Adopted blue gourami - M/F? Community tank?

[AdoraBelle Dearheart]

Adopted some fish recently, as might have been seen in my other threads - I've found a store willing to take the rainbow shark, but now thinking about what to do with the 5" opaline gourami. I've only really personally experienced honey gourami which weren't a problem, so this is new for me! I was hoping it could go in my 63g planted tank once it's set up, since that tank is nearly all bottom dwellers, with just a few elderly tetra remaining from old schools and two platies in the top levels.

At the moment it's in 22g QT with it's buddies from previous tank, 3 cories and 1 otocinclus. Rainbow shark already had to be relocated as it started following the gourami around and hassling it, even though they apparently shared the tank for two years.

Firstly, does it look like a female? Dorsal looks pretty rounded to me. Do females tend to be more chill than males?
She's pale in this photo because she'd just arrived and was acclimated and stressed, has coloured up a lot now she's (?) in the QT. @Wills any ideas/thoughts? Have you kept these?
Anyone else with any advice or personal experiences with these guys in community tanks, good or bad, please share! Beautiful fish, but I'm gonna have to decide whether she goes to the store with the rainbow, or I try her out in the community tank.

 

[itiwhetu]

It is a female. She is pale because of the lack of plants and substrate in your QT tank. She is scared silly and trying her hardest to blend into the background, which is all pale.

 

[AdoraBelle Dearheart]

It is a female. She is pale because of the lack of plants and substrate in your QT tank. She is scared silly and trying her hardest to blend into the background, which is all pale.

No, that isn't the quarantine tank. If you read the post you quoted, I explained that they were all pale and stressed because they'd just been caught from their neglected tank and transported here, and this tank is the tank I use to examine the fish and acclimate them before moving them to the QT tank, which is in a dark corner and full of plants I took from my main tanks, where they've coloured up well.

I don't keep fish in bare tanks, not even for QT. The QT is 22g and has sand.

 

[DoubleDutch]

Female to me
Don't think she will be a problem in a 63 G

 

[Slaphppy7]

Definitely XX

See the other thread, these fish can be very nasty

 

[Coryking]

At the moment it's in 22g QT with it's buddies from previous tank, 3 cories and 1 otocinclus. Rainbow shark already had to be relocated as it started following the gourami around and hassling it, even though they apparently shared the tank for two years.

It may work. Three spots are different to other gourami. They're either aggressive to everything or passive and can change over night. Each three spot is different so be prepared if it becomes aggressive.

 

[AdoraBelle Dearheart]

It is a female. She is pale because of the lack of plants and substrate in your QT tank. She is scared silly and trying her hardest to blend into the background, which is all pale.

Just to show you there's nothing to worry about, here's the corner of my 22g QT tank Can't show the side view because it's tucked down the side of the fish cabinet so in a darker corner where they're not being disturbed much

 

[Byron]

If the store will take her, I would let her go. This species is Trichopodus trichopterus, whatever the variety selectively bred (blue, gold, cosby, 3-spot, opaline, marble). It is probably the most aggressive and feisty of the small and medium sized gourami species. We had another member a year or so back that had a female kill every fish in the tank. Individual fish may be more or less "normal" in their aggression, but as this poor fish was seriously stressed in her former environment, there isno telling how she may behave. Such fish frequently become real terrors once they are out of the stressful conditions.

 

[AdoraBelle Dearheart]

If the store will take her, I would let her go. This species is Trichopodus trichopterus, whatever the variety selectively bred (blue, gold, cosby, 3-spot, opaline, marble). It is probably the most aggressive and feisty of the small and medium sized gourami species. We had another member a year or so back that had a female kill every fish in the tank. Individual fish may be more or less "normal" in their aggression, but as this poor fish was seriously stressed in her former environment, there isno telling how she may behave. Such fish frequently become real terrors once they are out of the stressful conditions.

Yep, I've decided to either let a fishkeeping aquaintance from FB have her (and the rainbow shark), or she'll go to the store. She's been downright shy so far in QT, but even if she was the most chill gourami in the world, keeping her would mean I couldn't do the pesudomugli schools I wanted to do in the 63g. Given that she could live for many more years, I don't want to put those plans on hold that long! So she needs a new home. The store said they'd take her!

 

[Coryking]

If the store will take her, I would let her go. This species is Trichopodus trichopterus, whatever the variety selectively bred (blue, gold, cosby, 3-spot, opaline, marble). It is probably the most aggressive and feisty of the small and medium sized gourami species. We had another member a year or so back that had a female kill every fish in the tank. Individual fish may be more or less "normal" in their aggression, but as this poor fish was seriously stressed in her former environment, there isno telling how she may behave. Such fish frequently become real terrors once they are out of the stressful conditions.

