Should I buy it?
Croaking gourami
Trichopsis vittata
Also known as: striped gourami
A small gourami at 7 cm that produces an audible croak during spawning. Needs a quiet planted tank with surface cover and easily startled by active communities.
Croaking gourami tank mates · 80L tank size hub
peaceful · intermediate care
Sources & confidencehigh · partially verified · beginner: good
Checked against several solid care sources that mostly agree. Numbers here are a careful starting point. Your tap water, tank size, and habits decide the rest. How we evaluate.
Best for: Quiet planted tanks 80L or more with small peaceful companions and floating plants for bubble nest building.
Avoid if: Your tank has boisterous danios, active barbs, or any mid-water fish that outcompetes for surface access.
Common mistakeRunning bright open-water lighting with no surface cover is how keepers invent permanently hidden croaking gouramis that refuse to spawn or display. They need shaded surface areas and softish water. Do not treat them as a high-flow showpiece for a bare nano.
Top things that go wrong
- Mouth gap vs tiny tank mates. May eat tank mates small enough to fit the adult mouth — plan adult sizes, not shop sizes.
- Shrimp & snails. Not shrimp-safe — adults, fry, or both get eaten.
What most shops don't tell you
- 1.Myth: croaking gouramis are hardy novelty community fish for bright open aquascapes. Reality: they need shaded surface cover, softish water, and calm tank mates — bright bare tanks keep them hidden, silent, and unwilling to display or breed properly at all.
- 2.Predation risk scales with gape, night feeding, and crowding. 'they grew up together' is a schedule, not a law.
- 3.Classed peaceful for similar-sized community use. Still a bite-sized risk toward fry or very small comm fish in small volumes.
- 4.Kept with boisterous barbs or cichlids in bright bare tanks.
- 5.Expected to thrive in very hard alkaline water without slow acclimation.
- 6.Leave quiet corners and floating plants. Breeding pairs can be territorial; give extra structure if keeping groups.
About this species
A 7 cm gourami that audibly croaks in courtship. Shy surface-oriented fish that wants well-planted soft water and calm tank mates. May take small invertebrates in a community tank.
- Chocolate gourami80L min · same group, comparable tank size
- Dwarf Gourami60L min · same group, similar adult size
- Pearl Gourami100L min · same fish family
- Honey Gourami40L min · same group, similar adult size
- Paradise fish120L min · same group, similar adult size
- Sparkling Gourami40L min · same group, similar adult size
- Betta20L min · same group, similar adult size
- Opaline gourami150L min · same fish family
- Adolfoi coryalso intermediate peaceful, similar tank size
- Bamboo Shrimpalso intermediate peaceful, similar tank size
- Black ruby barbalso intermediate peaceful, similar tank size
- Bolivian Ramalso intermediate peaceful, similar tank size
- Brown / hockey-stick pencilfishalso intermediate peaceful, similar tank size
- Cardinal Tetraalso intermediate peaceful, similar tank size
No reverse lookups listed yet.
Plan grid
Key limits are above. Here: pH band, swim level, bioload, and activity.
Swim zones
Care snapshot
Quick compare before you buy. Not a score of how “good” the fish is.
- Beginner ease56
- Peacefulness68
- Community fit59
- Small-tank fit100
- Hardiness54
- Energy24
Numbers are deterministic planning indices from Fishori fields — not a scientific score of your individual fish.
Example setups
Starting points only. Run the pair checker for every fish you add.
Rough 90L+ layout: one calm centrepiece, 8–12 small tetras/rasboras, 6–8 corydoras-type bottom fish — verify every name in the pair checker before buying.
Safer directions include: Chili Rasbora, Ember Tetra, Sparkling Gourami.
Avoid “one of everything” baskets — Croaking gourami belongs in a plan built around territory, line-of-sight breaks, and matched water chemistry.
Compatibility
Tank mates for Croaking gourami
Usually safer (engine GOOD): Chili Rasbora, Ember Tetra, Sparkling Gourami. Conditional (CAUTION — read the pair page before buying): Angelfish, Betta, Corydoras Catfish, Neon Tetra, Pygmy Corydoras. Avoid (RISKY): African Cichlid, Oscar. Every name links to a live pair check — the lists are a shortlist, not a stocking plan.
Usually safer
Open a pair page with this fish as the starting point.
Needs planning
Read the blocking rule on each pair page before experimenting.
Usually avoid
Do-not-stock combinations on conservative hobby rules.
Compare with
Run a real pair check: Croaking gourami + Chili Rasbora
Behaviour and temperament
Croaking gouramis are peaceful labyrinth fish that stay near plants and the surface film. Males may croak and display more than they fight with tank mates. Stress shows as constant hiding when the surface is bright, bare, or blasted by filter outflow.
What sets them off
- Sudden crowding
- Poor water quality
Fin nipping: Not a habitual fin-nipper; stressed or crowded individuals can still test fins.
