeping them separated by a clear divider for awhile. No luck; the victim was rehomed.

The other remained for years, growing and eating, sharing tank space with everything from large aggressive cichlids and monster cats all the way down to small tetras and guppies. No matter how big the GG was, no matter how big or how small his tankmates were...he never, ever displayed even the slightest aggressive tendencies again, and was never the victim of any attacks or bullying. He was also totally non-predatory (which is completely different than non-aggressive) and completely ignored small fish that he could have inhaled without even chewing.

Not colorful, but impressive as hell and one of my all-time favourites.

 

[Fishman Dave]

I bought two of the white type around six years ago. Both turned out to be female and in a 6*2 showed some aggression but not too bad between 3-8”. As the aggression increased I moved them into the 1400g and it stopped altogether. These two became the best of sisters often just following each other round the pond. Show no real aggression to any tank mates other than the 2ft black shark if they got fed up of him chasing everyone. Unfortunately I lost one sister in a freak accident last year so am left with just the one. Still just as friendly and still comes charging over for tomatoes or broccoli.
Over many years I would say I have heard that whites are more peaceful than greys which in turn are more peaceful than red tails and that generally females are more peaceful than males. However, any personality fish can be aggressive, especially if they get to the size to see their whole tank as theirs.

 

[SourAngelfish]

I would agree with the others that it is a pretty big crapshoot.

So far mine has been awesome with other fish, I got luck with a relatively peaceful one. I say relatively as he will go out of his way to murder any fish that are albino/golden, the same color as him.
Mine has hit 14 inches or so and is currently with 10 tinfoil barbs/bala sharks, 3 blue gouramis, and a crassipinnis Oscar that he has become best friends with, they are always up under eachother lol.

 

[Pile_O_Rocks]

Thank you everyone for such amazing answers! It’s certainly put my mind at rest to know that there are quite a few friendly GGs out there. It’s really interested me to see that not all Giant Gouramis will present predatory behaviours, however I think I’d rather be safe than sorry! Out of curiosity, how big of a fish would fit in a giant gourami’s mouth? Would a group of adult Festivums (my favourite cichlid), for example, be at risk with an adult GG?
Thanks in advance!

 

[jjohnwm]

I don't think an adult festivum is in any danger of actually being eaten (predatory danger), but as some have found, there is the unpredictable risk of aggression, with the GG killing the cichlid outright or simply harassing it to death.

In this case...there really is only one way to find out.

 

[duanes]

Aggression is all about proper space.
In a "tiny" 6 ft tank they get very testy even as sub adults.
I grew mine from 3" to about 10", in a 150 gal, and by 10" they were aggressive with each other and anything else (not that they want to eat tank mates being mostly vegetarian), so they were moved to a 300 gal rubbermaid, and didn't;t seem to last long
So I consider 300 gals minimal for 1 or 2, proper quarters would be an enclosure or pool of 1,000 gal plus.