From: Cammiluna

I've had a kissing gourami named Kirby for the years of 1996-2003, and his personality... changed a bit over the years. He was first in a 10-gallon tank and got along with everyone. Then I babysat someone's goldfish in the tank (Meeko), and while Kirby DID chase Meeko whenever he got lazy, he never inflicted any damage aside a few tail fin nips.

This went on for four years (I've grown so attatched to Meeko that I was allowed to keep him). During those four years, my dad gave me fish ranging from angel fish to tiger barbs and other gourami, and they've all attacked my kisser a lot, but he never did anything back to them. Kirby was a pansy, surely. Particularly, my kisser, goldfish, and an iridescent shark by the name of Boomer roomied together for 4 years. The later 2 years they grew so large I had to get a 20-gallon tank for them. The shark grew too big for that and kept rampaging around the tank every few minutes, crashing into the goldfish and impaling him until he died from his injuries.

I know this topic is about Kissing Gourami, but my kisser and the shark got along PERFECTLY for four years, but on the morning after my goldfish died, Kirby Ripped the flesh off the shark (whose twice his size) and mauled him until he died. I was afraid to buy any new fish for the tank for a while so he was on his own and I put him back in a 10-gallon tank since my dad wasn't around to help me with maintenance anymore. A year later I was given some new brown gouramis for the tank and they picked on my kisser all the time. He once again did nothing to fight back, and he remained friendly again until he died from eating poisoned roaches that drowned in his tank.

I have a new kisser now after a 3-year haitus from raising fish. He's about the size of a thumb and gets along with my two catfish quite well. Based on my experiences with Kirby and the new guy, A good setup for a community tank with Kissers can use a lot of balance. Kissing Gouramis like the mid and top waters (mostly mid), so bottom-dwellers like Catfish will do fairly well in the tank. Kirby never bothered my catfish at all to times where I forgot those catfish exist in my tank sometimes. Also, I think Kissers get annoyed with slow/lazy fish, especially if they occupy his height level of the tank (hence why my goldfish was chased around for four years), so make sure his mid-water roomates are active and speedy. Smaller fish can probably do well as long as they're speedy, even Neon tetras. It may not work for every kisser, but this balance worked for my gang for many years.