The popularity of keeping a honey gourami within the fish keeping hobby has been growing steadily over the last year or so due to how small the fish is allowing you to keep it in smaller tanks while also having a beautiful color to the fish too.
With the honey gourami being a hardy fish that is also peaceful, they make great beginner fish and with their price tags coming down, we only expect their popularity to keep on growing.
Due to so many people who are looking to add a honey gourami to their tanks being new to the species, we commonly see a wide range of questions about the fish.
One thing that many people have been asking recently is if they can keep a honey gourami in a 10 gallon aquarium tank or not.
With the minimum suitable tank size for fish being an important thing and many people getting it wrong, we wanted to publish this article going over the topic to try and help as many of our readers as possible who are considering getting themselves a honey gourami.
Can A Honey Gourami Live In A 10-Gallon?
A honey gourami can live in a 10 gallon tank but it will offer limited space for hides, plants, and other tank mates restricting what you are able to do with the tank.
The absolute minimum tank size for a single honey gourami is 10 gallons with a 20 gallon tank usually being recommended if possible.
As we covered in our article going over keeping a honey gourami in a 5 gallon tank, the species really do like to have plenty of hiding places in their tank while often being social fish liking to have tank mates.
Just because you can keep your honey gourami in a 10 gallon tank does not mean that you should and the absolute minimum tank size for two honey gouramis is 20 gallons so we really would recommend you try to go with a 20 gallon tank over a 10 gallon tank if possible.
It really does open up what you are able to do with your tank while also improving the quality of life for the fish while in your care too.
Thankfully, the price differences between a 10 gallon tank and a 20 gallon tank is minimal these days so most of our readers should be able to upgrade with minimal issues.
What Size Tank Does A Honey Gourami Need?
As we covered above, a honey gourami can live in a 10 gallon tank if needed but you really should be trying to go with a larger tank if possible.
The tank size required for your specific setup that you want for your honey gourami will also depend on exactly what you want for your fish too.
For example, many people want a honey gourami for a community tank setup so the other fish that you plan to keep in your tank will also come into play as they will all increase the minimum tank size that you are able to use.
A honey gourami really does need hiding places in its tank so you should be looking to add fish hides, live plants, rocks, and caves if possible so this all takes up the available swimming space and increases the minimum tank size that you should be going with.
If you are an experienced fish keeper then you should easily be able to keep a single honey gourami in a 10 gallon tank without issue.
If you are a beginner or you want to add other tank mates or a second honey gourami to your tank then you definitely should be looking at a 20 gallon tank minimum.
With honey gouramis being such a social fish, we would recommend that you seriously consider keeping a pair of them in your tank rather than just a single fish so this will force you up to a 20 gallon tank anyway.
How Can I Keep My Honey Gourami Happy In A 10 Gallon Tank?
There are a number of different things that you are able to do to keep a honey gourami happy in a 10 gallon tank.
As we covered above, you really do need plenty of hiding spots for your honey gourami in its tank so we would always recommend live plants if possible.
We feel that they are the best option when it comes to hiding places for your honey gourami as they offer a number of other benefits for your tank too where as the other popular options for a fish hide offer little additional benefits.
The live plants not only offer places for your honey gourami to hide but they also help to deal with the ammonia cycle in the tank by slowing it down and making it much easier for you to maintain steady water parameters in the tank.
This is another important thing that you need to factor in when looking to keep a honey gourami happy in such a small tank and regular tank maintenance to maintain suitable water parameters is essential.
For the most part, you should be looking to avoid fish based tank mates in a 10 gallon tank with a honey gourami in it due to there being limited space available.
That said though, you are able to add snails and some types of shrimp to help deal with any detritus, leftover food, and algae in the tank to reduce the frequency of your tank maintenance helping to keep your honey gourami happy in its tank.