Predation: May eat tank mates small enough to fit the adult mouth — plan adult sizes, not shop sizes.
Territory: Holds a patch (cave, corner, or surface). Break sight lines so neighbours can pass.
Planted tanks: excellent — easy plant ideas
In the glass: typical and warning signs
- Fish hold under floating plants and may croak during courtship or mild display.
- Resting at the surface between feeds is normal ownership, not illness.
- Permanent hiding under bright bare lighting means cover failed before disease labels.
- Clamped fins under harsh surface current mean turn the filter down first.
- Low listed malice toward calm neighbours; males spar lightly more than they shred fins.
- They lose to bettas and boisterous barbs long before they start community wars.
- Add surface shade before you add another centrepiece to ‘draw them out.’
- Skip any tank that shares the film with a male betta.
Fish behaviour can vary between individuals and tank setups. Always observe new fish closely after introduction.
Water, food, and grouping
Hardness
soft
Diet
carnivore
Croaking gouramis take fine foods and frozen micro-prey at the surface and midwater. Standard community flake often bypasses their small mouths. Offer micro-pellets and tiny frozen foods near floating cover, and keep the surface calm enough that labyrinth breathers can rest without fighting filter blast.
Shrimp & snails
Not shrimp-safe — adults, fry, or both get eaten.
Croaking gourami is fine singly or as a researched pair — check behaviour before doubling up.
- Hold 24 to 30 °C steadily on a real thermometer, not the dial on the heater.
- Aim for pH 5.5 to 7.5 and a hardness you can re-test in two weeks. A one-time strip in the shop car park is not a water test.
- Footprint: short wide tanks and tall narrow tanks fish differently for the same volume. Match the tank shape to the swim pattern, not just the litre count.
- Tank volume meets or exceeds 80L published minimum for adults.
- Heater can hold 24–30°C without cooking cooler-water tank mates.
- No tank mates small enough to fit the adult mouth gap for this species.
Explore and stocking hubs
Tank-mates hub, matching guides, category peers, and litre stocking lists around this species’ minimum tank.
Plan with tools
Check mates as pairs first, then add this fish in the tank builder for the full stocking.
Filtration & heating
A 80L minimum tank needs a filter rated for at least 320L/hr turnover and a heater to hold 24–30°C reliably.
Plant suggestions
Croaking gourami does well in planted tanks. Plants compatible with 24–30°C and pH 5.5–7.5:
Research: partially verified · Confidence: high · 3 linked source(s). We do not invent citations.
How Fishori evaluates compatibility (same logic as pair and tank tools).
- Seriously Fish. Trichopsis vittata
Primary: aquarium size, water chemistry, behaviour, and compatibility (URL verified in upgrade script; recheck if site content changes).
- FishBase. Trichopsis vittata
Secondary: taxonomy, distribution, and maximum length in nature; cross-check with aquarium import lines and measured tank parameters.
- Wikipedia. Trichopsis vittata
Secondary: general species context; verify all husbandry numbers against a dedicated aquarium care sheet and your test kit, not a single table row.
Evidence notes
- The Seriously Fish profile for the binomial in this record was successfully reached as the primary aquarium reference.
- FishBase contributes natural-range size and habitat context. Translate those numbers through your heater, your water report, and your tank footprint before stocking.
- Wikipedia is only cited if the article URL returned OK. Use it for orientation, not as the only care sheet for an import.
- All compatibility text reflects typical hobby experience and the Fishori model. Individual fish, shop stress, and the order tank mates are added in can still defy a single-paragraph label.
Common questions about Croaking gourami
- How big do Croaking gourami get?
- Croaking gourami adults reach about 7 cm. Shop fish look smaller; stock for the adult length.
- What size tank does Croaking gourami need?
- 80L is the planning floor for adult swimming space and bioload. A 98L+ tank is the more comfortable long-term footprint. Length and depth matter as much as raw litres for active or territorial fish.
- Are Croaking gourami aggressive?
- Croaking gouramis are peaceful labyrinth fish that stay near plants and the surface film. Males may croak and display more than they fight with tank mates. Stress shows as constant hiding when the surface is bright, bare, or blasted by filter outflow.
- What is the most common mistake with Croaking gourami?
- Running bright open-water lighting with no surface cover is how keepers invent permanently hidden croaking gouramis that refuse to spawn or display. They need shaded surface areas and softish water. Do not treat them as a high-flow showpiece for a bare nano.
- What fish can live with Croaking gourami?
- The Croaking gourami profile lists Chili Rasbora, Ember Tetra, Sparkling Gourami among its safer pairings (engine-checked GOOD). Angelfish, Betta, Corydoras Catfish, Neon Tetra are conditional (CAUTION): workable only with the specific conditions on each pair page. Avoid African Cichlid, Oscar (RISKY). Run the pair checker for your exact water and tank size before stocking.