chocolate gouramis

[suemack]

hi - need some advice. about 7 months ago bought 2 choc gouramis from LFS. Am on rain water so ph is usually about 6.7 - 7 and gh is soft. next day noticed that one was pale one was bright. Watched them closely and saw that one was harassing the other. Moved one into different tank and a day later both looked fine. - have tried on various occasions to put them back into one tank - no luck ! Wouldn't be a problem but the one living in the guppy tank eats 99.9% of the new guppy fry - the odd quick baby survives. My tanks are planted with water sprite and java fern - water changes every other day - the amount changed depends on time.
Also - how do you tell what sex a choc gourami is - I'm used to guppies and cories which are a lot easier !!! ?- well cories are when they grow up !

 

[juliethegr8t]

I'm not really positive about the "chocolate" gouarmi, I've actually never heard of them. But if the rules that apply to other gouarmis apply, the male will have a pointed dorsal fin and the female will have a rounded one. Also, males are usually brighter. If you bought your fish at your average fish store, I'm would probably assume they're both male, since lfs's rarely sell female gouarmis. In fact, around here, I've never seen a female gouarmi stocked!

 

[Alien Anna]

If you bought your fish at your average fish store, I'm would probably assume they're both male, since lfs's rarely sell female gouarmis. In fact, around here, I've never seen a female gouarmi stocked!

Really? I've never noticed that round here. Until recently, I had two females and a male and I've never had any difficulty getting females. Is there something in the water where you are?

 

[suemack]

thanks - but getting back to the aggression - everything I'd read said that choc gouramis were peaceful - I put one of these guys into a tank where I was babysitting a couple of baby angels and had to rescue the babies by taking the CG out and putting him back with the guppies !! Am reluctant to return them to the LFS as the 2 they still had died after a few weeks at the shop.

 

[suemack]

oops - submitted the same message twice