Gourami colour changing

Zoeeannee · Mar 18, 2021

Hi,

I have 3x 3 spot gourami and 3x gold gourami so a different colour variation on the three spot. Their colours have recently changed from lighter to darker and their behaviour has turned more aggressive/lots of chasing each other. I think this might be spawning but given that it’s a nightmare to sex them I have no idea if I have males or females. The photos show the colours as you can see (hopefully), one of the gold is much darker with tiger stripes and same with one of the blue three spot. My water parameters and temperature are all fine so is this just spawning or something else?

Colin_T · Mar 18, 2021

The gouramis have matured and are fighting over territories. You have too many gouramis in the tank and need to reduce the number of males and possibly females.

Males have a longer pointed dorsal (top) fin and females have a shorter rounded dorsal fin.

Pictures from left to right.
Top row: blue gourami female. yellow gourami young male. 2 female blues & 1 yellow male.

Middle row: male yellow. 2 blue gouramis, 1 is female, other unknown. yellow male.

Bottom row: yellow male. yellow male.

UnknownFishies · Mar 18, 2021

is that a betta in the last picture?

Zoeeannee · Mar 18, 2021

Should’ve been clearer with my pictures - I have 6 in a 300L so 3 blue 3 yellow, some of those pictures are duplicates of the same fish just to show colouration - so from what you’ve said all yellows are male and 2 female blues one unknown, which in itself explains why the yellows are more aggressive than the blues. I have a smaller tank I can put 1 of the yellows in which might fix things? I know about the fins but I find it difficult to differentiate, I think one of my blues might be a young male because it’s fin is slightly more pointed compared to the other 2

Zoeeannee · Mar 18, 2021

UnknownFishies said:
is that a betta in the last picture?

No, it’s a male guppie. No bettas at all

UnknownFishies · Mar 18, 2021

Zoeeannee said:
No, it’s a male guppie. No bettas at all

ok, looked like the betta in the last poc

FishGuest5123 · Mar 18, 2021

I was only going to put one pair in my 55G full of neons and cories. I think you’re going to need a much bigger tank.

Zoeeannee · Mar 18, 2021

Zoeeannee said:
Should’ve been clearer with my pictures - I have 6 in a 300L so 3 blue 3 yellow, some of those pictures are duplicates of the same fish just to show colouration - so from what you’ve said all yellows are male and 2 female blues one unknown, which in itself explains why the yellows are more aggressive than the blues. I have a smaller tank I can put 1 of the yellows in which might fix things? I know about the fins but I find it difficult to differentiate, I think one of my blues might be a young male because it’s fin is slightly more pointed compared to the othe 2

Deanasue said:
I was only going to put one pair in my 55G full of neons and cories. I think you’re going to need a much bigger tank.

Yep - I thought that might be an issue before I got them but when I went to Maidenhead aquatics (where I bought them) and spoke to them and also after researching online I thought it would be ok. Strange thing is, I have another 300L with 6 male dwarf gouramis and they all get on absolutely fine, no chasing, no aggression, they pick at the same plant at the same time and all seem entirely calm around eachother. Do you think groups of male gouramis is similar to a female betta sorority in terms of attitudes?

Zoeeannee · Mar 18, 2021

UnknownFishies said:
ok, looked like the betta in the last poc

Yeah, my orange ones are extra colourful and frilly - more so than they were when I bought them - so easily confused in a photo

Zoeeannee · Mar 18, 2021

Colin_T said:
The gouramis have matured and are fighting over territories. You have too many gouramis in the tank and need to reduce the number of males and possibly females.

Males have a longer pointed dorsal (top) fin and females have a shorter rounded dorsal fin.

Pictures from left to right.
Top row: blue gourami female. yellow gourami young male. 2 female blues & 1 yellow male.

Middle row: male yellow. 2 blue gouramis, 1 is female, other unknown. yellow male.

Bottom row: yellow male. yellow male.

Should’ve been clearer with my pictures - I have 6 in a 300L so 3 blue 3 yellow, some of those pictures are duplicates of the same fish just to show colouration - so from what you’ve said all yellows are male and 2 female blues one unknown, which in itself explains why the yellows are more aggressive than the blues. I have a smaller tank I can put 1 of the yellows in which might fix things? I know about the fins but I find it difficult to differentiate, I think one of my blues might be a young male because it’s fin is slightly more pointed compared to the other 2

FishGuest5123 · Mar 18, 2021

Zoeeannee said:
Yep - I thought that might be an issue before I got them but when I went to Maidenhead aquatics (where I bought them) and spoke to them and also after researching online I thought it would be ok. Strange thing is, I have another 300L with 6 male dwarf gouramis and they all get on absolutely fine, no chasing, no aggression, they pick at the same plant at the same time and all seem entirely calm around eachother. Do you think groups of male gouramis is similar to a female betta sorority in terms of attitudes?

I read that females were less aggressive than males together but I haven’t any hands on experience with them.

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