kissing gourami question

i have a kissing gourami myself so i can give you some hopefully helpfull advice on these fish.
these fish can be kept alone, but are very sociable fish with their own kind. i keep mine with a golden gourami.
they can grow upto a massive 12 inches...tho they are pretty slow growers.
so they can to start with have a small-ish tank, but will of course need a much larger tank when its bigger.

mine is in an 80 gallon with other fish
so on its own it could go into a tank of about 15 maybe 20 gallon.
something of around that size.

my Dad actually gave me his and he's currently in a ten gallon.. I dont wanna be gone off on he hasnt been upgraded yet because I'm in a dorm with a ten gallon limit. I could get him a 20 or even 30 all to himself. he's 12 years and full grown and his care is much better with me keeping him. I do have a forty in storage if its best to pull that out... should I get another in with him? or is it best to leave him alone at his age? he is approx 7 inches. I have had him since I was 8 and i love him so please dont ask me to rehome him.

ok, wel there's absolutly no-need to re-home him. dont worry

7 inches tho isnt fully grown...close but not fully grown, these reach 12 inches in size
mines around 9 inches atm.

being 12 years old, has he ever been with any other fish? or has he always been alone?
ideally he should be placed into a larger tank now so that he can continue to grow to his full size.
40 gallon is pretty big, and would be a good tank if he was kept with another gourami, but on his own...lol thats alot of empty space.
alone he would better suit a 30 gallon.

The bigger the better, IMO.

Since you already have the 40, I'd go ahead and use that.

I'd add some dither fish, but no more gourami. Gourami can be territorial with conspecifics, especially older fish that aren't used to being around other gourami.

he was in a community tank until the last three years when a power outage wiped out the other fish. What can I put in with him?

Also I'm a little worried as the tips of his fins are developing tiny red spots ... could this be from bashing them against decorations? he seems healthy otherwise the tank is the right temp and I have two high power filters running on the tank and he has a varied diet so nothing else in his life could be causing this. any ideas? i'll buy meds if needed.

What fish should be added in with him?

he can go with schooling fish like tetra's, danio's, barbs ect ect.
pleco's can be added in with him also.
small catfish, like cory's or mayb 1 hoplo catfish as a centre peice with the gourami
kissing gourami's can also go in with sharks (silver, black, rainbow)
mines in with a rainbow shark.
ive even got mine in with a breeding pair of kribensis cichlids atm.
its upto you.

I will get the forty set up first. .. lol i'll figure out where its gonna go. the aerator I already have will be fine right? They are labyrinth fish so they dont need too much air.

they are labyrinth fish indeed.

they still should have a well oxygenated tank, but it will still go to the surface for air to breath.
and your other inhabitants will also need the requirment of a well oxygenated tank.
your filters should do the job just fine.
if they break air bubbles on the surface of the water.

I'm trying to figure out how to afford the filter and heater lol

should I worry about his fins?

Have you been monitoring the ammonia, nitrite, and nitrates?

of course and everything is perfect. It looks like blood spots like he's been bashing them

goldfish are very prone to this exct same thing with their fins,
especially when there fins become long and they start to trail...

if your water stats are all ok as you say they are, then i wouldnt worry to much about it, but always keep a close eye on it, and be ready to act on it if needed.

no problem what should i have just in case?

The last time I talked to you the readings were not perfect.
If somethings going wrong no one can help you if you don't tell them.
People aren't going to bash you for a mistake but lying about it isn't going to get anything done and ultimately hurt the fish.

I didnt know at the time of the post that the readings werent perfect.

Ammonia and nitrite are zero

nitrate i need to retest since I've been doing daily water changes but he is looking so much better and I put in amquel + to detoxify it

The blood spots are gone and so is the clouding in his eyes. His activity is also back to normal He seems fine