Curious about the sex of my gouramis

[maxxal22]

Hi all,

I have two gourami fish, but I am starting to worry that they are both males. This is one of them, the one that always gets pecked and attacked by the other.

Below this line, I added a picture of the other one, the one that attacks.

Are both of them male? Is there an other reason why the bottom gourami attacks the top gourami on a daily basis?

 

[Essjay]

Unless the first is very very young, it is female, the second is male.

Males will chase females as well as other males. I have 2 males, 3 females (they were supposed to be 1 m, 4 f but one female turned out to be male) and the dominant male chases the other other 4 equally.

 

[maxxal22]

The female seems pretty terrified by the chasing the male does. He seems pretty aggressive with the pecks in the top and side of the female, and even pushes her around when he pecks. Is that normal?

 

[Essjay]

Mine just chases them a few inches then goes back to where he was.

Would it be possible to get another female or even two? I realise that the tank may not be big enough, or that all your local shops may be closed at the moment, but that would be one way to help if it's possible.

I also have a lot of water sprite floating on the surface - there's virtually no water surface exposed - and all the gouramis like to hang out in the roots. Your photo does not show floating plants, so maybe get some of them as as well?

 

[maxxal22]

I’ll try to see if I can get another female. The male sometimes chases the female across the entire circumference of the tank, until she flees towards the bottom of the tank. She sometimes does a “sprint” swim after chasing, to find a place to hide.

 

[Essjay]

Lots of plants would help too. I can see you already have plants but the more hiding places the better.

With another female, he wouldn't be able to chase both of them at once

 

[maxxal22]

Do you reckon I could fit another gourami in my tank? It is a 40 ish liter tank. If it is too small, I could probably move them to my tank downstairs, which should definitely be big enough (albeit maybe a bit busy)

 

[Essjay]

Ahhh, 40 litres is way too small for pearl gouramis, I'm afraid. The male is probably chasing the female because he is stressed due to be confined in a small space. In your photo he does not have an orange throat, which a male with fins the size of your fish should have, a sign of stress. Mine are in a tank with a 107 x 45 cm footprint and I worry that it is not really big enough.

Given the size of your tank, you cannot add another pearl gourami. I know you don't want to hear this but the best thing you could do for them is to move them or rehome them. Details on the tank size they need is given here

Trichopodus leerii (Pearl Gourami) — Seriously Fish

www.seriouslyfish.com

How big is your other tank, and what's already in there?

 

[maxxal22]

The other tank is a 220 liter tank. It currently holds two angelfish, some platyfish, two swordtails, an assortment of plecoes and corydoras, a few clown botia and some shrimp

 

[Essjay]

While the tank is fine, gouramis should not be kept with angelfish, I'm afraid.

For the sake of the gouramis, there are really only 2 options - another, larger tank for them, or rehome them. I'm sorry, it's not what you want to hear. Pearl gouramis grow up to 12 cm, and 40 litres just isn't big enough for fish this size.

 

[maxxal22]

I’ll give the store a call tomorrow then, seems that they misunderstood that I wanted fish suitable for my small tank instead of my big tank. They will probably led me switch them for some others. Do you reckon that a pair (or triplet If better) of dwarf gouramis would fit in the small tank?
And for curiosities sake, why do gourami and angelfish not mix?

 

[Essjay]

Angels and gouramis are both territorial fish which occupy the same area in the tank and see each other as rivals.

Dwarf gourami need a bit bigger than 40 litres - a tank with a 60 x 30 cm footprint. And if they were bred in the far east they could well have incurable disease. Even the slightly smaller honey gourami needs a 60 x 30 tank.

There are fish suitable for 40 litres. If you want gourami, sparkling gouramis should be OK (Trichopsis pumila). Other species include those in the Boraras genus though they do need soft water; male only enders would be an option if you have hard water. Or of course a betta if the water is not too hard.

 

[PheonixKingZ]

I agree angles shouldn’t be kept with Gouramis.

Dwarf Gouramis are also very prone to diseases.