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Dwarf gouramies

Tyler777

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Menasha, Wisconsin
I had a male dwarf gouramie n I just bought a female, but he is bullying her everytime he sees her.
Is it that normal ?
Also I bought 2 platties that are half yellow n half black n my 2 black mollies seem not to like em because they keep chasing them
 
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Video of the fish chasing each other. Upload videos to YouTube, then copy & paste the link here. Is you use a mobile phone to film the fish, hold the phone horizontally (landscape mode) so the footage fills the entire screen.

Maybe pictures of the fish so we can confirm their sexes, assuming we can't do it from the video.

Gouramis are territorial and will general attack intruders. Male gouramis don't always like the females and can attack them if they don't like them.

Male livebearers will harass and chase unwanted males out of their territory so they can breed with any females there. A lot of male livebearers will try to breed with female livebearers or other fish even if they aren't the same species.
 
This sounds like you have a small tank without a lot of plants. How big is the set up?
 

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Video of the fish chasing each other. Upload videos to YouTube, then copy & paste the link here. Is you use a mobile phone to film the fish, hold the phone horizontally (landscape mode) so the footage fills the entire screen.

Maybe pictures of the fish so we can confirm their sexes, assuming we can't do it from the video.

Gouramis are territorial and will general attack intruders. Male gouramis don't always like the females and can attack them if they don't like them.

Male livebearers will harass and chase unwanted males out of their territory so they can breed with any females there. A lot of male livebearers will try to breed with female livebearers or other fish even if they aren't the same species.
I tried to make a video but there was no chasing. I did took a few pics. They might not be the perfect picture bcause they didn't want to pose didn't matter how much I asked em n cursed.

First picture is the victim. According to fish store is a female.

The other 3 pics are from the bully
 

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The first fish is a male not a female. That's why the other fish, also a male, is chasing it. Female dwarf gouramis are plain silver, except possibly females of the neon blue variety, but this one is not a neon blue.


This is an example of why you should never believe anything a store worker says and always research for yourself rather than take advice. Sometimes the store worker is right, but more often they make up anything to get a sale.
 
The first fish is a male not a female. That's why the other fish, also a male, is chasing it. Female dwarf gouramis are plain silver, except possibly females of the neon blue variety, but this one is not a neon blue.


This is an example of why you should never believe anything a store worker says and always research for yourself rather than take advice. Sometimes the store worker is right, but more often they make up anything to get a sale.
Thank you my friend
 
Hi Tyler,

Your tank setup, while it's ok for many fishes... Is not really inviting for dwarf Gouramies...

They don't have problems with bright colors, but with strong lightning it will give an overall brighter tank, they like to live in the shadows. They positively hate plastic plants and clear substrate that reflect too much light.

They Love subdued light with plants cover and while not essential some level of tannins in their water.

To host multiple males in the same tank with limited aggression, you need to break the field of view enough in the top part of the tank, so the fishes can evolve without seeing each other too often, and insure that they have places to flee in these encounters.

They like to nibble on algae growth on plants. And cheap plastic plants will cause mouth injuries over time. If you want to go the artificial plants way, try to use only high quality smooth silk plants.

That said, I understand, I literally just told you to change nearly everything in your setup.

I think this might not be the kind of setup you would appreciate... Heavily planted, dark places, you see your fishes a lot less, sometimes your not sure if they are there... etc.

For the fish, I would return one of the males and lower the light a bit to make the remaining one more comfortable.
 
Hi Tyler,

Your tank setup, while it's ok for many fishes... Is not really inviting for dwarf Gouramies...

They don't have problems with bright colors, but with strong lightning it will give an overall brighter tank, they like to live in the shadows. They positively hate plastic plants and clear substrate that reflect too much light.

They Love subdued light with plants cover and while not essential some level of tannins in their water.

To host multiple males in the same tank with limited aggression, you need to break the field of view enough in the top part of the tank, so the fishes can evolve without seeing each other too often, and insure that they have places to flee in these encounters.

They like to nibble on algae growth on plants. And cheap plastic plants will cause mouth injuries over time. If you want to go the artificial plants way, try to use only high quality smooth silk plants.

That said, I understand, I literally just told you to change nearly everything in your setup.

I think this might not be the kind of setup you would appreciate... Heavily planted, dark places, you see your fishes a lot less, sometimes your not sure if they are there... etc.

For the fish, I would return one of the males and lower the light a bit to make the remaining one more comfortable.
Thanks for ur advice my friend. I just cameback from the fish store n return3d the new guy.
The other one had been a lone gouramie for a while n he gets along with everyone else.
I just didn't want him to harass n bully the other guy till death.
I already lost a baby blue gouramie bcause the dwarf one chased it to death.
So I just played safe nbreturned the other one
 
Well done on returning the new gourami :)

If you add a floating plant like Water Sprite (Ceratopteris thalictroides/ cornuta), it will provide your remaining gourami with somewhere to hang out near the surface but under some leaves. Floating plants will also reduce algae growing on glass and ornaments in the aquarium. :)
 
Well done on returning the new gourami :)

If you add a floating plant like Water Sprite (Ceratopteris thalictroides/ cornuta), it will provide your remaining gourami with somewhere to hang out near the surface but under some leaves. Floating plants will also reduce algae growing on glass and ornaments in the aquarium. :)
Ok
 

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