I understand were your coming from but there is another side my three spot was being picked on by my other two three spots after I removed them she had become shy, skittish and timid and is still like that now. That was a year and a half ago now. Only in recent days she has become less skittish but still is timid. If I was you I would wait a few weeks before any action if she becomes aggressive then remove her if not then 100% keep her. In my opinion they are the best gourami.
I see you want to get rid of her now. If I was you I would keep her for a few days see her personality then decide then

 

[AdoraBelle Dearheart]

I understand were your coming from but there is another side my three spot was being picked on by my other two three spots after I removed them she had become shy, skittish and timid and is still like that now. That was a year and a half ago now. Only in recent days she has become less skittish but still is timid. If I was you I would wait a few weeks before any action if she becomes aggressive then remove her if not then 100% keep her. In my opinion they are the best gourami.
I see you want to get rid of her now. If I was you I would keep her for a few days see her personality then decide then

"Get rid of her" sounds harsh - she's a beautiful fish, I just don't have a suitable set up for her. I didn't go out and buy her, I wanted to rescue the cories and otos from a very neglected and too small tank, which meant also rescuing the gourami and a rainbow shark, neither of which can work in my tanks But they're already better off since they're now in clean water and getting lots of quality live and frozen foods, and even if they go to the store, it's a really great store that I trust to find them a suitable home. I trust them with the baby fish I breed, so I trust them with the rescue fish too.
As I said to Byron, I can't risk her with pseudomugli, and I'd planned for those in the set up for a while. Even if she never touched them, she's a five inch fish, and they're a tiny, easily spooked fish that are likely to be terrified to be in the same tank as a five inch gourami. Since I already have four psuedos and trying to spawn them, I really don't want to change plans just to keep this gourami.

 

[Coryking]

"Get rid of her" sounds harsh - she's a beautiful fish, I just don't have a suitable set up for her. I didn't go out and buy her, I wanted to rescue the cories and otos from a very neglected and too small tank, which meant also rescuing the gourami and a rainbow shark, neither of which can work in my tanks But they're already better off since they're now in clean water and getting lots of quality live and frozen foods, and even if they go to the store, it's a really great store that I trust to find them a suitable home. I trust them with the baby fish I breed, so I trust them with the rescue fish too.
As I said to Byron, I can't risk her with pseudomugli, and I'd planned for those in the set up for a while. Even if she never touched them, she's a five inch fish, and they're a tiny, easily spooked fish that are likely to be terrified to be in the same tank as a five inch gourami. Since I already have four psuedos and trying to spawn them, I really don't want to change plans just to keep this gourami.

If thats what you want to for it but please try one another day. They have great personality you won't know what your missing

 

[Slaphppy7]

If thats what you want to for it but please try one another day. They have great personality you won't know what your missing

You get the same thing with pearl or honey gouramis, and no surprise aggression later

 

[AdoraBelle Dearheart]

If thats what you want to for it but please try one another day. They have great personality you won't know what your missing

I have a good idea of what I'd be missing
They're not bad fish. When we talk about potential aggression, or that they tend to eat smaller fish and that a particularly aggressive one can wipe out a group of tankmates (when kept with the wrong tankmates!) it's not saying it's a horrible fish that no one should keep... all of the behaviours they show are normal, natural behaviours for this species of fish. They'll eat what they can fit in their mouths, and can "bully" tank mates because they're a territorial fish. It's why I try to stick to using words like territorial, rather than aggressive, when I can.

But there's no sense in denying what they're capable of either. Too many people get a tank and pack it with the fish they want and hope it works out, rather than seeing what fish will work together so that the tank is a nice home for all of them. That's not fair to the fish. I have all small, peaceful fish, so introducing a much more predatory and territorial fish will stress them - they have no escape in a tank, and will be aware of the much larger predatory fish even if she never went for them. I don't think it's fair to do that to them, and wouldn't want to find my tiny fish vanishing either!

Believe me though... my mind has wandered to the idea of setting up another tank to keep the rainbow shark and gourami! But that would need to be a minimum of 50g, and that's a lot of space I just don't have. Even if I did have room for another 50-60g tank, there are a bunch of fish on my "want to keep" list that I'd want first, and wouldn't mix well with the shark and gourami.

Can't be overly sentimental about this. It's a mistake to encourage someone to keep a fish in the wrong set up, just because you like the fish, if you know that it wouldn't work with the fish already in that set up. Rehoming is the better option - and the FB person I know who wants them has a beautiful 6ft tank, much larger than mine, with larger fish that won't be a risk to, or at risk from, the shark and gourami! So I'm really hoping he can take them.


What do you keep your blue gourami's with? And you have three 3 spot gourami split into two tanks?

 

[Coryking]

You get the same thing with pearl or honey gouramis, and no surprise aggression later

Not the same thing. I've kept honeys and there completely different three spots are booming with personality while honeys are not booming they have a hint of personality.