Why don't our gouramis live more than 12/18 months?

[Madmog]

Just wondering if anyone has any idea why our gouramis don't live too long or is it their natural life span?

We originally bought two and one died after a year or so, so we got another for company. We keep going through this cycle and had thought it was because a ph of 7 is too high, but speaking to an assistant in a specialist aquarium shop, she said that shouldn't be an issue. Nitrates are okay. The tank is a 60l with a shoal of six and a shoal of two (originally bought six but they have slowly died off over 5/6 years and we would prefer something else) and ideally two gouramis, so ten fish in total. All the fish are compatiable with eachother and we have no fighting. A partial water change in carried one once a week.

We are in the position we have recently lost one and the other one is obviously pining, so would like to get another one of these lovely fish for company, but it seems gruel when they don't survive long with us.

What sort of gouramis are they? Bit of an obvious question but did you definitely have a male and a female? Females are a silvery grey colour.

They aren't a particularly long-lived fish but I would expect 3 or 4 years at least.

What other fish have you got?

Sorry, should have given more information. The gourami we've had are honey gouramis and after we lost the first one, we tried to ensure we had a male and female.

We also have six serpae tetras and a couple of leopard danios (they were the first fish in the tank and and we've never replaced them as we would prefer something else). Being two on their own the danios are quite calm.

What's the pH and hardness of your water? I don't think honeys are as hardy as some other gouramis.

Unfortunately, we are in a hard water area. Our pH is 7. If perhaps honeys aren't so hard, we could consider a female dwarf (our honey is a female). Our honey is clearly pining as she's spent most of her time in one corner since her friend died.